The Maṅgala Sutta Inventory, or MSI-76, is scored by converting each of its 76 responses to a value from 1 to 5, adjusting reverse-coded items, and calculating an average for each of the ten assessment areas.
Each area receives a score from 1.0 to 5.0. The results are designed to reveal patterns across different parts of life and practice. They are not grades, diagnoses, or judgments of spiritual worth.
How MSI-76 Scoring Works
The scoring process has four basic steps:
- Convert each response to a value from 1 to 5.
- Adjust the items that are reverse-coded.
- Calculate the average score for each assessment area.
- Round each area score to one decimal place.
The MSI-76 produces ten area scores rather than one official overall score. This allows people to see where qualities may already be well established and where greater attention or practice may be useful.
The Five MSI-76 Response Scales
Every MSI-76 item uses a five-point response scale. However, the wording of the scale changes depending on what the question asks.
Using several types of response scales encourages people to consider each question carefully rather than automatically selecting the same response pattern throughout the inventory.
1. Frequency
- Never: 1
- Rarely: 2
- Sometimes: 3
- Often: 4
- Almost always: 5
2. Degree or Effort
- Not at all: 1
- A little: 2
- Somewhat: 3
- Very: 4
- Fully: 5
3. Quality or Ability
- Not well: 1
- A little: 2
- Somewhat well: 3
- Very well: 4
- Extremely well: 5
4. Clarity or Confidence
- Not clear or confident: 1
- A little clear or confident: 2
- Somewhat clear or confident: 3
- Very clear or confident: 4
- Completely clear or confident: 5
5. Speed or Awareness
- Much later: 1
- After a while: 2
- After a pause: 3
- Quickly: 4
- Right away: 5
Regardless of the scale used, the choices are assigned values from 1 to 5, moving from the leftmost response to the rightmost response.
What Are Reverse-Coded Items?
Most MSI-76 questions describe a beneficial quality, ability, or behavior. For these items, a higher response generally reflects stronger alignment with the blessing being assessed.
Some questions instead ask about harmful, reactive, or unhelpful patterns. On those questions, a high response indicates less alignment rather than more alignment. These items must be reverse-coded before the area scores are calculated.
For example, consider a question asking how often someone reacts emotionally without pausing. Selecting “Often” produces an original value of 4. Because frequent emotional reactivity reflects lower alignment, the adjusted score becomes 2.
Reverse coding ensures that all final scores point in the same direction:
Higher adjusted scores reflect greater alignment with the quality or blessing being assessed.
How Reverse Coding Is Calculated
A reverse-coded response is adjusted using this formula:
Adjusted score = 6 minus the original response
The conversion works as follows:
| Original response | Adjusted score |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 |
A response of 3 remains 3 because it is the midpoint of the scale.
Standard items are not changed. Their original values become their final adjusted values.
Which MSI-76 Items Are Reverse-Coded?
The current MSI-76 data dictionary identifies the following 33 items as reverse-coded:
Q02, Q03, Q05, Q06, Q09, Q13, Q14, Q16, Q21, Q22, Q24, Q27, Q30, Q34, Q35, Q38, Q39, Q41, Q45, Q46, Q48, Q49, Q54, Q56, Q60, Q61, Q62, Q64, Q65, Q66, Q73, Q74, and Q76.
Anyone building a scoring system, research database, or web application should use the current MSI-76 data dictionary rather than trying to determine reverse coding from the wording of an item alone.
How the Ten Area Scores Are Calculated
After all standard and reverse-coded items have been adjusted, the items assigned to each assessment area are averaged.
To calculate an area score:
- Identify every item assigned to the area.
- Add the adjusted scores for those items.
- Divide the total by the number of items in that area.
- Round the result to one decimal place.
The basic formula is:
Area score = Sum of adjusted item scores ÷ Number of items in the area
For example, suppose an area contains six items with adjusted scores of:
4, 3, 5, 4, 2, and 4
The total is 22.
22 ÷ 6 = 3.666
Rounded to one decimal place, the final area score is:
3.7
How Many Items Are in Each Assessment Area?
The 76 MSI-76 questions are distributed across the ten areas as follows:
| Assessment area | Number of items |
|---|---|
| Foundation of Association | 6 |
| Environmental & Directional Stability | 6 |
| Learning & Skill | 8 |
| Family & Livelihood | 6 |
| Generosity & Moral Clarity | 8 |
| Restraint & Vigilance | 6 |
| Inner Virtues | 10 |
| Mental Strength | 8 |
| Deep Practice & Insight | 8 |
| The Unshakable Mind | 10 |
Because each score is an average rather than a total, every area remains on the same 1.0 to 5.0 scale even though the areas contain different numbers of questions.
Explore what the ten MSI-76 assessment areas measure.
Does the MSI-76 Produce an Overall Score?
The official MSI-76 scoring method produces ten separate area scores. It does not currently define one official overall score for the entire inventory.
This is intentional. A single number could conceal important differences among relationships, ethical conduct, restraint, mental strength, deep practice, and other areas.
For example, two people could receive the same mathematical average while having very different patterns. One person might have strong foundational conditions but limited deep practice. Another might have significant spiritual practice while experiencing instability in relationships or livelihood.
