Tadaṅganibbānasutta — Sāmaññavagga — the fifth chapter of the Nines
Setting
Not restated; understood to continue from AN 9.49
Speakers
Venerable Udāyī questioning Venerable Ānanda, by implication
Form
A single opening line and an ellipsis, the third and final discourse in this chapter reduced this far
Length
A few seconds to read what exists
A genuinely technical distinction, minimally treated
‘Tadaṅga-nibbāna’ names a real doctrinal category — temporary suppression of a specific defilement by its direct opposite — distinct from full and final extinguishment
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — the term itself carries more doctrinal weight than its minimal treatment here suggests
Why this discourse
The source reduces this discourse, like AN 9.48 and AN 9.49 before it, to a single line — ‘they speak of “extinguishment in a certain respect”’ — followed by an ellipsis and the marker ‘ninth,’ applying the chapter's shared template to a term that elsewhere names a genuine technical category: the temporary suppression of one specific defilement by its direct opposite, short of complete and final extinguishment.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
By the pattern established throughout this chapter, reaching any of the nine progressive attainments is what the Buddha meant by ‘extinguishment in a certain respect’ — qualifiedly at each of the first eight stages, definitively only at the ninth — though the source, as at AN 9.48 and AN 9.49, no longer spells this out.
A genuine technical category, named briefly
‘Tadaṅga-nibbāna,’ literally ‘extinguishment by that factor,’ names a real doctrinal distinction found elsewhere in the tradition: the temporary suppression of one specific defilement by cultivating its direct opposite — hate suppressed by love, for instance — a genuine but partial and reversible achievement, distinct from full, final extinguishment.
The third and last of this run's fully elided stubs
This is the third and final discourse in this chapter reduced to a single surviving line, closing out the run begun at AN 9.48. Where those two discourses named bare extinguishment and full extinguishment respectively, this one names the most technically specific of the three — and receives exactly the same minimal treatment regardless.
What comes next restores the full picture
AN 9.51, immediately following, breaks this pattern of minimal treatment: it is given in full again, one final time, and closes not only this chapter but the entire First Fifty of the Book of the Nines — the run of compression this discourse belongs to giving way, at the chapter's very close, to full and deliberate elaboration once more.
Key terms
tadaṅganibbānaṁ — “extinguishment in a certain respect,” literally “extinguishment by that factor” — a genuine technical category elsewhere naming temporary suppression of one defilement by its direct opposite.
…pe… — the Pāli peyyāla marker, left untranslated as an ellipsis — the source's own signal to supply the omitted content.
navamaṁ — “ninth” — the bare ordinal closing this discourse, marking its place among the chapter's ten discourses (not to be confused with the ninth meditative attainment).
pariyāyena — “in a qualified sense” — not present in this discourse's own text, supplied by inference from AN 9.42 through AN 9.47's shared pattern.
nippariyāyena — “in a definitive sense” — likewise supplied by inference, reserved for the ninth attainment throughout this chapter.
The text
The discourse exactly as it survives in the source: one line, an ellipsis, and an ordinal number. Nothing has been added. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The discourse in full, as it survives
§1“Reverend, they speak of ‘extinguishment in a certain respect’. …”
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Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 6
What does ‘tadaṅga-nibbāna’ name as a genuine technical category?
Correct: B. A real but partial and reversible achievement, distinct from full and final extinguishment.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse's source-text treatment compare to AN 9.48 and AN 9.49's?
Correct: B. The uniform economy applied across this whole three-discourse run.
Question 3 of 6
What is this discourse's position within the chapter's run of minimal stubs?
Correct: B. Closing out the run begun at AN 9.48 and continued at AN 9.49.
Question 4 of 6
What happens immediately after this discourse, at AN 9.51?
Correct: B. The compression gives way to full elaboration at the chapter's very close.
Question 5 of 6
What ordinal number marks this discourse's place?
Correct: C. Following AN 9.48's ‘seventh’ and AN 9.49's ‘eighth’ in sequence.
Question 6 of 6
Where does the qualified-versus-definitive content this discourse implies come from?
Correct: B. The same source of inference used for AN 9.48 and AN 9.49.
