Skip to reading
← Aṅguttara Nikāya

Worldly Conditions (1st)

AN 8.5 · Paṭhamalokadhammasutta

Slender bamboo culms and delicate leaves in soft morning shade.

“Mendicants, the eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around the eight worldly conditions. What eight? Gain and loss, fame and disgrace, blame and praise, pleasure and pain. These eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around these eight worldly conditions.

Gain and loss, fame and disgrace, blame and praise, and pleasure and pain. These qualities among mankind are impermanent, transient, and perishable.

An intelligent and mindful person knows these things, seeing that they’re perishable. Desirable things don’t disturb their mind, nor are they repelled by the undesirable.

Both favoring and opposing are cleared and disappeared, they are no more. Knowing the stainless, sorrowless state, they who have gone beyond rebirth understand rightly.”

Connections

Collection & context

Books

About this edition

Translation by Bhikkhu Sujato · SuttaCentral · CC0

This translation is an expression of an ancient spiritual text that has been passed down by the Buddhist tradition for the benefit of all sentient beings. It is dedicated to the public domain via Creative Commons Zero (CC0). You are encouraged to copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or otherwise make use of this translation. The translator respectfully requests that any use be in accordance with the values and principles of the Buddhist community. In particular, please do not use this work in AI training datasets, for the development of any AI model or algorithm, or in any AI-derived technologies.

Published source. Translation wording and order are preserved; source headings and notes are retained, with navigation and formatting adapted for this reader.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork for Buddhist Atlas, an evocative companion rather than a historical depiction.