The pattern across the ten areas is therefore more informative than a single combined total.
How to Interpret MSI-76 Scores
Each assessment area receives a score from 1.0 to 5.0.
| Score | Classification | General interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 to 1.9 | Needs Attention | The area may be underdeveloped, neglected, strained, or affected by patterns that pull away from the blessing. |
| 2.0 to 2.9 | Developing | The quality is present but not yet steady or consistently expressed in daily life. |
| 3.0 to 3.9 | Moderately Aligned | The area is active but uneven, with meaningful strengths alongside stress, distraction, fear, craving, or established habits. |
| 4.0 to 4.5 | Strongly Aligned | The area appears to be a reliable strength that is visible in choices, relationships, habits, and conduct. |
| 4.6 to 5.0 | Deeply Integrated | The quality appears to be deeply embodied and well established in how the person lives, responds, relates, and practices. |
These classifications provide a shared language for reflection. They should not be interpreted as fixed identities or final conclusions.
Why MSI-76 Scores Are Not Grades
An MSI-76 score is not a grade because the inventory is not testing whether someone knows the correct answers. It asks people to reflect honestly on how they generally live, respond, relate, and practice.
A lower score does not mean that someone has failed. It may reflect:
- A difficult or unstable environment
- A strained relationship
- A habit that has not yet changed
- A quality that has received little attention
- A period of stress, grief, illness, or transition
- An area in which understanding has not yet become consistent action
A higher score does not mean perfection or spiritual superiority. It suggests that a quality may be more consistently visible in daily life at the time the inventory is completed.
The purpose of scoring is to make patterns easier to see, not to rank people or determine who is a better Buddhist.
How to Read the Pattern of Your Results
Begin by looking across all ten scores rather than focusing immediately on the highest or lowest number.
Notice your strongest areas. These qualities may already provide stable foundations in your life. Consider how those strengths could support another area that is less developed.
Notice your lowest areas without treating them as failures. They may point toward conditions, habits, relationships, or practices that deserve more attention.
Also consider the relationship between areas. A lower score in Foundation of Association or Environmental & Directional Stability may affect Mental Strength or Deep Practice & Insight. The progression of the Maṅgala Sutta suggests that later mental development is often supported by earlier relational, environmental, and ethical conditions.
Your results reflect how you responded at a particular time. They are not permanent descriptions of your character.
How Should Missing Responses Be Handled?
For standard MSI-76 scoring, all 76 questions should be answered before results are calculated.
An unanswered item should never automatically be treated as:
- 0
- 1
- A neutral response of 3
- The person’s average response
- A guessed or substituted value
Assigning a value to an unanswered item could distort the area score and misrepresent the person’s responses.
When an item is missing, the assessment should be marked incomplete and the participant should be prompted to answer the unanswered question before receiving results.
Researchers or developers who choose to use a different missing-data procedure should document that method clearly. Results calculated through an altered procedure should not be presented as directly equivalent to standard MSI-76 scores.
Scoring the MSI-76 in a Website or Application
A digital scoring system should complete the following steps automatically:
- Confirm that all 76 questions have been answered.
- Convert each selected response to a value from 1 to 5.
- Identify reverse-coded items using the official data dictionary.
- Apply the reverse-scoring formula where required.
- Group the adjusted item scores by assessment area.
- Calculate the mean for each area.
- Round each area score to one decimal place.
- Display the ten scores with the appropriate interpretation ranges.
- Explain that the results are reflective rather than diagnostic or evaluative.
The scoring process should happen behind the scenes so participants can concentrate on answering honestly rather than trying to calculate or influence their results.
Download the MSI-76 Scoring Materials
The complete MSI-76 technical materials are available through the Open Science Framework for researchers, educators, developers, and others who want to review or use the inventory.
The downloadable resources include:
- MSI-76 instructions and scoring guide
- MSI-76 data dictionary
- Reverse-coding information
- Assessment-area assignments
- Licensing and attribution requirements
Download the MSI-76 files from the Open Science Framework.
The permanent DOI for the project is:
10.17605/OSF.IO/JG9QH
The materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. They may be used, shared, and adapted for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credit.
When using or adapting the inventory in a website, research paper, application, or publication, include the following visible attribution:
Based on the Maṅgala Sutta Inventory (MSI-76) developed by G.S. Graham. Derived from Living the Maṅgala Sutta (2025).
Using Your Results
The MSI-76 is most useful when its scores lead to thoughtful reflection and deliberate action.
Consider:
- Which areas appear to be dependable strengths?
- Which areas feel strained or inconsistent?
- What circumstances may be affecting a lower score?
- Which blessing or practice could receive greater attention?
- What is one realistic change that could strengthen this area?
The Maṅgala Sutta does not ask people to become perfect. It describes conditions and qualities that can be developed gradually through relationships, ethical conduct, generosity, restraint, patience, insight, and practice.
Take the Maṅgala Sutta Inventory.
Go Deeper with Living the Maṅgala Sutta
Living the Maṅgala Sutta explores the 38 blessings behind the MSI-76 through explanations, stories, reflection prompts, practical exercises, and life-design strategies.
The inventory helps identify patterns. The book provides a deeper framework for understanding those patterns and turning reflection into action.