The Chapter on the Ascetic Life
AN 6.117 Observing the Body Kāyānupassīsutta
"Mendicants, without giving up these six qualities you can't meditate observing an aspect of the body. What six? Relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much. Without giving up these six qualities you can't meditate observing an aspect of the body.
But after giving up these six qualities you can meditate observing an aspect of the body. What six? Relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much. After giving up these six qualities you can meditate observing an aspect of the body."
AN 6.118 Observing Principles, Etc. Dhammānupassīsutta
"Mendicants, without giving up six things you can't meditate observing an aspect of the body internally ... body externally ... body internally and externally ... feelings internally ... feelings externally ... feelings internally and externally ... mind internally ... mind externally ... mind internally and externally ... principles internally ... principles externally ... principles internally and externally. What six? Relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much. After giving up these six qualities you can meditate observing an aspect of principles internally and externally."
AN 6.119 About Tapussa Tapussasutta
"Mendicants, having six qualities the householder Tapussa is certain about the Realized One, sees freedom from death and lives having realized freedom from death. What six? Experiential confidence in the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and noble ethics, knowledge, and freedom. Having these six qualities the householder Tapussa is certain about the Realized One, sees freedom from death and lives having realized freedom from death."
AN 6.120--139 About Bhallika, Etc. Bhallikādisutta
"Mendicants, having six qualities the householders Bhallika ... Sudatta Anāthapiṇḍika ... Citta of Macchikāsaṇḍa ... Hatthaka of Āḷavī ... Mahānāma the Sakyan ... Ugga of Vesālī ... Uggata ... Sūrambaṭṭha ... Jīvaka Komārabhacca ... Nakula's father ... Tavakaṇṇika ... Pūraṇa ... Isidatta ... Sandhāna ... Vijaya ... Vijayamāhita ... Meṇḍaka ... the lay followers Vāseṭṭha ... Ariṭṭha ... and Sāragga are certain about the Realized One, see freedom from death and live having realized freedom from death. What six? Experiential confidence in the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and noble ethics, knowledge, and freedom. Having these six qualities the lay follower Sāragga is certain about the Realized One, sees freedom from death and lives having realized freedom from death."
Abbreviated Texts Beginning With Greed
AN 6.140 Untitled Discourse on Greed (1st) ~
"For insight into greed, six things should be developed. What six? The unsurpassable seeing, listening, acquisition, training, service, and recollection. For insight into greed, these six things should be developed."
AN 6.141 Untitled Discourse on Greed (2nd) ~
"For insight into greed, six things should be developed. What six? The recollection of the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, ethics, generosity, and the deities. For insight into greed, these six things should be developed."
AN 6.142 Untitled Discourse on Greed (3rd) ~
"For insight into greed, six things should be developed. What six? The perception of impermanence, the perception of suffering in impermanence, the perception of not-self in suffering, the perception of giving up, the perception of fading away, and the perception of cessation. For insight into greed, these six things should be developed."
AN 6.143--169 Untitled Discourses on Greed, Etc. ~
"For the complete understanding of greed ... complete ending ... giving up ... ending ... vanishing ... fading away ... cessation ... giving away ... letting go of greed these six things should be developed."
AN 6.170--649 Untitled Discourses on Hate, Etc. ~
"Of hate ... delusion ... anger ... acrimony ... disdain ... contempt ... jealousy ... stinginess ... deceitfulness ... deviousness ... obstinacy ... aggression ... conceit ... arrogance ... vanity ... for insight into negligence ... complete understanding ... complete ending ... giving up ... ending ... vanishing ... fading away ... cessation ... giving away ... letting go of negligence these six things should be developed."
That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.
::: Center THE BOOK OF THE SIXES IS FINISHED. :::
Colophon
The Translator
Bhikkhu Sujato was born as Anthony Aidan Best on 4/11/1966 in Perth, Western Australia. He grew up in the pleasant suburbs of Mt Lawley and Attadale alongside his sister Nicola, who was the good child. His mother, Margaret Lorraine Huntsman née Pinder, said "he'll either be a priest or a poet", while his father, Anthony Thomas Best, advised him to "never do anything for money". He attended Aquinas College, a Catholic school, where he decided to become an atheist. At the University of WA he studied philosophy, aiming to learn what he wanted to do with his life. Finding that what he wanted to do was play guitar, he dropped out. His main band was named Martha's Vineyard, which achieved modest success in the indie circuit.
A seemingly random encounter with a roadside joey took him to Thailand, where he entered his first meditation retreat at Wat Ram Poeng, Chieng Mai in 1992. Feeling the call to the Buddha's path, he took full ordination in Wat Pa Nanachat in 1994, where his teachers were Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Jayasaro. In 1997 he returned to Perth to study with Ajahn Brahm at Bodhinyana Monastery.
He spent several years practicing in seclusion in Malaysia and Thailand before establishing Santi Forest Monastery in Bundanoon, NSW, in 2003. There he was instrumental in supporting the establishment of the Theravada bhikkhuni order in Australia and advocating for women's rights. He continues to teach in Australia and globally, with a special concern for the moral implications of climate change and other forms of environmental destruction. He has published a series of books of original and groundbreaking research on early Buddhism.
In 2005 he founded SuttaCentral together with Rod Bucknell and John Kelly. In 2015, seeing the need for a complete, accurate, plain English translation of the Pali texts, he undertook the task, spending nearly three years in isolation on the isle of Qi Mei off the coast of the nation of Taiwan. He completed the four main Nikāyas in 2018, and the early books of the Khuddaka Nikāya were complete by 2021. All this work is dedicated to the public domain and is entirely free of copyright encumbrance.
In 2019 he returned to Sydney where he established Lokanta Vihara (The Monastery at the End of the World).
Creation Process
Primary source was the digital Mahāsaṅgīti edition of the Pali Tipiṭaka. Translated from the Pali, with reference to several English translations, especially those of Bhikkhu Bodhi.
The Translation
This translation was part of a project to translate the four Pali Nikāyas with the following aims: plain, approachable English; consistent terminology; accurate rendition of the Pali; free of copyright. It was made during 2016--2018 while Bhikkhu Sujato was staying in Qimei, Taiwan.
About SuttaCentral
SuttaCentral publishes early Buddhist texts. Since 2005 we have provided root texts in Pali, Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and other languages, parallels between these texts, and translations in many modern languages. Building on the work of generations of scholars, we offer our contribution freely.
SuttaCentral is driven by volunteer contributions, and in addition we employ professional developers. We offer a sponsorship program for high quality translations from the original languages. Financial support for SuttaCentral is handled by the SuttaCentral Development Trust, a charitable trust registered in Australia.
About Bilara
"Bilara" means "cat" in Pali, and it is the name of our Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) software. Bilara is a web app that enables translators to translate early Buddhist texts into their own language. These translations are published on SuttaCentral with the root text and translation side by side.
About SuttaCentral Editions
The SuttaCentral Editions project makes high quality books from selected Bilara translations. These are published in formats including HTML, EPUB, PDF, and print.
You are welcome to print any of our Editions.