The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The convergence formula applied to the eight factors of the noble eightfold path, wrong and right
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
★★☆☆☆ — assumes basic familiarity with the noble eightfold path's eight factors
Why this discourse
Taking up directly where SN 14.27 left off, this discourse applies the convergence formula to the tradition's most central practical teaching: the noble eightfold path. Wrong view, the item that closed SN 14.27's list, opens this discourse's negative half, followed by wrong purpose, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, and wrong immersion — each converging with its own kind — mirrored exactly by the eight right factors that make up the actual path itself. Unlike SN 14.25–27's ethical lists, which named specific actions, this discourse names a structured path of practice, view through immersion in a fixed, cumulative order.
Reading guide
A direct continuation from SN 14.27's final item
Wrong view closed the previous discourse's list; this discourse opens with the identical term, making the transition between the two discourses almost seamless.
Eight factors in the path's traditional order
View, purpose, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, immersion — the standard sequence given throughout the canon wherever the eightfold path is taught in full.
A path, not a checklist of unrelated actions
Unlike the ten kammapatha, which are ten independent actions any of which a person might or might not commit, the eightfold path's factors are traditionally understood as mutually supporting parts of a single, unified practice.
Right immersion completing an echo from SN 14.23
Sammāsamādhi, right immersion, closes the positive list here, calling back to asamāhitā, lacking immersion, the very first new term this vagga introduced five discourses earlier.
A path with two more factors still to come
This eight-factor path isn't the vagga's final word on the topic; the next and closing discourse extends it to ten factors, adding right knowledge and right freedom beyond the eightfold path itself.
Key terms
ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo — “the noble eightfold path,” though not named in full in this discourse's own text — this discourse's title subject, the tradition's central structured path of practice.
sammādiṭṭhi — “right view” — the path's first factor, opening the positive list and directly continuing SN 14.27's closing item.
sammāvācā, sammākammanta, sammāājīva — “right speech, right action, right livelihood” — the path's ethical core, factors three through five.
sammāsamādhi — “right immersion” — the path's eighth and final factor, echoing back to asamāhitā, lacking immersion, introduced in SN 14.23.
chaṭṭhaṁ — “the sixth” — 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 path's middle factors. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, sentient beings join together and converge because of an element: those of wrong view with those of wrong view … wrong purpose … wrong speech … wrong action … wrong livelihood … wrong effort … wrong mindfulness … wrong immersion …
§2Those who have right view … right purpose … right speech … right action … right livelihood … right effort … right mindfulness … right immersion with those who have right immersion.”
· · ·
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 item does this discourse open with, directly continuing SN 14.27?
Correct: A. An almost seamless transition between the two discourses.
Question 2 of 10
In what order does this discourse give the eightfold path's factors?
Correct: A. The standard sequence given throughout the canon.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse describe the eightfold path's factors, compared to the ten kammapatha?
Correct: A. A structured path, not a checklist of unrelated behaviors.
Question 4 of 10
What earlier discourse does sammāsamādhi, right immersion, call back to?
Correct: A. The vagga's very first new term, now completing an echo five discourses later.
Question 5 of 10
What happens to the eightfold path in the discourse immediately following this one?
Correct: A. SN 14.29 closes the vagga with the ten-factored path.
Question 6 of 10
What factor comes immediately after right view in this discourse's list?
Correct: A. The path's second factor, following the standard order.
Question 7 of 10
What three factors make up the path's ethical core, according to this reading guide?
Correct: A. Factors three through five, traditionally grouped as sīla.
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 sixth discourse of Kammapathavagga, one before its close.
