Khemappattasutta — Khemavagga — the sixth chapter of the Nines
Setting
Not restated; understood to continue from AN 9.52
Speakers
Venerable Udāyī questioning Venerable Ānanda, by implication
Form
A single opening line and an ellipsis, the first of eight discourses in this chapter reduced this far
Length
A few seconds to read what exists
A state versus its achievement
Where AN 9.52 named safety itself, this discourse names the accomplishment of actually reaching it — the first of five such paired distinctions in this chapter
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — trivial to read, its interest lying in what it pairs with
Why this discourse
The source reduces this discourse to a single line — ‘they speak of “reaching a safe place”’ — followed by an ellipsis, applying the same nine-stage template as AN 9.52 to the achievement of arriving at safety rather than to safety as a state.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
By the pattern established at AN 9.52, reaching any of the nine progressive attainments is what the Buddha meant by ‘reaching a safe place’ — qualifiedly at each of the first eight stages, definitively only at the ninth — though the source no longer spells this out.
A state, and its achievement
This discourse's relationship to AN 9.52 is not repetition but a grammatical shift: where khema names safety as a state or place, khemappatta names the accomplishment of a person who has actually arrived there — the first of five such state-versus-achievement pairs running through this chapter's first ten discourses.
The same minimal treatment as the extinguishment-run
As with AN 9.48 through AN 9.50 in the previous chapter, this discourse's brevity is the source's own choice, not a gap this guide fills in with invented content. What can be said with confidence comes by inference from AN 9.52's fully spelled-out template.
Opening the longest run of stubs in this project
This is the first of eight consecutive discourses (AN 9.53 through AN 9.60) reduced to a single surviving line, the longest such run met anywhere so far — four more paired terms will follow this same pattern before AN 9.61 restores full treatment.
Key terms
khemappattaṁ — “reaching a safe place” — this discourse's own title term, naming the achievement of arriving at safety rather than safety as a bare state.
…pe… — the Pāli peyyāla marker, left untranslated as an ellipsis — the source's own signal to supply the omitted content.
khemaṁ — “a safe place” — the paired term from AN 9.52, this discourse's own state-versus-achievement counterpart.
pariyāyena — “in a qualified sense” — not present in this discourse's own text, supplied by inference from AN 9.52's template.
nippariyāyena — “in a definitive sense” — likewise supplied by inference, reserved for the ninth attainment throughout this stretch of the nipāta.
The text
The discourse exactly as it survives in the source: one line and an ellipsis. Nothing has been added. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The discourse in full, as it survives
§1“Reverend, they speak of ‘reaching a safe place’. …”
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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
How does this discourse's term relate grammatically to AN 9.52's ‘khema’?
Correct: B. A state versus its achievement, the first of five such pairs in this chapter.
Question 2 of 6
How much of this discourse survives in the source?
Correct: B. The first of eight discourses in this chapter reduced this far.
Question 3 of 6
What does the guide do about the missing content?
Correct: B. Consistent with this project's rule against inventing text not in the source.
Question 4 of 6
How long is the run of minimal stubs this discourse opens?
Correct: B. The longest such run met anywhere in this project so far.
Question 5 of 6
Which discourse restores full treatment, closing this run?
Correct: C. Progressive cessation, matching AN 9.52's full treatment at the run's start.
Question 6 of 6
Where does this discourse's implied nine-stage content come from?
Correct: B. The same source of inference used throughout this run of stubs.
