Numbered Discourses: Ones, Twos, Threes

ฉบับแปลอังกฤษ · Sutta Piṭaka — The Basket of Discourses · Volume 20 · 382 pages

Summarized by AI from the full volume (189 topics) — click to jump to where each topic begins.

Page 1–3 AN 1.1–10 Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes, and Touches This opening set of ten very short discourses, given at Jeta’s Grove near Sāvatthī, has the Buddha declare that nothing so occupies a man’s mind as the sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch of a woman, and nothing so occupies a woman’s mind as the sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch of a man. Each of the ten items simply substitutes a different sense object into the same terse formula. The point is not moralistic condemnation but a blunt psychological observation about the power of sensory att
Page 3–5 AN 1.11–20 Giving Up the Hindrances This chapter identifies, one by one, the single strongest cause for each of the five hindrances to arise and grow, and the single strongest cause for each to be prevented or abandoned. Sensual desire is fed by irrationally attending to the feature of beauty and starved by attending to the feature of ugliness; ill will is fed by the feature of aversion and starved by the heart’s release through love; dullness and drowsiness are fed by a sluggish, discontented mind and starved by energetic effort;
Page 5–7 AN 1.21–30 The Unworkable Mind Using a repeated formula, the Buddha teaches that an undeveloped mind is unworkable, harmful, and a source of suffering, while a developed, manifested, and cultivated mind is workable, beneficial, and a source of happiness. The chapter runs through paired contrasts — unworkable versus workable, harmful versus beneficial, undeveloped versus developed and manifested, undeveloped versus developed and cultivated — always with the same terse structural pattern. The underlying point is that the mind i
Page 7–9 AN 1.31–40 The Untamed Mind Continuing the pattern of the previous chapter, the Buddha declares that a mind which is untamed, unguarded, unprotected, or unrestrained is very harmful, while a mind that is tamed, guarded, protected, and restrained is very beneficial, culminating in a combined statement praising the mind that possesses all four good qualities together. As with the surrounding chapters, this is a peyyāla series of near-identical one-line pronouncements rather than a narrative sutta. The cumulative effect acros
Page 9–11 AN 1.41–50 The Spike, the Clouded Lake, and the Radiant Mind This chapter moves from bare declarations to vivid similes. A spike of grain pointing the wrong way cannot pierce the skin, just as a mendicant whose mind is wrongly oriented cannot break through ignorance; a rightly pointed spike can draw blood, just as a rightly oriented mind can attain liberation. The Buddha then teaches that he can read whether a person is headed for a bad or good rebirth simply by observing whether their mind is corrupted or pure, and compares a clouded mind to a murky lake
Page 11–13 AN 1.51–60 A Finger-Snap of Love, and Intention as Leader Building on the radiant-mind teaching, the Buddha contrasts the unlearned ordinary person who does not understand the mind’s corruptibility and purity with the learned noble disciple who does, saying only the latter truly develops the mind. He then teaches that even cultivating a mind of love for as briefly as a finger-snap makes a mendicant one who does not “eat the country’s alms in vain,” repeated for cultivating, developing, and focusing on love — establishing that even momentary wholesome s
Page 13–16 AN 1.61–70 Arousing Energy, Few Wishes, and Situational Awareness This chapter runs through a long series of paired opposites, each stated in the same “I do not see a single thing that gives rise to unskillful qualities and makes skillful ones decline” formula and its positive mirror. The qualities treated include laziness versus arousing energy, having many wishes versus having few wishes, lack of contentment versus contentment, irrational versus rational application of mind, and lack of situational awareness versus situational awareness, closing with bad fri
Page 16–18 AN 1.71–81 Good Friends and the Value of Wisdom The chapter opens by completing the friends pairing from the previous chapter — good friends foster skillful qualities where bad friends foster unskillful ones — then extends the same formula to pursuing good versus bad habits, and to rational versus irrational attention as the condition for the awakening factors to arise and mature. It then shifts register with a memorable refrain: loss of relatives, wealth, or fame is called a small thing, but loss of wisdom is the worst thing to lose, while g
Page 18–21 AN 1.82–97 Negligence and Diligence This chapter systematically states that negligence is the single most harmful thing and diligence the single most beneficial thing, then repeats the same harmful/beneficial pairing across a full list of related qualities: laziness versus arousing energy, many wishes versus few wishes, lack of contentment versus contentment, irrational versus rational attention, lack of situational awareness versus situational awareness, bad friends versus good friends, and pursuing bad habits versus pursuing goo
Page 21–26 AN 1.98–139 Negligence Restated, and the Decline or Continuation of the True Teaching This long peyyāla section first restates the negligence/diligence pairings from the previous chapter, now qualified as applying to “interior” factors (laziness, wishes, contentment, attention, awareness) and “exterior” factors (bad and good friends), before pursuing bad or good habits. It then reapplies the identical harmful/beneficial formula to a higher stake: negligence causes the true teaching (the Dhamma) itself to decline and disappear, while diligence causes it to continue and endure, run
Page 26–27 AN 1.140–149 Explaining the Teaching Correctly This short chapter is the positive mirror of the preceding one: mendicants who correctly explain what is not the teaching as not the teaching, and what is the teaching as the teaching, and who correctly represent the monastic law and the Buddha’s own words, deeds, and prescriptions, are said to act for the welfare and happiness of gods and humans and to make the true teaching flourish. The repeated formula praises accuracy and honesty in transmitting the Dhamma as a source of great merit, direct
Page 27–28 AN 1.150–169 Non-offense and Offense This chapter applies the same correct/incorrect representation formula specifically to monastic disciplinary matters: mendicants who misrepresent a non-offense as an offense, or an offense as a non-offense (and various sub-distinctions of light versus serious offenses, offenses committed with or without corrupt intention, and offenses requiring or not requiring rehabilitation or redress), are said to cause great harm and make the true teaching disappear. The second half of the chapter praises me
Page 28–30 AN 1.170–187 The Buddha as the One Individual This chapter praises the Buddha using a repeated “one individual” formula: he alone arises in the world for the welfare and happiness of beings, his appearance is rare, he is an incredible human being, his death is mourned by many, and he is utterly without peer or equal among beings. It culminates in describing how the Buddha’s appearance in the world brings a “great eye,” a “great light,” and makes possible profound realizations up to and including the fruits of stream-entry, once-return, non-
Page 30–34 AN 1.188–267 The Foremost Disciples This is the famous Etadagga series in which the Buddha names, one after another, the monk, nun, layman, and laywoman disciple who is foremost in a particular quality or achievement. Monks are named for qualities like seniority (Koṇḍañña), wisdom (Sāriputta), psychic power (Mahāmoggallāna), austerity (Mahākassapa), and learning or memory (Ānanda, named foremost in five separate categories), continuing through dozens of individually specialized monks; nuns are similarly ranked, led by Mahāpajāpatī
Page 34–39 AN 1.268–295 What Is Impossible for a Person of Right View This long chapter catalogues things declared flatly impossible in the moral and cosmic order. A person accomplished in right view (a stream-enterer or higher) cannot regard any condition as permanent, pleasant, or self, and cannot murder their mother or father, murder an arahant, injure a Buddha with malicious intent, cause a schism in the Saṅgha, or turn to another teacher — though an ordinary uninstructed person could do any of these. It is likewise impossible for two fully awakened Buddhas or
Page 39–40 AN 1.296–305 The Ten Recollections This chapter lists ten single objects of meditation — recollection of the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, ethical conduct, generosity, and the deities, mindfulness of breathing, recollection of death, mindfulness of the body, and recollection of peace — each declared, in the same repeated formula, to lead solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment when developed and cultivated. These ten recollections are foundational meditation subjects in
