Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 37.15

Loving

Akkodhanasutta — Dutiyapeyyālavagga

Setting
Not restated beyond Anuruddha's approach to the Buddha
Speakers
Venerable Anuruddha and the Buddha
Form
A clairvoyant observation, a direct question, and a fivefold answer opening this vagga's own mirror series
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
★★☆☆☆ — best read directly alongside SN 37.5

Why this discourse

This discourse opens Dutiyapeyyālavagga, confirming exactly what Paṭhamapeyyālavagga's own closing colophon (met at SN 37.14) implied: this vagga will pair its own bright-side content, and this vagga's closing colophon (met ahead at SN 37.24) will confirm it outright as “sukkapakkhe pakāsito” — “declared on the bright side.” Anuruddha asks the identical question as SN 37.5, word for word, but reporting a woman's rebirth in “a good place, a heavenly realm” rather than hell. The Buddha's own answer mirrors SN 37.5's fivefold list exactly, term for term reversed: faithful, conscientious, prudent, loving, and wise.

Reading guide

The identical question, the opposite observation

Anuruddha's own clairvoyant report and question repeat SN 37.5's own wording precisely, with only the outcome reversed — heavenly rebirth in place of hell — confirming this discourse as SN 37.5's deliberate structural counterpart rather than a separately occasioned teaching.

Four fixed qualities, each the reverse of its dark-side counterpart

Saddha (faithful), hirimā (conscientious, possessing hiri), ottāpī (prudent, possessing ottappa), and paññavā (wise) directly reverse SN 37.5's own assaddha, ahirika, anottāpī, and duppañña — the same two universal ethical safeguards (hiri and ottappa) now named in their possessed rather than lacking form.

Kodhana reversed to akkodhana: loving, not merely unangry

This discourse's own title, “Loving,” translates akkodhana — literally “without anger” — but Sujato's own English rendering chooses a positive quality (loving) rather than a simple negation (not angry), a translation choice worth noting rather than treating as a literal mirror in English even where the Pali itself is a direct negation of SN 37.5's own kodhana.

A vagga opening exactly as its own dark-side twin did

Just as SN 37.5 opened Paṭhamapeyyālavagga's own nine-discourse series with Anuruddha's clairvoyant question, this discourse opens Dutiyapeyyālavagga's own mirror series the same way — the parallel structure extends even to which discourse in each vagga carries the narrative frame.

Key terms

saddhā — faithful — directly reversing SN 37.5's own assaddha
hirimā — conscientious, possessing hiri (moral conscience) — reversing ahirika
ottāpī — prudent, possessing ottappa (prudent moral dread) — reversing anottāpī
akkodhana — “without anger” — this discourse's own variable fifth quality, rendered by Sujato as “loving” rather than a literal negation, giving the discourse its title
paññavā — wise — directly reversing SN 37.5's own duppañña, closing the list as its fixed final term

The text

The complete discourse: Anuruddha's own mirrored question and the Buddha's full fivefold answer. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1Then Venerable Anuruddha went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sometimes, sir, with my clairvoyance that’s purified and superhuman, I see that a lady—when her body breaks up, after death—is reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. How many qualities do ladies have so that they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm?”

§2“Anuruddha, when ladies have five qualities, when their body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. What five? They’re faithful, conscientious, prudent, loving, and wise. When ladies possess these five qualities, when their body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.”

· · ·

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
How does this discourse's opening compare to SN 37.5's own?
Correct: A. Confirming this discourse as SN 37.5's deliberate structural counterpart.
Question 2 of 5
What four fixed qualities does this discourse name, reversing SN 37.5's own four?
Correct: A. Saddhā, hirimā, ottāpī, and paññavā — direct reversals of assaddha, ahirika, anottāpī, and duppañña.
Question 3 of 5
How does Sujato render "akkodhana," this discourse's own variable fifth quality?
Correct: A. A translation choice worth noting, since the Pali itself is a direct negation of kodhana.
Question 4 of 5
What does this vagga's own closing colophon (met ahead at SN 37.24) confirm about this vagga?
Correct: A. Confirming exactly what Paṭhamapeyyālavagga's own closing colophon implied.
Question 5 of 5
What two universal ethical concepts do hirimā and ottāpī draw on?
Correct: A. Now named in their possessed, positive form rather than their lacking form at SN 37.5.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 37.14 · Five Threats