ng. "These are the nine step-by-step dwellings." This longer version has the advantage of being more informative than the shorter version, but the shorter version fits better into the pattern of questions that frame this discourse and the following one, AN 9:33. The question there is, "And what, monks, are the nine step-by-step dwelling-attainments?" whereas the question here can be paraphrased as, "Which are the nine step-by-step dwellings?" In line with the fact that AN 9:33 focuses on the attainment of these dwellings—including the formulae for how they are attained—it makes sense that this discourse would simply list the dwellings without describing how they are attained. - --> - - - -