Page 40–43 AN 1.306–315 Wrong View and Right View This chapter identifies wrong view as the single greatest cause of unskillful qualities arising and increasing, and right view as the single greatest cause of skillful qualities arising and increasing, then traces the chain further back to irrational attention as the cause of wrong view and rational attention as the cause of right view. It states that wrong view directly causes rebirth in a bad place while right view causes rebirth in a good place, and closes with a vivid agricultural simile: bo
Page 43–46 AN 1.316–332 The Danger of Wrong View and a Poorly Explained Teaching The Buddha teaches that a single individual with wrong view, whose perspective is distorted, does great harm by drawing many people away from the true teaching into false ones, while a person of right view does the corresponding good by drawing people toward the truth — making wrong view the single most blameworthy thing there is. He illustrates the danger with the simile of a fish trap set at a river’s mouth, comparing a particular corrupt ascetic to such a trap that ensnares and harms many bei
Page 46–50 AN 1.333–377 The Rarity of Favorable Rebirth (Black Plum Tree Land) Using the recurring image of the “Black Plum Tree Land” (the known human world), where pleasant parks and lotus ponds are few compared to the vast expanse of rugged, thorny wilderness, the Buddha teaches that beings reborn as humans, born on land, living in civilized regions, possessing wisdom, or encountering a Buddha and his teaching are similarly rare compared to the overwhelming majority who lack these fortunate conditions. The same proportion is applied to beings who actually hear, remember
Page 50 AN 1.378–393 Inspiring Qualities This brief chapter lists qualities in a mendicant that are “worth having” and inspiring to encounter, including living in the wilderness, eating only almsfood, wearing rag robes, owning just three robes, teaching the Dhamma, having memorized the monastic law, being very learned, being respected, being well presented, having a following, coming from a good family, being handsome, speaking well, having few wishes, and being healthy. Rather than elaborating on each, the text simply enumerates the t
Page 50–55 AN 1.394–574 The Value of Even a Finger-Snap of Meditative Cultivation This massive peyyāla chapter repeats a single template across an enormous range of meditative subjects: developing any one of them, even for as brief a time as a finger-snap, already qualifies a mendicant as one who does not lack absorption, follows the Teacher’s instructions, and does not eat almsfood in vain. The subjects run through the four absorptions, the four divine abodes (love, compassion, rejoicing, equanimity), the four establishments of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four b
Page 55 AN 1.575– The Chapter on Mindfulness of the Body (begins) This final chapter in the chunk opens with the simile of the great ocean, which by definition includes and gathers in every stream that flows into it: in the same way, the Buddha teaches, anyone who has developed and cultivated mindfulness of the body thereby includes and encompasses all of the skillful qualities that contribute to realization. This positions mindfulness of the body as a uniquely comprehensive practice, one that subsumes the other factors of the path the way the ocean subsumes i
Page 56–58 The Complete Benefits of Mindfulness of the Body (peyyāla) This long formulaic series closes out the "Ones" collection by repeating a single template dozens of times: mindfulness of the body, when developed, is said to be the one thing that produces nearly every good outcome a mendicant could want. The list runs through urgency, benefit, safety from the yoke, mindfulness and awareness, vision and knowledge, blissful meditation, and the fruit of full awakening, then moves on to calming body and mind, preventing unskillful qualities while fostering skillf
Page 59–60 Mindfulness of the Body as Freedom from Death; End of the Book of the Ones This closing peyyāla of the Ones collection equates mindfulness of the body directly with "freedom from death," running through a fixed set of verbs - enjoying, losing, missing out on, neglecting, forgetting, cultivating, developing, making much of, gaining insight into, understanding, and realizing - and pairing each one identically for the practice and its result. The refrain hammers home that engaging with or neglecting body-mindfulness has exactly the same effect on one's relationship to the
Page 61–63 AN 2.1 Faults The Buddha explains two kinds of "fault" that motivate ethical restraint: the fault apparent in this very life, and the fault to do with lives to come. The first is illustrated vividly through the gruesome punishments inflicted on captured criminals - whipping, mutilation, impalement, and more - which a reflective person fears enough to avoid stealing from others. The second is more abstract: reflecting that bad conduct of body, speech, and mind ripens painfully after death in a place of loss mo
Page 63–66 AN 2.2-2.10: Endeavor, Mortification, Fetters, and Other Short Teachings This chapter groups nine brief teachings, each built on a simple two-part contrast. The Buddha ranks the layperson's endeavor to support the Saṅgha materially below the renunciate's endeavor to let go of all attachments, and distinguishes what makes a person "mortified" (having done bad and failed to do good) from what makes them not mortified. He recounts his own austere effort toward awakening - vowing to persist "though only skin, sinews, and bones remain" - as a model for the mendicants' own
Page 66–68 AN 2.11-2.14: The Two Powers of Reflection and Development Across three closely related discourses, the Buddha describes two "powers" that support a mendicant's ethical and spiritual life: the power of reflection (recognizing that bad conduct has painful results and so training oneself in good conduct) and the power of development, whose meaning is expanded each time it recurs - first as reliance on a trainee's inner strength to resist unskillful action, then as cultivation of the seven awakening factors, and finally as mastery of the four absorptions (
Page 69–71 AN 2.15: How Mendicants Resolve Disciplinary Issues The Buddha teaches that disciplinary disputes between mendicants only fester into lasting acrimony when neither the accused nor the accuser is willing to examine their own part in it. He models the reflective process each side should undertake: the offender should recognize that being seen doing wrong was the natural consequence of the wrongdoing itself, and take responsibility rather than resent being caught; the accuser should likewise recognize that their own upset reaction, not just the orig
Page 71–72 AN 2.16: The Two Causes of Good and Bad Rebirth (Brahmin Dialogue) An unnamed brahmin asks the Buddha directly why some beings are reborn in states of loss and others in heavenly realms. The Buddha's initial answer is simple: unprincipled and immoral conduct leads to bad rebirth, while principled and moral conduct leads to good rebirth. Satisfied by the clarity of this explanation - which he praises using the traditional simile of righting the overturned and lighting a lamp in the dark - the brahmin goes for refuge to the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha as
Page 72–73 AN 2.17: What's Done and Not Done - The Brahmin Jānussoṇi's Question The brahmin Jānussoṇi poses the same question about the causes of good and bad rebirth, but the Buddha first answers cryptically - "what they've done and what they've not done" - and only unpacks the meaning when Jānussoṇi admits he doesn't understand the brief reply. The full explanation is that a person who has done bad things and failed to do good things is reborn badly, while a person who has done good things and refrained from bad things is reborn well; "done" and "not done" together determ
Page 74 AN 2.18: Ānanda Asks About the Drawbacks and Benefits of Conduct Venerable Ānanda asks the Buddha what drawbacks follow from bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct that "should not be done." The Buddha lists five: self-blame, criticism from sensible people after examination, a bad reputation, a confused death, and rebirth in a bad place. He then has Ānanda ask the mirror question about good conduct, giving the exact opposite five benefits - self-approval, praise from the wise, good reputation, a clear-minded death, and a fortunate rebirth - making explicit the
Page 75 AN 2.19-2.20: Why It Is Possible to Give Up the Unskillful and Develop the Skillful The Buddha insists that his repeated exhortations to "give up the unskillful" and "develop the skillful" are not empty commands: he only teaches them because doing so is genuinely possible and genuinely leads to welfare and happiness, not harm. He closes the chapter on disciplinary issues by identifying the twin causes of the true teaching's decline - garbled wording and misinterpreted meaning - and, conversely, of its endurance - well-organized wording that is correctly interpreted, showing how
Page 76–78 AN 2.21-2.31: Fools, Misrepresentation, and Right View (Chapter on Fools) This chapter strings together short two-part contrasts on integrity and correct understanding of the teaching. It defines the "fool" as one who won't admit a mistake or won't accept another's confession, and identifies several ways a mendicant can misrepresent the Buddha - claiming he said what he didn't, or didn't say what he did; treating a discourse needing interpretation as if its meaning were explicit, or vice versa. It ranks destinies according to conduct (the underhand and wrong-view hold
