SN 45.175 — Tendencies | Ru-Yi Meditation Center

Reading guide

The only sevenfold list in this vagga

Every other discourse in this vagga names either four or five items; this discourse alone names seven — confirmed by direct reading to be the standard “seven underlying tendencies” (satta anusayā) found as a fixed doctrinal set throughout the canon, describing dispositions that lie dormant until conditions activate them, distinct from active defilements already named earlier in this vagga.

Key terms

satta anusayā — “seven underlying tendencies” — latent dispositions, distinct from active defilements, that surface under the right conditions

kāmarāgānusayo paṭighānusayo diṭṭhānusayo vicikicchānusayo mānānusayo bhavarāgānusayo avijjānusayo — the underlying tendencies of sensual desire, aversion, views, doubt, conceit, desire for continued existence, and ignorance — the seven named here

abhiññāya pariññāya parikkhayāya pahānāya — the four verbs established at SN 45.161-162, carried forward unchanged, here applied to a sevenfold rather than fourfold or fivefold object

ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo bhāvetabbo — “the noble eightfold path should be developed” — this discourse's own base-formula conclusion

pañcamaṁ — “the fifth” — the Pāli root's own closing numeral for this discourse

The text

The complete discourse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, there are these seven underlying tendencies. What seven? The underlying tendencies of sensual desire, aversion, views, doubt, conceit, desire for continued existence, and ignorance. These are the seven underlying tendencies. The noble eightfold path should be developed for the direct knowledge, complete understanding, finishing, and giving up of these seven underlying tendencies.”

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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

How many underlying tendencies does this discourse name, and how does that compare to the rest of this vagga?

Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading — a genuine structural outlier within this vagga's own sequence.

Question 2 of 3

What distinguishes "underlying tendencies" (anusaya) from the active defilements named earlier in this vagga?

Correct: A. A standard doctrinal distinction between dormant and active mental factors.

Question 3 of 3

Which of the seven tendencies also appeared, by name, among the Gaṅgāpeyyāla vaggas' own closing formulas earlier in Book V?

Correct: A. The anusaya form their own distinct doctrinal list, related to but not identical with the formulas met earlier.

Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Tendencies

Why this discourse