Gatisutta — Satipatthanavagga — the seventh chapter of the Nines
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
Five destinations named in full, then the remedy compressed to an ellipsis, matching AN 9.65-67
Length
~30 seconds to read
A different kind of list entirely
Unlike every other obstacle-list in this chapter, the five destinations aren't unwholesome states to abandon but places one might be reborn — themselves what mindfulness meditation ultimately ends
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief in text, worth noticing how this list differs from its neighbors
Why this discourse
The five destinations — hell, the animal realm, the ghost realm, humanity, and the gods — are given up the same way as every other obstacle in this chapter, by developing the four kinds of mindfulness meditation, though here it is rebirth itself, not a mental state, that must be given up.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To give up the five destinations — hell, the animal realm, the ghost realm, humanity, and the gods — a mendicant should develop the four kinds of mindfulness meditation, the same remedy given throughout this chapter.
Not an obstacle, but a consequence
Every other list in this chapter names something a mendicant actively does or experiences — broken precepts, hindrances, sense-pleasures, clinging, fetters. The five destinations are different in kind: they are where continued rebirth leads, the consequence of not giving up the other obstacles rather than an obstacle themselves.
Giving up rebirth altogether
Read this way, this discourse's real claim is more radical than its neighbors: developing the four foundations doesn't merely purify conduct or calm the mind, but ends the entire cycle these five destinations represent — a fitting way to describe what the culminating ninth attainment, the cessation of perception and feeling, accomplishes when reached in the definitive sense named throughout ch.5 and ch.6.
Continuing this chapter's compressed form
As at AN 9.65 through AN 9.67, the four-foundation formula is reduced here to a bare ellipsis, relying on AN 9.63 and AN 9.64's earlier full treatment.
Key terms
pañca gatiyo — “the five destinations” — this discourse's own title term, the only list in this chapter naming places of rebirth rather than obstacles to abandon.
nirayo, tiracchānayoni, pettivisayo — “hell, the animal realm, the ghost realm” — the three lower destinations, named first.
manussā, devā — “humanity, the gods” — the two higher destinations, closing the standard fivefold list.
…pe… — the Pāli peyyāla marker, left untranslated as an ellipsis — marking where the four-foundation formula is compressed, as at AN 9.65 through AN 9.67.
cattāro satipaṭṭhānā — “the four kinds of mindfulness meditation” — the shared remedy, here ending rebirth itself rather than a single mental obstacle.
The text
The discourse in full, as it survives: five destinations given in full, then the remedy compressed to an ellipsis. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The five destinations
§1“Mendicants, there are five destinations. What five? Hell, the animal realm, the ghost realm, humanity, and the gods. These are the five destinations.
The remedy, compressed
§2To give up these five destinations you should develop the four kinds of mindfulness meditation. …”
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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 five destinations does this discourse name?
Correct: B. The standard fivefold cosmology of rebirth destinations.
Question 2 of 6
How does this list differ in kind from every other obstacle-list in this chapter?
Correct: B. A consequence of continued rebirth, not an obstacle in itself.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, what more radical claim does this discourse make than its neighbors?
Correct: B. A description fitting what the definitive ninth attainment accomplishes elsewhere in this nipāta.
Question 4 of 6
How is the four-foundation remedy presented in this discourse?
Correct: B. Continuing this chapter's sustained compression.
Question 5 of 6
What are the three lower destinations named first?
Correct: B. The first three of the standard fivefold list, followed by humanity and the gods.
Question 6 of 6
Is a setting given for this discourse?
Correct: C. A bare doctrinal teaching, matching this whole chapter's method.