Page 78–79 AN 2.32-2.33: The True Person's Gratitude, and Parents Who Can Never Be Fully Repaid The Buddha first distinguishes the "untrue person," who is characteristically ungrateful and thankless, from the "true person," who is grateful and thankful for what they've received. He then delivers a famous teaching on parents: even carrying one's mother and father on each shoulder for a hundred years, anointing and bathing them, or making them universal monarchs, would not repay the debt owed for being raised, nurtured, and shown the world. The one way children truly can repay their parents,
Page 79–80 AN 2.34-2.35: Teaching "Action and Inaction"; Who Is Worthy of Offerings A brahmin asks the Buddha to characterize his teaching in a single phrase, and the Buddha replies that he teaches "action and inaction" - meaning inaction (abstention) regarding bad bodily, verbal, and mental conduct, and action regarding good conduct. Separately, the householder Anāthapiṇḍika asks how many people in the world are worthy recipients of religious donations; the Buddha answers that there are two - the trainee, still working toward awakening, and the adept, who has completed the pat
Page 81–83 AN 2.36: Fettered Internally and Externally (Sāriputta's Teaching, with the Buddha's Visit) Venerable Sāriputta teaches a group of mendicants about two kinds of ethical practitioners who are reborn among the gods: one "fettered internally," who returns to this world after their heavenly life ends, and one "fettered externally," who becomes a non-returner because they have also attained a peaceful state of freed mind or practice for the ending of craving. When deities report to the Buddha how delighted the assembly is with this teaching, the Buddha instantly travels there "as easily as
Page 84–85 AN 2.37: Mahākaccāna and the Brahmin Ārāmadaṇḍa on the Root of Conflict The brahmin Ārāmadaṇḍa asks Venerable Mahākaccāna why aristocrats, brahmins, and householders fight among themselves, and why ascetics fight among themselves. Mahākaccāna answers that lay conflict stems from insistence on and attachment to sensual desire, while conflict among ascetics stems from insistence on and attachment to views. When asked whether anyone has gone beyond both kinds of insistence, Mahākaccāna points to the Buddha, currently staying at Sāvatthī, prompting Ārāmadaṇḍa to kneel a
Page 86–87 AN 2.38: Mahākaccāna Redefines What Makes an Elder The brahmin Kandarāyana criticizes Mahākaccāna for not showing the customary deference - bowing, rising, offering a seat - to elderly brahmins. Mahākaccāna responds by redefining "elder" and "youth" in the Buddha's terms: someone eighty, ninety, or a hundred years old who is still consumed by sensual craving is really just a foolish child, while a young person free from that craving counts as a true elder. Struck by this reversal, Kandarāyana bows to the young mendicants present, acknowledging t
Page 87–88 AN 2.39-2.41: Strong Kings and Weak Bandits; Right Practice; Memorizing the Discourses Correctly Using an extended simile, the Buddha compares a kingdom where bandits are strong and kings are weak (causing insecurity for everyone) to a Saṅgha where corrupt mendicants dominate and good-hearted ones are silenced or driven to the margins - and shows the reverse is equally true when good mendicants are strong. He states plainly that he does not praise wrong practice for laypeople or renunciates, only right practice, since only right practice lets either group complete the path. The chapter clos
Page 89–96 AN 2.42-2.51: What Makes an Assembly of Mendicants Good or Bad (Chapter on Assemblies) This chapter systematically contrasts ten pairs of qualities that distinguish a healthy monastic assembly from an unhealthy one: shallow versus deep (undisciplined versus mindful and composed), divided versus harmonious, indulgent versus disciplined leadership, ignorant versus understanding of the four noble truths, biased versus fair decision-making, absorbed in trivial poetry versus engaged with the Buddha's profound teaching through active questioning, chasing material reputation versus valui
Page 96–98 AN 2.52-2.61: The Buddha and the Wheel-Turning Monarch, and Other Short Comparisons This chapter offers a rapid sequence of paired comparisons, most centering on the Buddha and the wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti) as the two most consequential figures who can arise in the world - both bring welfare to many, both are irreplaceable human beings, both have deaths that are widely mourned, and both merit a monument. It also compares the two kinds of Buddhas (fully awakened and independent), and observes that a mendicant who has ended defilements shares with a thoroughbred elephant
Page 98–100 AN 2.62: Living With Bad People Versus Living With Good People The Buddha contrasts two very different social dynamics among mendicants living together. In a "bad" community, senior, middle, and junior mendicants alike resolve never to admonish or be admonished by anyone, reacting defensively and refusing to acknowledge their own faults even when confronted. In a "good" community, every mendicant welcomes correction from anyone regardless of seniority, responds with gratitude rather than defensiveness, and actually addresses the fault once it's pointed out
Page 100 AN 2.63: Settling Disciplinary Issues Prevents Lasting Enmity In this short concluding teaching, the Buddha observes that when a disciplinary dispute is marked on both sides by endless argument, contempt for each other's views, resentment, and exasperation that goes unresolved, it will predictably harden into lasting acrimony that disrupts communal life. Conversely, when both parties work through that same tangle of bitterness and settle it, the dispute need not leave lasting damage - reinforcing the recurring theme that reconciliation, not avoidance, is w
Page 100–102 AN 2.64-2.76: The Thirteen Kinds of Happiness (Peyyāla) This chapter runs through thirteen paired contrasts of happiness, always naming both members of the pair and then declaring which is superior: lay happiness versus renunciate happiness, sensual happiness versus the happiness of renunciation, attachment versus non-attachment, defiled versus undefiled, of the flesh versus not of the flesh, ignoble versus noble, physical versus mental, with rapture versus free of rapture, with pleasure versus with equanimity, and so on through happiness based on fo
Page 103–104 AN 2.77-2.86: Unskillful Qualities Always Arise From a Cause (Chapter with a Basis) This tightly formulaic chapter makes the same point ten times with ten different words for "cause": bad, unskillful qualities never arise without some basis, source, cause, set of conditions, or reason, or without a specific link in the chain of experience - form, feeling, perception, consciousness, or a conditioned basis generally. The refrain each time is identical: by giving up that particular condition, the unskillful qualities that depend on it cease to occur. Together the list functions as
Page 104–105 AN 2.87-2.97: Eleven Pairs of Foundational Concepts (Chapter on Two Things) This very short, purely enumerative chapter simply names eleven consequential pairs of Buddhist concepts without further explanation: freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom, exertion and steadiness, name and form, knowledge and freedom, views favoring existence and non-existence, conscience and prudence (given twice, once negatively as their absence), being hard versus easy to admonish and having bad versus good friends, and skill in the elements, in application of mind, and in offenses and thei
Page 105–108 AN 2.98-2.117: Fools and the Astute - Misperceiving Rules and Offenses (Second Chapter on Fools) This long peyyāla runs through a series of paired errors and their corrections concerning monastic discipline: carrying the burden of what hasn't happened versus what has, mistaking the unallowable for allowable and vice versa, mistaking an offense for a non-offense and vice versa, and mistaking what is or isn't the teaching or the training. Each pair is presented twice - first as the "fool's" version, then restated as the "astute" person's correct discrimination - and the chapter adds that defi
Page 108–110 AN 2.118-2.129: Hopes Hard to Give Up, Rare Individuals, and the Roots of Greed and Wrong View This chapter opens by naming the hope for wealth and the hope for long life as two hopes that are especially hard to relinquish, then moves through several short character sketches: people who take initiative or feel gratitude are rare, as are those satisfied with what they have or who help satisfy others, while hoarders and wastrels of wealth are equally hard to satisfy. It then identifies the causal conditions behind key mental states - greed arises from an attractive object plus irrational at
