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, closing a nine-discourse arc
Why this discourse
This discourse swaps “unmindful” (muṭṭhassati, forgetful, lacking mindfulness) into the template's own fifth position, closing the nine-discourse series opened at SN 37.5. Across these nine discourses, the variable fifth slot has now held emotional failings (irritable, acrimonious, jealous), an ethical failing tied to money (stingy), a specific marital violation (unfaithful), a general moral disposition (unethical), and deficiencies in learning, effort, and now mindfulness — nine distinct kinds of falling short, all held together by the same four fixed qualities.
Reading guide
Mindfulness, the last of nine distinct failings
Muṭṭhassati (literally “confused mindfulness,” meaning forgetful or unmindful) closes the series on a quality this project has already met treated as a central spiritual faculty in its own right elsewhere in this book, not merely a minor lapse.
Nine qualities, four categories of falling short
Looking back across the whole series: three emotional qualities (kodhana, upanāhī, issukī), one financial (maccharī), one specifically marital (aticārī), one broadly ethical (dussīla), and three cognitive or practical (appassuta, kusīta, muṭṭhassati) — the variable slot ranges far more widely than a single theme.
A positive counterpart closing the mirror series too
Upaṭṭhitassati (“established mindfulness,” this quality's own positive counterpart) will close its own equivalent position at SN 37.23 in Dutiyapeyyālavagga, before that vagga's own final discourse (SN 37.24) shifts to yet another framework entirely.
A series now complete, with one discourse left in this vagga
With this discourse, the nine-part fivefold template series (SN 37.5–13) is finished; SN 37.14 will close Paṭhamapeyyālavagga itself with a different, precept-based fivefold list and this vagga's own colophon.
Key terms
muṭṭhassati — unmindful, forgetful — literally “confused mindfulness,” this discourse's own variable fifth quality and the series' own final one
upaṭṭhitassati — “established mindfulness” — this quality's own positive counterpart, closing the equivalent position in the mirror series at SN 37.23
assaddha... ahirika... anottāpī... duppañña — the four fixed qualities, carried unchanged across all nine discourses of this series
terasamaṁ — “thirteenth” — this discourse's own untranslated closing marker, its position within Paṭhamapeyyālavagga as a whole
…pe… nirayaṁ upapajjati — the compressed formula, returning to the shortened destination phrase after SN 37.12's own irregular restoration
The text
The complete discourse as bilara-data preserves it — closing this nine-discourse fivefold template series. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“… They’re faithless, shameless, imprudent, unmindful, and witless. …”
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Self-check quiz
5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 5
What quality does this discourse's own variable fifth position name, closing the series?
Correct: A. Literally "confused mindfulness" — the series' own final variable quality.
Question 2 of 5
How many distinct kinds of falling short has the variable slot named across the whole nine-discourse series?
Correct: A. A range far wider than a single theme: irritability, grudges, jealousy, stinginess, infidelity, general ethics, and three deficiencies of learning, effort, and mindfulness.
Question 3 of 5
Where does this quality's own positive counterpart close an equivalent series?
Correct: A. Upaṭṭhitassati, "established mindfulness," closing the equivalent position in the mirror series.
Question 4 of 5
What happens immediately after this discourse in Paṭhamapeyyālavagga?
Correct: A. A distinct framework (the five precepts) rather than a continuation of the same template.
Question 5 of 5
What four qualities remain constant across all nine discourses of this series, including this one?
Correct: A. The four fixed qualities anchoring the entire series from SN 37.5 through this closing discourse.
