Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant who is perfected can't transgress in nine respects: the five Sutavā already knew — killing a living creature, stealing, sex, deliberate lying, and hoarding goods for personal enjoyment — plus four more, deciding out of favoritism, hostility, stupidity, or cowardice.
A memory, verified rather than corrected
Sutavā doesn't ask a new question; he recites, word for word, a teaching he recalls hearing at this very location on an earlier occasion, and asks whether he heard, learned, and remembered it properly. The Buddha's answer is unambiguous confirmation, not correction: “indeed, Sutavā, you properly heard.”
Five becomes nine
Having confirmed the five, the Buddha states that “in the past, as today,” he has always taught nine: the same five behavioral prohibitions, plus four further ones concerning how a perfected mendicant makes decisions — never out of favoritism, hostility, stupidity, or cowardice.
A companion discourse follows
AN 9.8, immediately next, repeats this exact frame with a different wanderer — but the four items added to reach nine are not the same. Read together, the pair shows that this expansion formula (five confirmed, four more added) is a template the source fills in two different ways.
Key terms
The text
A memory, recited and confirmed
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain. Then the wanderer Sutavā went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha: “Sir, this one time the Buddha was staying right here in Rājagaha, the Mountainfold. There I heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘A mendicant who is perfected—with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart’s goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and is rightly freed through enlightenment—can’t transgress in five respects. A mendicant with defilements ended can’t deliberately take the life of a living creature, take something with the intention to steal, have sex, tell a deliberate lie, or store up goods for their own enjoyment like they did as a layperson.’ I trust I properly heard, learned, applied the mind, and remembered that from the Buddha?” “Indeed, Sutavā, you properly heard, learned, applied the mind, and remembered that. In the past, as today, I say this:
Five becomes nine
§2‘A mendicant who is perfected—with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart’s goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and is rightly freed through enlightenment—can’t transgress in nine respects. A mendicant with defilements ended can’t deliberately take the life of a living creature, take something with the intention to steal, have sex, tell a deliberate lie, or store up goods for their own enjoyment like they did as a layperson. And they can’t make decisions prejudiced by favoritism, hostility, stupidity, or cowardice.’ In the past, as today, I say this: ‘A mendicant who is perfected—with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart’s goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and is rightly freed through enlightenment—can’t transgress in these nine respects.’”
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