Page 110 AN 2.130-2.131: Sāriputta, Moggallāna, and the Model Disciples (Chapter on Aspiration, partial) In the opening of the final chapter of the Twos, the Buddha holds up specific senior disciples as the standard a faithful practitioner should aspire to emulate: a monk should aspire to be like Sāriputta and Moggallāna, his two chief male disciples, while a nun should aspire to be like Khemā and Uppalavaṇṇā, his two chief female disciples. By naming these four as the explicit "standard and measure" for the fourfold assembly, the Buddha sets concrete, attainable role models - rather than abstract
Page 111–114 AN 2.132–140 Exemplary Disciples and Paired Qualities This run of short discourses holds up the lay disciples Citta and Hatthaka of Āḷavī, and the laywomen Khujjuttarā and Veḷukaṇṭakī, as the standard every faithful layman and laywoman should aspire to emulate. It then contrasts the foolish person, who praises or blames others without examining the facts and thereby corrupts themselves, with the astute person, who investigates before praising or criticizing and so stays blameless and full of merit. Further short teachings add that mistreating one's
Page 114–116 AN 2.141–150 The Chapter on Giving This is a peyyāla (formulaic repetition) series of ten near-identical short suttas, each naming a different way of transferring value to others — gifts, offerings, generosity, charity, riches, enjoyment, sharing, inclusion, and support — and each time contrasting a material version (“things of the flesh”) with a version rooted in the teaching (Dhamma). In every case the conclusion is the same: whatever the category, giving or sharing the Dhamma is declared superior to giving worldly goods. The r
Page 116–118 AN 2.151–162 The Chapter on Welcome Continuing the same formulaic structure as the previous chapter, this series works through welcome, hospitality, quest, search, seeking, worship, serving guests, success, growth, treasure, and accumulation, applying each concept first to material things and then to the teaching. Every single sutta ends with the identical verdict that the version involving the Dhamma is superior to the version involving worldly things. Grouped together, these near-duplicate suttas function as an extended list of
Page 118–120 AN 2.163–179 The Chapter on Attainment This chapter is a loosely connected string of very short two-item lists naming pairs of qualities important to meditative and ethical development: skill in entering and emerging from meditative attainments, integrity and tenderness, patience and gentleness, guarding the sense doors and eating in moderation, the powers of reflection and development, the powers of mindfulness and immersion, serenity and discernment, and purification of ethical conduct and view. Rather than one continuous argument,
Page 120–122 AN 2.180–229 Abbreviated Texts Beginning With Anger This long peyyāla series takes a fixed set of five negative pairs — anger and acrimony, disdain and contempt, jealousy and stinginess, deceit and deviousness, lack of conscience and prudence — and their positive opposites, then runs them through six different frameworks in turn: things that bring suffering versus happiness, things that cause decline versus non-decline in a trainee, and things that lead to rebirth in hell versus heaven. Rather than distinct teachings, this is a single template me
Page 122–123 AN 2.230–279 Abbreviated Texts Beginning With the Unskillful An extremely compressed peyyāla passage that applies the same five negative-quality pairs (and their positive opposites) from the previous chapter to a further string of evaluative categories — unskillful versus skillful, blameworthy versus blameless, having suffering versus happiness as outcome, hurtful versus not hurtful — all condensed into a single terse paragraph covering fifty numbered suttas. The point is again cumulative rather than individually meaningful: anger, contempt, jealousy, dec
Page 123–124 AN 2.280–309 Abbreviated Texts on Monastic Law This chapter explains, in a repeating two-part formula, why the Buddha established the monastic training rules and disciplinary procedures: for the wellbeing and comfort of the Saṅgha, to restrain unruly individuals while protecting well-behaved mendicants, to guard against defilements, faults, and hazards both in this life and in lives to come, out of sympathy for lay supporters, to prevent factionalism, to inspire and strengthen confidence, and to ensure the long-term survival of the true teac
Page 124–125 AN 2.310–479 Abbreviated Texts Beginning With Greed, and the End of the Book of the Twos This final long peyyāla series of the Book of the Twos states that serenity (calm meditative concentration) and discernment (insight/wisdom) are the two things that must be developed for full understanding, complete grasp, finishing, giving up, ending, fading away, cessation, and letting go of greed. The same formula is then mechanically extended to hate, delusion, anger, acrimony, disdain, contempt, jealousy, stinginess, deceit, deviousness, obstinacy, aggression, conceit, arrogance, vanity, an
Page 127–133 AN 3.1–3.10 The Chapter on Fools and the Astute Opening the Book of the Threes, this chapter begins with a vivid simile: just as a small fire in a hut of reeds can burn down even a solid, well-sealed mansion, so too every danger, peril, and hazard in the world ultimately traces back to foolish people rather than astute ones. The following short suttas elaborate this fool-versus-astute-person contrast from many angles: fools are known by their bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, by thinking, speaking, and acting poorly, by failing to recogn
Page 133–134 AN 3.11 The Well-known Mendicant The Buddha teaches that a well-known, influential mendicant can be either harmful or beneficial to the wider community depending entirely on what kind of conduct he encourages in others. If such a respected figure promotes bodily, verbal conduct and principles out of line with good qualities, he causes detriment and suffering for gods and humans alike; if he promotes conduct in line with good qualities, he brings about welfare and happiness for the same. The teaching highlights that influence an
Page 134–135 AN 3.12 Three Places to Commemorate Using the model of an anointed king who commemorates three sites for life — his birthplace, the place of his coronation, and the site of his decisive victory in battle — the Buddha draws an analogy for the monastic life. A mendicant should likewise hold in mind three key places: where they went forth from lay life into homelessness, where they came to truly understand the four noble truths, and where they realized final liberation from defilements. The teaching frames these three moments as the
Page 135–137 AN 3.13 The Hopeless, the Hopeful, and the One Who Has Done Away With Hope The Buddha describes three types of people found in the world by first illustrating them through royal succession: someone born so low that kingship never even occurs to them as a possibility, an eligible heir who actively hopes to be crowned, and an already-crowned king for whom the hope has been fulfilled and so has died away. He then applies the same threefold pattern to the monastic community: an unethical, corrupt mendicant who cannot even conceive of attaining liberation, an ethical traine
Page 137–139 AN 3.14 The Wheel-Turning Monarch and the Dhamma-King The Buddha explains that even a universal wheel-turning monarch does not rule by naked power but only by submitting himself to a higher authority: the principle (Dhamma) itself, which he honors as his flag and banner before extending just protection to his subjects. Drawing the comparison to himself, the Buddha describes how he, as the true Dhamma-king, first establishes just governance over his own bodily, verbal, and mental actions in line with principle before "rolling forth" the supreme Whee
Page 139–142 AN 3.15 About Pacetana: The Chariot-Maker's Wheels The Buddha tells a story from a past life about King Pacetana, who commissioned a chariot-maker to build a pair of wheels: one wheel, rushed and finished in just six days, wobbled and collapsed when rolled, while the other, carefully crafted over nearly six months, rolled straight and stood firm as if fixed to an axle, because the hurried wheel was crooked and flawed in rim, spoke, and hub. The Buddha then reveals that he himself was that skilled chariot-maker in that former life, and draws the
Page 142–144 AN 3.16 A Sure Bet The Buddha lays out three practices that together guarantee steady progress toward ending the defilements: guarding the sense doors, eating in moderation, and dedication to wakefulness. Guarding the sense doors means not dwelling on the alluring features and details of what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, or thought, so that covetousness and displeasure don't overwhelm the mind; eating in moderation means reflecting that food exists only to sustain the body and support practice, not fo
Page 144 AN 3.17 Hurting Yourself, Others, and Both In this brief teaching, the Buddha states plainly that bad conduct of body, speech, and mind leads to hurting oneself, hurting others, and hurting both simultaneously, while good conduct in the same three areas avoids causing any of this harm. It is a compact, direct statement of the principle that unwholesome action has ripple effects reaching well beyond the individual who performs it, reinforcing the ethical seriousness of one's deeds, words, and thoughts.
