The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The convergence formula applied to seven ways of performing deeds, broken and kept
Length
~2 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
★★☆☆☆ — builds directly on SN 14.25's five precepts, extending rather than replacing them
Why this discourse
This discourse extends SN 14.25's five precepts with two additional items, both concerning speech: pisuṇavācā, backbiting or divisive speech, and pharusavācā, harsh speech. Together with lying, already present in the five-precept list, and samphappalāpa, talking nonsense, added at the very end, this gives four distinct verbal misdeeds alongside the three bodily ones (killing, stealing, sexual misconduct), for a total of seven — the first appearance in this vagga of kammapatha, “way of performing deeds,” the term Kammapathavagga itself is named for.
Reading guide
This vagga's namesake term finally appears
Kammapatha, way of performing deeds, gives this vagga its name but doesn't appear in either of the two discourses before it; here, three discourses in, the term this whole vagga is named for is finally used.
Three bodily, four verbal
The seven ways split cleanly: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct are bodily; lying, backbiting, harsh speech, and talking nonsense are all verbal — speech-related misconduct outnumbering bodily misconduct in this particular list.
Two genuinely new items, one already familiar
Backbiting and harsh speech are new to this discourse; talking nonsense (samphappalāpa) closes the list, while lying, already established in SN 14.25, simply carries forward unchanged.
Still five separate convergences, not merged into one
As in SN 14.25, each of the seven items converges independently with its own kind; the discourse doesn't chain them together sequentially the way the faithless-to-witless discourses did.
A recognizable subset of the classic ten
Readers familiar with the traditional ten unwholesome kammapatha will recognize these seven as its bodily and verbal portion; the three remaining mental items — covetousness, ill will, wrong view — arrive in the very next discourse.
Key terms
kammapatha — “way of performing deeds” — this discourse's title term and this vagga's namesake, appearing here for the first time in Kammapathavagga.
pisuṇavācā — “backbiting,” or divisive speech — the first of two verbal items new to this discourse.
pharusavācā — “harsh speech” — the second new verbal item, speech intended to wound.
samphappalāpa — “talking nonsense,” or idle chatter — the seventh and final item, closing the verbal portion of this list.
catutthaṁ — “the fourth” — the closing numbering tag, marking this discourse's place in the vagga.
The text
The discourse in full, including the source's own elision of the middle items shared with SN 14.25. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, sentient beings join together and converge because of an element: those who kill living creatures with those who kill living creatures, those who steal … commit sexual misconduct … lie … backbite … speak harshly … talk nonsense …
§2Those who refrain from killing living creatures. … who refrain from stealing … who refrain from sexual misconduct … who refrain from lying … who refrain from backbiting … who refrain from harsh speech … who refrain from talking nonsense with those who refrain from talking nonsense.”
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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 term appears in this discourse for the first time in Kammapathavagga?
Correct: A. Not used in SN 14.23-25, despite naming the whole vagga.
Question 2 of 10
What two items does this discourse add to SN 14.25's five precepts?
Correct: A. Two verbal misdeeds, extending the list from five to seven.
Question 3 of 10
How do the seven ways split between bodily and verbal misconduct?
Correct: A. Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct (bodily); lying, backbiting, harsh speech, talking nonsense (verbal).
Question 4 of 10
What item closes this discourse's list of seven?
Correct: A. Idle chatter, the seventh and final item.
Question 5 of 10
What do the three remaining items of the classic ten kammapatha concern, arriving in the next discourse?
Correct: A. SN 14.27 completes the classic ten with these three mental items.
Question 6 of 10
Does this discourse chain its seven items into one sequential list, like the faithless-to-witless discourses?
Correct: A. Following SN 14.25's pattern of separate, parallel convergences.
Question 7 of 10
What happens to lying in this discourse, compared to SN 14.25?
Correct: A. Already present in SN 14.25; only backbiting and harsh speech are genuinely new here.
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 fourth discourse of Kammapathavagga.
