The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The convergence formula applied to a ten-factor path, followed by a reciter's instruction and the vagga's closing verse
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
★★★☆☆ — extends SN 14.28's eight factors with two further ones worth understanding precisely
Why this discourse
This discourse closes Kammapathavagga by extending SN 14.28's eightfold path with two further factors: micchāñāṇa/sammāñāṇa, wrong or right knowledge, and micchāvimutti/sammāvimutti, wrong or right freedom. This ten-factor path (dasaṅga) is the same list found describing the arahant, the one beyond training, whose path is complete rather than still being cultivated. A reciter's instruction and the vagga's own closing verse follow, the latter confirming this vagga's seven discourses by name and closing with “Kammapathavaggo tatiyo,” “the third chapter is told.”
Reading guide
Two factors beyond the eightfold path
Right knowledge and right freedom don't appear in the standard eightfold path formula; they belong to a distinct, less commonly cited ten-factor list traditionally associated with the arahant's completed path rather than the trainee still practicing toward it.
Knowledge and freedom as the path's own fruit
Where the eight factors describe practice still underway, right knowledge and right freedom describe what that practice culminates in — direct knowing and full liberation, not further steps of cultivation but the path's own outcome folded back into its list of factors.
A second reciter's instruction, echoing SN 14.22
“Tell all in full for the past, future, and present” closes this discourse exactly as it closed SN 14.22, confirming the three-time-frame expansion applies here too, though the present-tense chain given is the only one actually spelled out.
The vagga's own closing verse, confirmed in Pali
Untranslated but readable, this vagga's uddāna names all seven discourses by their opening words — asamāhitaṁ, dussīlaṁ, pañca sikkhāpadāni, satta kammapathā, dasakammapathena, aṭṭhaṅgiko, dasaṅgena — before closing with “Kammapathavaggo tatiyo,” “the third chapter is told,” confirming this vagga's place as Dhātusaṃyutta's third.
A vagga that climbed steadily toward completion
Looking back across all seven discourses, Kammapathavagga moved from two brief transitional chains (SN 14.23–24) through an ethical list built up in three stages (SN 14.25–27) to a path built up in two (SN 14.28–29) — each pair or trio compounding toward a more complete structure than the one before it.
Key terms
dasaṅga — “ten factors” — this discourse's title term, extending the eightfold path with two further factors traditionally associated with the arahant's completed path.
sammāñāṇa — “right knowledge” — the ninth factor, direct knowing that goes beyond the eight factors of practice still underway.
sammāvimutti — “right freedom” — the tenth and final factor, full liberation itself folded into the path's own list.
sabbattha atītānāgatapaccuppannaṁ kātabbaṁ — “tell all in full for the past, future, and present” — the reciter's instruction closing this discourse, echoing the identical line at the end of SN 14.22.
kammapathavaggo tatiyo — “the third chapter on ways of performing deeds is told” — the untranslated line formally closing this vagga, confirming its place as Dhātusaṃyutta's third.
The text
The discourse in full, including its closing reciter's instruction. The vagga's closing verse of discourse titles is not translated in the source and is not quoted here. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, sentient beings come 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 … wrong knowledge … wrong freedom …
§2Those who have right view … right purpose … right speech … right action … right livelihood … right effort … right mindfulness … right immersion … right knowledge … right freedom with those who have right freedom.”
§3(Tell all in full for the past, future, and present.)
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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 two factors does this discourse add to SN 14.28's eightfold path?
Correct: A. Sammāñāṇa and sammāvimutti, extending the path to ten factors.
Question 2 of 10
What does this reading guide say about the ten-factor path's traditional association?
Correct: A. A less commonly cited list describing the one beyond training.
Question 3 of 10
How do right knowledge and right freedom differ in kind from the original eight factors?
Correct: A. Direct knowing and full liberation, the fruit rather than the cultivation.
Question 4 of 10
What reciter's instruction closes this discourse, echoing an earlier discourse?
Correct: A. The identical line closing both SN 14.22 and this discourse.
Question 5 of 10
What does the vagga's own closing verse confirm about this vagga's place in Dhātusaṃyutta?
Correct: A. "The third chapter on ways of performing deeds is told."
Question 6 of 10
How does this reading guide characterize Kammapathavagga's overall structure?
Correct: A. Each pair or trio compounding toward a more complete structure than the one before it.
Question 7 of 10
Is the vagga's closing verse of discourse titles translated in the source?
Correct: A. Following the same convention used for untranslated closing material elsewhere in this collection.
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 and closing discourse of Kammapathavagga.