Page 144–145 AN 3.18 The Realm of the Gods The Buddha asks the mendicants how they would feel if outsiders accused them of practicing the spiritual life merely to be reborn among the gods, and they admit they would be horrified, repelled, and disgusted by the suggestion. He uses this admission to make an a fortiori argument: if they are so averse even to the prospect of heavenly lifespan, beauty, and pleasure as a motive for practice, they should be far more horrified and disgusted by actual bad conduct of body, speech, and mind. The tea
Page 145–146 AN 3.19 A Shopkeeper (1st) The Buddha compares a shopkeeper who fails to prosper because he neglects to carefully attend to his business in the morning, at midday, and in the afternoon, to a mendicant who fails to grow in skillful qualities because he neglects to carefully focus on his meditation subject at those same times of day. Conversely, the shopkeeper who diligently attends to business at all three times succeeds in acquiring wealth, just as the mendicant who diligently applies himself to meditation at all three ti
Page 146–148 AN 3.20 A Shopkeeper (2nd) The Buddha identifies three qualities that let a shopkeeper rapidly grow rich: clear-sightedness about prices, costs, and profit margins; tireless competence in the skills of buying and selling; and having wealthy backers who trust him enough to invest in his business. He maps these directly onto the qualities that let a mendicant rapidly grow in skillful qualities: clearly understanding the four noble truths, being tirelessly energetic in giving up the unskillful and cultivating the skillful, a
Page 148–151 AN 3.21 Individuals: The Debate With Saviṭṭha and Mahākoṭṭhita Sāriputta, Saviṭṭha, and Mahākoṭṭhita each argue for a different answer to which of three types of noble disciple is finest: the direct witness (whose faculty of immersion/concentration is extraordinary), the one attained to view (whose faculty of wisdom is extraordinary), or the one freed by faith (whose faculty of faith is extraordinary). Unable to agree, they bring the question to the Buddha, who declines to declare any one type categorically superior, explaining that a person of any of the t
Page 151–153 AN 3.22 Individuals: The Three Patients The Buddha uses the image of three kinds of patients — one who won't recover from illness no matter what care they receive, one who will recover regardless of care, and one who will recover only if given suitable food, medicine, and a capable carer — to explain the purpose of his own teaching activity. He explains that it is specifically for the sake of the third type of person, who can awaken only if they get to see a Realized One and hear the Dhamma, that he teaches at all, though the other tw
Page 153–154 AN 3.23 Individuals: Three Kinds of Choices The Buddha describes three types of people according to the ethical quality of the intentional choices (kamma) they make by body, speech, and mind. Those who consistently make hurtful choices are reborn into a world of purely painful experience, like beings in hell; those who consistently make pleasant choices are reborn into a world of pure happiness, like radiant gods; and those whose choices are a mixture of hurtful and pleasant are reborn into a mixed experience of pleasure and pain, like hu
Page 154–155 AN 3.24 Individuals: The Three Most Helpful People The Buddha identifies the three most helpful things one person can do for another on the spiritual path: leading them to go for refuge in the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha; helping them come to truly understand the four noble truths; and helping them attain final liberation of heart and mind. He states that no one is more helpful than a person who provides these three things, and that it is nearly impossible to fully repay such help even through the deepest respect, service, or material o
Page 155–157 AN 3.25 Individuals: A Mind Like an Open Sore, Lightning, and Diamond The Buddha contrasts three types of mind through vivid similes: a mind "like an open sore" belongs to someone irritable who reacts to even mild criticism with hostility and bitterness, just as a festering wound worsens when struck with a stick or stone; a mind "like lightning" belongs to someone who understands the four noble truths, comparable to a person with keen eyes who glimpses their surroundings by a single flash of lightning in the dark; and a mind "like diamond" belongs to one who has f
Page 157–158 AN 3.26 Individuals: Choosing Companions Wisely The Buddha advises on how to choose spiritual companions: avoid closely associating with those inferior in ethics, immersion, and wisdom, except out of kindness and sympathy; associate as equals with those of similar development, since shared standing makes conversation flow easily and both parties feel at ease discussing ethics, immersion, and wisdom together; and associate with honor and respect toward those who are superior, since doing so helps one fulfill or strengthen the qualities one has
Page 158–161 AN 3.27 Individuals: Whom to Be Disgusted By, Regard With Equanimity, or Associate With Expanding on the theme of choosing companions, the Buddha describes an unethical, corrupt person as someone to be disgusted by and avoided entirely, comparing them to a snake that has lived in a dung heap: even without being bitten, one's own reputation is soiled simply through association. An irritable, volatile person is to be regarded with equanimity but kept at a distance, illustrated through three escalating similes — a festering sore, a burning ebony firebrand, and a stirred sewer — all of
Page 161–162 AN 3.28 Individuals: Speech Like Dung, Flowers, and Honey The Buddha contrasts three kinds of speech through evocative metaphors: speech "like dung" belongs to a witness summoned before a council or court who deliberately lies about what they know or saw, whether out of self-interest or for a trivial reason; speech "like flowers" belongs to a witness who truthfully reports exactly what they know and saw without distortion; and speech "like honey" belongs to someone who has given up harsh speech altogether and speaks in a way that is gentle, pleasing, e
Page 162–164 AN 3.29 Individuals: The Blind, the One-Eyed, and the Two-Eyed The Buddha uses blindness as a metaphor for three types of people: the truly "blind" person lacks both the practical vision needed to prosper materially and the ethical vision needed to distinguish skillful from unskillful qualities; the "one-eyed" person has business acumen to acquire wealth but lacks moral discernment, and the accompanying verses warn that such a person often resorts to fraud and deceit that lead to a ruinous rebirth; and the "two-eyed" person possesses both kinds of vision, e
Page 164–165 AN 3.30 Individuals: Upside-down Wisdom, Wisdom on the Lap, and Widespread Wisdom (partial) The Buddha describes three kinds of listeners to the Dhamma using vessel similes: one with "upside-down wisdom" who frequently hears excellent teachings but retains absolutely nothing, like water poured into an overturned pot that immediately drains away and leaves nothing behind; and one with "wisdom on their lap" who follows the teaching attentively while seated but forgets everything the moment they rise, like food piled carelessly on one's lap that scatters when standing up without mindfulne
Page 167 Concluding Verses on Types of Wisdom (continuation) This is the closing portion of a discourse begun in the previous section of the text, comparing different grades of listeners by how well they retain the Dhamma. It contrasts the person of narrow understanding, who forgets the teaching the moment they rise from the Buddha's presence, with the person of widespread wisdom, who remembers what was taught with genuine sincerity of purpose. The final verse declares that such a peaceful-hearted person, practicing in line with the teaching, will make an
Page 168 AN 3.31 With Divinity The Buddha teaches that a family whose children honor their parents is said to live with "divinity," with their "first tutors," and with those worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods, because these titles are really just other names for one's mother and father. He explains that parents deserve this reverence because they are enormously helpful to their children, raising, nurturing, and introducing them to the world. An astute person therefore honors their parents with food, clothing, and physi
