Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 14.17

Faithless

Assaddhasaṁsandanasutta

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The three-time-frame convergence formula, applied first to seven flaws, then to their seven opposites
Length
~3 minutes to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — introduces a seven-item list this vagga's remaining discourses build on directly

Why this discourse

Where SN 14.14 and 14.16 sorted beings into just two camps, this discourse expands the same convergence formula into a full septet: the faithless, the unconscientious, the imprudent, the unlearned, the lazy, the unmindful, and the witless each converge with their own kind, followed immediately by their seven positive mirrors — the faithful, the conscientious, the prudent, the learned, the energetic, the mindful, and the wise. This same seven-item pairing recurs elsewhere in the canon as a standard list of flaws and virtues; here it becomes the foundation for a run of five discourses (SN 14.18–22) that each work systematic variations on it.

Reading guide

From a pair to a full septet

SN 14.14 and 14.16 worked with two categories, inferior and good; this discourse replaces that binary with seven named qualities on each side, giving the convergence teaching far more resolution.

Seven flaws in a fixed order

Faithless, unconscientious, imprudent, unlearned, lazy, unmindful, witless — the order given here becomes the reference sequence the next several discourses reuse and recombine.

A list recognizable from elsewhere in the canon

This same seven-item pairing of flaws and virtues appears as a standard list in other parts of the early texts; this reading guide notes the resemblance without asserting a specific cross-reference this site doesn't yet confirm.

Full spelling, then compressed repetition

The present-tense list is given in full for both flaws and virtues; the past- and future-tense restatements that follow are heavily elided, trusting the reader to carry the full list forward from what's already been given.

A foundation, not a conclusion

Unlike SN 14.14's formula, which stood on its own, this discourse's septet is explicitly built to be recombined — the very next discourse takes these same seven qualities and reorganizes them into fixed three-item chains.

Key terms

assaddhā … duppaññā — “the faithless … the witless” — the full seven-item list of flaws this discourse establishes, in the fixed order later discourses reuse.
saddhā … paññavanto — “the faithful … the wise” — the seven positive counterparts, mirroring the flaws item for item.
ahirika — “unconscientious,” literally “without shame” — the second flaw in the list, lacking an inner sense of moral restraint.
anottappa — “imprudent,” literally “without apprehension” — the third flaw, lacking a healthy fear of consequences.
muṭṭhassati — “unmindful,” literally “of confused mindfulness” — the sixth flaw, immediately before witlessness closes the list.

The text

The discourse in full, including the source's own elision of the past- and future-tense sections' repeated clauses. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, sentient beings join together and converge because of an element: the faithless with the faithless, the unconscientious with the unconscientious, the imprudent with the imprudent, the unlearned with the unlearned, the lazy with the lazy, the unmindful with the unmindful, and the witless with the witless.

§2In the past, too, sentient beings came together and converged because of an element. …

§3In the future, too, sentient beings will join together and converge because of an element. …

§4At present, too, sentient beings join together and converge because of an element. …

§5Sentient beings join together and converge because of an element: the faithful with the faithful, the conscientious with the conscientious, the prudent with the prudent, the learned with the learned, the energetic with the energetic, the mindful with the mindful, and the wise with the wise. In the past … In the future … At present, too, sentient beings join together and converge because of an element. …”

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Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10
How many named qualities does this discourse sort beings into, on each side?
Correct: A. A full septet, replacing the earlier binary of inferior and good.
Question 2 of 10
What are the seven flaws, in the order this discourse gives them?
Correct: A. The reference sequence later discourses in this vagga reuse and recombine.
Question 3 of 10
What role does this discourse's septet play for the discourses that follow it?
Correct: A. SN 14.18 onward systematically reorganizes these same seven qualities.
Question 4 of 10
What happens to the full list in this discourse's past- and future-tense sections?
Correct: A. Standard economy for this saṃyutta, spelling out the base list only once.
Question 5 of 10
What does ahirika mean, and where does it fall in the list?
Correct: A. Lacking an inner sense of moral restraint, immediately after faithlessness.
Question 6 of 10
What quality closes the negative list, and what closes the positive list?
Correct: A. Duppaññā and paññavanto, the fixed final items in each septet.
Question 7 of 10
Does this discourse assert a specific match to a list found elsewhere in the canon?
Correct: A. A cautious, honest note rather than an unverified specific claim.
Question 8 of 10
Who is the sole speaker in this discourse?
Correct: A. No interlocutor or visitor appears; the Buddha teaches directly.
Question 9 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The setting shared with most discourses in this collection.
Question 10 of 10
What numbering tag closes this discourse?
Correct: A. The seventh discourse of Dutiyavagga.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 14.16 · With Verses