The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A single five-item convergence chain, negative then positive, in the same formula this saṃyutta has used since SN 14.14
Length
~1 minute 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
★★☆☆☆ — brief, and a direct continuation of Dutiyavagga's convergence formula
Why this discourse
Opening the third vagga of Dhātusaṃyutta, this discourse doesn't immediately turn to the “ways of performing deeds” (kammapatha) the vagga is named for. Instead it extends Dutiyavagga's familiar three-item opening — faithless, shameless, imprudent — with a new fourth term, lacking immersion, before closing on witless as always. Read alongside SN 14.24 immediately after it, this discourse functions as a bridge: still using the mental-quality vocabulary this saṃyutta has built since SN 14.17, but pointed now toward the concrete ethical and meditative territory the rest of this vagga will occupy.
Reading guide
A familiar three-item opening, extended
Faithless, shameless, and imprudent, the first three terms of SN 14.17's original septet, open this discourse's chain exactly as they've opened several discourses before it.
A genuinely new fourth term
Asamāhitā, lacking immersion (samādhi), doesn't appear anywhere in Dutiyavagga's septet; it's introduced here specifically, foreshadowing the vagga's later turn to the eightfold path, where right immersion is the path's final factor.
Witless, still closing every chain
As in every convergence discourse since SN 14.18, duppaññā, witless, remains the fixed final term, unbroken across the transition from one vagga to the next.
A short discourse doing a structural job
This discourse is brief and doesn't introduce new doctrine so much as extend an existing pattern by one term — its main function is transitional, easing the reader from Dutiyavagga's abstract territory into Kammapathavagga's more concrete concerns.
A vagga named for what hasn't yet appeared
Kammapathavagga takes its name from kammapatha, ways of performing deeds, a term that doesn't actually appear until SN 14.26; this discourse and the one after it both precede the vagga's own namesake topic.
Key terms
asamāhitā — “lacking immersion,” without samādhi — this discourse's title term and its one genuinely new addition to the convergence chain.
samāhitā — “possessing immersion” — the positive counterpart, closing the second half of this discourse's chain.
assaddhā, ahirikā, anottappino — “faithless, shameless, imprudent” — the same first three terms opening this chain as in several discourses of Dutiyavagga.
saddhā, hirimanā, ottappino — “faithful, conscientious, prudent” — the positive mirror of the first three terms.
paṭhamaṁ — “the first” — the closing numbering tag, marking this discourse as Kammapathavagga's opener.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, sentient beings join together and converge because of an element: the faithless with the faithless … shameless … imprudent … lacking immersion … witless …
§2The faithful with the faithful … conscientious … prudent … possessing immersion … and the wise with the wise.”
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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
What genuinely new term does this discourse add to a familiar three-item opening?
Correct: A. A term not found in Dutiyavagga's original septet.
Question 2 of 10
What three terms open this discourse's chain, matching several Dutiyavagga discourses?
Correct: A. The same opening sequence SN 14.17's septet established.
Question 3 of 10
What term closes this discourse's chain, unbroken since SN 14.18?
Correct: A. The one constant carried forward from Dutiyavagga's descending sequence.
Question 4 of 10
What does this discourse's vagga, Kammapathavagga, take its name from?
Correct: A. This discourse precedes the vagga's own namesake topic by several discourses.
Question 5 of 10
What role does this discourse play for the vagga overall?
Correct: A. Brief and structurally transitional rather than introducing major new doctrine.
Question 6 of 10
What later topic does "lacking immersion" foreshadow?
Correct: A. Samādhi returns as sammāsamādhi, right immersion, in SN 14.28.
Question 7 of 10
How many items make up this discourse's full chain, faithless through witless?
Correct: A. Faithless, shameless, imprudent, lacking immersion, witless.
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 first discourse of this new vagga, restarting the internal numbering.