Page 168–170 AN 3.32 With Ānanda Ānanda asks the Buddha whether a mendicant can attain a state of concentration entirely free of "I-making, mine-making," and underlying conceit regarding both their own body and all external phenomena. The Buddha confirms this is possible when a mendicant reflects that all conditioned activities are ultimately to be stilled and that true peace lies in the ending of craving, fading away, and cessation. He then links this teaching to a verse he once gave in "The Questions of Puṇṇaka," describing a
Page 170–171 AN 3.33 With Sāriputta Sāriputta invites the Buddha to teach the Dhamma, and the Buddha instructs him that a mendicant should train to be entirely free of I-making, mine-making, and underlying conceit toward both the body and all external signs, thereby attaining the freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom. Such a mendicant is described as one who has cut off craving, cast off the fetters, and rightly comprehended conceit so as to end suffering. The Buddha connects this to a verse from "The Questions of Udaya," which d
Page 171–173 AN 3.34 Sources The Buddha teaches that greed, hate, and delusion are the three roots from which unwholesome deeds spring, comparing this to healthy seeds sown in fertile, well-watered soil that inevitably sprout and mature into karmic results experienced now or later. He then describes the opposite roots - contentment, love, and understanding - which, once fully cultivated, cut off any residual unwholesome tendency "at the root like a palm stump," just as seeds burned to ash and scattered in the wind can never
Page 174–175 AN 3.35 With Hatthaka Prince Hatthaka of Āḷavī finds the Buddha sleeping outdoors on a bed of leaves during the cold winter and is astonished when the Buddha says he slept at ease. Through a comparison with a wealthy householder who sleeps in a luxurious, well-guarded bungalow yet can still be tormented by a "fever" of greed, hatred, or delusion, the Buddha explains that his own ease comes from having uprooted these afflictions entirely, not from physical comfort. The closing verses declare that a person freed of cli
Page 176–180 AN 3.36 Messengers of the Gods In this vivid narrative, the Buddha describes how a wrongdoer, after death, is dragged before King Yama, ruler of the underworld, who interrogates them about whether they ever noticed the three "messengers of the gods": a frail elderly person, someone gravely sick, and a decaying corpse, each meant as a warning to reflect on one's own mortality and act well while there is time. Because the person ignored these signs and lived heedlessly, Yama declares that the resulting bad deed belongs to them
Page 181–182 AN 3.37 The Four Great Kings (1st) The Buddha describes how, on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the lunar fortnight, the ministers, then the sons, and finally the Four Great Kings themselves patrol the human world to see how many people honor their parents, respect religious teachers, and keep the sabbath. Depending on the results, the gods of the Thirty-Three either rejoice, expecting their heavenly ranks to grow, or feel dismayed that the demonic hosts will swell instead. The Buddha then critiques a verse spoken b
Page 183 AN 3.38 The Four Great Kings (2nd) This companion sutta repeats Sakka's verse about observing the sabbath, again noting that his words are "poorly spoken" because he himself remains subject to rebirth, old age, death, and every form of suffering. The Buddha explains that only a fully awakened mendicant, who has actually transcended these realities, can rightly speak such words about being free. The teaching underscores that spiritual authority to proclaim liberation belongs to those who have genuinely realized it, regardless of d
Page 184–186 AN 3.39 A Delicate Lifestyle The Buddha recounts his own pampered upbringing as a prince, with lotus ponds grown just for him, garments and sandalwood imported from Kāsi, a parasol shielding him from the elements, and separate palaces for each season. Despite this extraordinary luxury, he reflected that since he too was subject to old age, sickness, and death like everyone else, it would be hypocritical to feel disgust toward others who show these signs, and through this reflection he gave up the "vanities" of youth, health
Page 187–190 AN 3.40 In Charge The Buddha teaches three reflections that keep a forest-dwelling mendicant diligent: putting oneself in charge, by recalling why one went forth and that indulgence would be shameful; putting the world in charge, by remembering that clairvoyant beings could perceive any secretly unwholesome thoughts; and putting the teaching in charge, by honoring the well-explained Dhamma through not living lazily. Each reflection leads the practitioner to resolve that their energy, mindfulness, and concentratio
Page 190 AN 3.41 Present A brief teaching stating that a devout layperson generates abundant merit when three conditions coincide: their own faith is present, a gift to give is present, and a worthy recipient is present to receive it. This short formula highlights that meritorious giving depends on the alignment of the giver's inner faith, material means, and a fitting object of generosity.
Page 191 AN 3.42 Three Grounds The Buddha identifies three observable signs by which a person of genuine faith can be recognized: they enjoy the company of ethical people, they love to hear the true teaching, and they have overcome stinginess, living generously and freely sharing what they own. Together these traits distinguish sincere spiritual devotion from mere outward religiosity.
Page 191 AN 3.43 Good Reasons The Buddha lists the conditions under which teaching the Dhamma to another person is genuinely worthwhile: when the teacher understands both the meaning and the wording, when the audience understands both, or when both parties understand both. This practical guideline emphasizes that effective teaching depends on real comprehension rather than the mere act of speaking or listening.
Page 191 AN 3.44 When Conversation Flows A closely parallel teaching to the previous sutta, stating that discussion of the Dhamma proceeds smoothly and fruitfully precisely when both teacher and audience share real understanding of the meaning and the phrasing of the teaching. It reinforces that mutual comprehension, not merely verbal exchange, is what makes religious conversation productive.
Page 192 AN 3.45 Recommended by the Astute The Buddha states that wise and virtuous people universally recommend three practices: generosity, going forth into homelessness, and caring for one's parents. The accompanying verse broadens this into a fuller ethical picture that includes harmlessness, restraint, self-control, and support for peaceful renunciants, describing this conduct as what leads a noble person to a graceful, fortunate rebirth.
Page 192 AN 3.46 Ethical A brief teaching noting that when ethical renunciants are materially supported by a town or village, the local people themselves generate abundant merit through their own bodily, verbal, and mental acts of generosity. It highlights the reciprocal spiritual benefit lay supporters receive simply by sustaining a virtuous monastic community.
Page 192 AN 3.47 Characteristics of the Conditioned and Unconditioned The Buddha defines all conditioned phenomena by three universal marks: arising, vanishing, and change while persisting, a concise statement of impermanence that applies to everything in experience. He then contrasts this with the unconditioned, nibbāna, which is marked by the complete absence of arising, vanishing, or change, framing extinguishment as fundamentally different in kind from every conditioned thing.
Page 193 AN 3.48 The King of Mountains Using the image of towering sal trees flourishing because they are rooted near the vast, stable Himalayas, the Buddha illustrates how a family flourishes when supported by a household head endowed with faith, ethics, and wisdom. Just as the mountain nurtures the surrounding forest's growth, a virtuous family head becomes the foundation that lets children, spouses, relatives, and dependents thrive, eventually following the same good example toward a fortunate rebirth in a heavenly realm.
Page 194 AN 3.49 Keen The Buddha instructs mendicants to be energetically diligent in three respects: preventing unskillful qualities from arising, cultivating skillful qualities, and enduring physical pain, even when sharp, severe, or life-threatening, without wavering. Such sustained, alert effort is what defines a mendicant truly committed to rightly making an end of suffering.
