The sixth path-formulation names the four right efforts — preventing unskillful qualities from arising, abandoning those already arisen, developing skillful qualities, and maintaining those already developed — as a single group, continuing this vagga's own settled pattern of naming one standard list per discourse.
Reading guide
A fourfold effort, named whole
“Cattāro sammappadhānā” — “the four right efforts” — covers prevention, abandoning, developing, and maintaining as one named group, its own four members presupposed rather than spelled out in this discourse's own text, exactly as SN 43.5 named the four foundations of mindfulness.
Effort paired with an unconditioned goal
Naming deliberate effort — not passive observation alone — as a path to something explicitly unconditioned may read as a tension; this reading guide does not resolve it beyond noting the discourse itself offers no further comment, holding effort and the unconditioned side by side without explanation.
Key terms
cattāro sammappadhānā — “the four right efforts” — named here as one group, its own four members not individually listed
anuppannānaṁ pāpakānaṁ akusalānaṁ dhammānaṁ anuppādāya — “so that bad, unskillful qualities don't arise” — the first effort, presupposed rather than spelled out in this compressed discourse
uppannānaṁ... pahānāya — “...are given up” — the second effort, likewise presupposed here
asaṅkhatagāmimaggo — “the path that leads to the unconditioned” — the question this discourse opens directly on
chaṭṭhaṁ — “sixth” — this vagga's own internal count-marker, left untranslated in the root
The text
The complete discourse, as genuinely translated — this vagga's own compressed form. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“And what is the path that leads to the unconditioned? The four right efforts. …”
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Self-check quiz
3 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 3
What does this discourse name as "the path that leads to the unconditioned"?
Correct: A. Prevention, abandoning, developing, and maintaining — the four right efforts, named collectively without individual elaboration here.
Question 2 of 3
How does this reading guide characterize the discourse's own pairing of deliberate effort with an unconditioned goal?
Correct: A. Effort and the unconditioned are simply held side by side, without further explanation from the source itself.
Question 3 of 3
What pattern does this discourse continue from SN 43.5?
Correct: A. The settled pattern running from SN 43.5 through SN 43.9.