Page 194–196 AN 3.50 A Master Thief The Buddha compares a skilled criminal, who relies on rough terrain, dense cover, and powerful protectors to evade capture, to a corrupt mendicant who similarly hides behind unethical conduct ("uneven ground"), wrong or extremist views ("thick cover"), and influential patrons who shield them from criticism ("the powerful"). Just as the thief exploits these three supports to keep robbing undetected, the bad mendicant uses the same three strategies to keep living immorally while escaping accountab
Page 197–198 AN 3.51 Two Brahmins (1st) Two elderly brahmins, both a hundred and twenty years old, approach the Buddha admitting they have done little good in their long lives and ask for guidance before death. The Buddha tells them that although life is relentlessly overtaken by old age, sickness, and death, restraint of body, speech, and mind serves as a true shelter, refuge, and final haven for the departed. The closing verses urge doing good deeds now, since virtuous conduct is what genuinely accompanies and benefits a person afte
Page 198–199 AN 3.52 Two Brahmins (2nd) A nearly identical pair of elderly, hundred-and-twenty-year-old brahmins again ask the Buddha for guidance at the end of their lives. Here the Buddha uses the simile of a burning house, in which one only rescues the pots that are still useful, to teach that a person should "rescue" their life by giving generously while there is still time, since the whole world is on fire with old age and death. Ethical restraint of body, speech, and mind, he says, is what leads the departed to happiness after d
Page 199–200 AN 3.53 A Certain Brahmin A brahmin asks the Buddha what it means for the teaching to be "apparent in the present life" - visible and verifiable here and now, rather than a matter of faith about the future. The Buddha answers concretely: a person overcome by greed, hatred, or delusion intends harm to themselves and others and experiences mental pain, while someone who has abandoned these states no longer intends harm and no longer suffers that pain, a difference anyone can observe directly within their own mind. Deeply i
Page 200–202 AN 3.54 A Wanderer A wandering ascetic asks the Buddha the same question about the teaching being "apparent in the present life." The Buddha gives a fuller threefold answer for each of greed, hatred, and delusion: while overcome by them a person suffers mental pain, acts badly in body, speech, and mind, and fails to understand what is truly good for themselves and others, whereas once free of them all three consequences reverse. This more detailed exposition again concludes with the questioner taking refuge as a l
Page 202–203 AN 3.55 Quenched The brahmin Jānussoṇi asks how "extinguishment" can be said to be apparent in the present life rather than only realized after death. The Buddha explains that the direct, felt experience of no longer being driven by greed, hatred, or delusion, and the resulting absence of the mental pain they cause, is itself extinguishment made visible here and now. This equates psychological freedom from the three poisons with a real, verifiable taste of liberation available to anyone in this very life.
Page 203–204 AN 3.56 Breaking Apart A well-to-do brahmin asks the Buddha why the human population, once so dense that villages nearly touched, has since declined so drastically. The Buddha attributes the decline to widespread immoral greed and false religious views that lead people to violence and murder, to consequent failures of rain that cause famine, and to malevolent spirits unleashed upon humanity as a result of collective moral decay. The teaching frames both social and natural catastrophe as ultimately rooted in the ethica
Page 204–207 AN 3.57 With Vacchagotta The wanderer Vacchagotta asks the Buddha to confirm or deny a rumor that he teaches gifts should only be given to himself and his own disciples. The Buddha firmly denies this, explaining that anyone who obstructs another's giving harms three parties at once - the giver, the receiver, and themselves - and that even scraps of dishwater given with good will to small creatures generate merit. He clarifies that while all giving is good, a gift to an ethical, accomplished person is more fruitful, illu
Page 207–212 AN 3.58 With Tikaṇṇa The brahmin Tikaṇṇa praises brahmins who have mastered the "three Vedic knowledges" through genealogy and scriptural learning, prompting the Buddha to redefine what true mastery of three knowledges means in his own teaching. Through the four jhānas, the Buddha explains a mendicant attains three genuine knowledges: recollection of one's own countless past lives, clairvoyant insight into how other beings are reborn according to their deeds, and the direct realization of the ending of mental defile
Page 212–214 AN 3.59 With Jānussoṇi In an episode closely paralleling the previous sutta, the brahmin Jānussoṇi asserts that religious gifts and offerings should go specifically to brahmins versed in the three Vedas. The Buddha again redefines the "three knowledges" in terms of his own path - recollection of past lives, insight into beings' rebirth according to their deeds, and the ending of defilements through realizing the four noble truths - all reached through jhāna practice rather than genealogy or ritual learning. Jānussoṇi
Page 214–217 AN 3.60 With Saṅgārava: Sacrifice versus Going Forth The brahmin Saṅgārava argues that brahmins who perform sacrifices benefit many people, while a renunciate who "goes forth" only benefits themselves alone. The Buddha counters that when a Buddha teaches the path he has realized, hundreds of thousands of others come to practice it too, meaning that going forth, when it leads to teaching others, actually benefits vastly more people than any sacrifice. When Ānanda then presses Saṅgārava three times to say which practice he considers more valuable, t
Page 218–221 AN 3.60 With Saṅgārava: The Three Kinds of Demonstration Responding to court gossip that fewer mendicants nowadays display psychic powers, the Buddha describes three kinds of "demonstration": psychic power (such as flying or walking through walls), reading or revealing others' thoughts, and the demonstration of instruction, meaning directly teaching others how to think and act skillfully. Saṅgārava judges the first two as illusion-like performances experienced only by their performer, but praises the demonstration of instruction as the truly valuable
Page 222–228 Sectarian Tenets (AN 3.61) The Buddha describes three deterministic doctrines held by other ascetics and brahmins — that everything experienced is caused solely by past karma, by God's creation, or by pure chance with no cause — and shows that each, taken to its logical conclusion, removes all motivation for ethical effort, since a killer or liar could always blame fate, God, or chance rather than take responsibility. He recounts personally confronting adherents of each view with this argument, refuting all three as leavi
Page 229–231 Perils (AN 3.62) The Buddha contrasts the ordinary person's idea of "perils that tear mothers and children apart" — fire, flood, and social chaos that can physically separate a mother from her child — with perils that don't ultimately separate them because reunion is still possible afterward. He then reveals the deeper, inescapable perils that truly tear people apart: old age, sickness, and death, against which neither mother nor child can wish the other spared, since these are shared, unavoidable features of ex
Page 232–237 At Vēnāgapura (AN 3.63) When the brahmin Vacchagotta praises the Buddha's radiant complexion and assumes he must sleep on luxurious bedding, the Buddha replies that renunciates cannot own such things, but that he nonetheless enjoys three "high and luxurious beds" of his own kind. The "heavenly bed" is his practice of the four jhānas (absorptions) after almsround, so that all his ordinary activities — walking, standing, sitting, lying down — become suffused with that meditative attainment. The "divine bed" is his practi
Page 238–241 With Sarabha (AN 3.64) A wanderer named Sarabha has been boasting in Rājagaha that he learned the Buddha's teaching and then rejected it, so the Buddha visits him and, before his own followers, asks him three times to explain exactly what teaching he claims to have understood and left — offering either to complete his knowledge or confirm it. Sarabha can only sit in humiliated silence each time, unable to substantiate his claim. The Buddha then explains to the assembled wanderers that anyone who challenges his awakeni
Page 242–248 With the Kālāmas of Kesamutta (AN 3.65) This is the famous "Kalama Sutta." The Kālāma people of Kesamutta, confused by rival ascetics and brahmins who each promote only their own doctrine while denigrating others, ask the Buddha how to know who speaks the truth. His celebrated response is to reject reliance on oral tradition, lineage, scripture, logic, inference, speculative reasoning, plausibility, or a teacher's authority, and instead to test teachings for oneself: when greed, hatred, and delusion are seen to lead to harm and are co
Page 249–253 With Sāḷha and His Friend (AN 3.66) Venerable Nandaka gives the young men Sāḷha and Rohaṇa essentially the same teaching the Buddha gave the Kālāmas — not to accept doctrines merely on tradition, scripture, logic, or a teacher's authority, but to verify for themselves that greed, hatred, and delusion (here called covetousness, malice, and ignorance) lead to harmful action, and that contentment, love, and understanding lead to beneficial action. Through a step-by-step dialogue confirming each point, he leads Sāḷha to see that aband
Page 253–256 Topics of Discussion (AN 3.67) The Buddha explains that people can discuss the past, present, or future, and offers practical criteria for judging whether someone is competent to hold a proper discussion: whether they correctly answer questions categorically, analytically, with a counter-question, or by setting them aside as appropriate; whether they remain consistent in their stated positions; and whether they avoid dodging issues, getting distracted by irrelevant points, or reacting with anger and bitterness. He further dis
Page 256–258 Followers of Other Religions (AN 3.68) Anticipating that wanderers of other religions might ask how greed, hatred, and delusion differ from one another, the Buddha instructs the mendicants on how to answer: greed is only mildly blameworthy but slow to fade, hatred is very blameworthy but quick to fade, and delusion is both very blameworthy and slow to fade. He then explains their causes — greed arises from unwisely dwelling on the feature of beauty in things, hatred from unwisely dwelling on the feature of aversion, and delusion simp
Page 258–263 Unskillful Roots (AN 3.69) The Buddha contrasts the three unskillful roots — greed, hatred, and delusion — with the three skillful roots — contentment, love, and understanding — showing how each root shapes a person's bodily, verbal, and mental choices and even drives abuses of power such as false imprisonment or execution motivated by a desire for control. A person driven by the unskillful roots suffers with distress and anguish in this life and can expect a bad rebirth, illustrated by the simile of a stately tree strang
Page 263–265 Sabbath: The Cowherd's and Jain's Sabbaths (AN 3.70, part 1) Visākhā tells the Buddha she is observing the sabbath (uposatha), prompting him to distinguish three kinds. The "cowherd's sabbath" is merely going through the motions of fasting while mentally planning tomorrow's meals with covetous anticipation, much like a cowherd absentmindedly recalling where the cattle grazed — spiritually empty despite outward observance. The "Jain's sabbath" is exposed as inconsistent and even hypocritical: followers are told to show compassion only to creatures within a
Page 265–273 Sabbath: The Noble Sabbath — Recollections and the Eight Precepts (AN 3.70, part 2) The Buddha describes the true "noble sabbath" as a purification of the mind through structured recollection, using a series of similes (cleaning a dirty head, body, cloth, mirror, and impure gold) to show how each recollection scours away mental corruption: recollecting the Buddha's virtues, the well-explained teaching, the accomplished Saṅgha, one's own intact ethical conduct, and the qualities of faith, ethics, and wisdom shared with the deities each bring clarity and joy that dispel defilemen
Page 273–277 Sabbath: The Fruits of the Noble Sabbath (AN 3.70, part 3) The Buddha extols the value of the eight-factored noble sabbath by declaring that ruling as sovereign over all sixteen great kingdoms of the region, however wealthy, wouldn't be worth a sixteenth part of it, because human kingship pales beside the happiness of the gods. He then details, realm by realm, how a single day and night for various classes of gods corresponds to fifty, a hundred, two hundred, four hundred, eight hundred, or sixteen hundred human years, along with their vastly extended h
Page 277 Ānanda With Channa (AN 3.71, opening) The wanderer Channa approaches Venerable Ānanda and asks whether he and the Buddhist community advocate giving up greed, hatred, and delusion; Ānanda confirms that they do. This brief opening exchange sets up what is evidently the start of a longer dialogue in which Channa will press Ānanda on the rationale and method for eliminating these three roots, continuing this section's recurring theme of contrasting the three unskillful roots with their skillful counterparts. The discourse is cut off he
Page 278–279 Ānanda on the Drawbacks of Greed, Hate, and Delusion (concluding AN 3.71) In this concluding portion of a dialogue, a questioner asks Venerable Ānanda what drawbacks he has seen that lead him to advocate giving up greed, hate, and delusion. Ānanda explains that a person overcome by any of these three mental poisons intends to harm themselves and others, suffers mental pain, acts badly in body, speech, and mind, and loses the ability to discern what is truly beneficial; he calls each of them "a destroyer of sight, vision, and knowledge" that blocks wisdom. When asked w
Page 280–282 Ānanda and the Disciple of the Ājīvakas (AN 3.72) A lay follower of the Ājīvaka ascetics asks Ānanda whose teaching is well explained and who in the world practices and lives well. Rather than answering directly, Ānanda skillfully leads the householder to agree, through a series of questions, that any teaching and practice aimed at giving up greed, hate, and delusion is well explained and well practiced, and that anyone who has actually eliminated them has "done well in the world." Ānanda then points out that this description applies to the Bud
Page 283 Ānanda With Mahānāma the Sakyan (AN 3.73) Mahānāma the Sakyan visits the recently-ill Buddha and asks whether immersion (samādhi) comes before knowledge, or knowledge before immersion. Sensing the question is too subtle for the Buddha to handle so soon after illness, Ānanda takes Mahānāma aside and answers on the Buddha's behalf. He explains the threefold training of a trainee and of an adept: ethics (moral restraint and care in alms-going), immersion (attaining the four absorptions), and wisdom (understanding the four noble truths). A
Page 284–285 Ānanda and the Jains on Purification by Wearing Away (AN 3.74) Two Licchavi nobles ask Ānanda about the claims of a Jain ascetic who says he is omniscient and teaches that suffering ends by "wearing away" past karma through austerities while avoiding new deeds. Ānanda responds that the Buddha teaches three genuine kinds of purification by wearing away, each tied to ethical conduct, meditative absorption, and liberating wisdom, so that old deeds are experienced and exhausted gradually while no new unwholesome deeds are created. Unlike the Jain method, this w
Page 285–287 Establishing Loved Ones in the Three Confidences (AN 3.75) The Buddha tells Ānanda that those he cares about—friends, colleagues, and family—should be encouraged and established in three things: experiential confidence in the Buddha, in the Dhamma, and in the Saṅgha, each described through a traditional formula praising their qualities. The Buddha declares that the four physical elements (earth, water, fire, air) might change, but a noble disciple who has such confidence will never be reborn in hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm—this is simply i
Page 287–289 Continued Existence Defined (AN 3.76-3.77) Ānanda asks the Buddha how "continued existence" (future rebirth) is to be understood, and the Buddha answers with a memorable image: deeds (kamma) are the field, consciousness is the seed, and craving is the moisture that makes the seed germinate. Shrouded by ignorance and bound by craving, a being's consciousness becomes established in a lower, middle, or higher realm, depending on the kind of deeds performed, producing rebirth in the sensual, form, or formless realms. The two suttas repeat th
Page 289 Fruitful Precepts and Observances (AN 3.78) The Buddha asks Ānanda whether all religious precepts, observances, lifestyles, and spiritual paths are fruitful merely because one takes them as one's core practice. Ānanda replies that the matter cannot be answered categorically, and when pressed, explains the real criterion: a practice is fruitful only if it causes unskillful qualities to decline and skillful qualities to grow, and unfruitful if the reverse occurs. The Buddha silently concurs, and afterward praises Ānanda to the other mendica
Page 290–291 The Fragrance That Travels in Every Direction (AN 3.79) Ānanda notes to the Buddha that ordinary fragrances—of roots, heartwood, and flowers—spread only with the wind, and asks if there is a fragrance that spreads against the wind as well. The Buddha answers that the "fragrance" of a virtuous lay person who has gone for refuge to the Triple Gem, keeps the five precepts, and lives generously and free of stinginess is praised by ascetics, brahmins, and even deities in every direction, unlike floral scent. A closing verse contrasts the limited reach of
Page 292–294 How Far a Buddha's Voice Can Reach (AN 3.80) Ānanda recalls having heard that a disciple of the past Buddha Sikhī could project his voice throughout a thousandfold galaxy while standing in a divine state, and asks how far the Buddha himself, as a fully awakened one, can make his voice heard. After being told simply that "Realized Ones are immeasurable," Ānanda presses the question until the Buddha describes the vast cosmology of galaxies, galactic clusters, and galactic superclusters, and states that he could make his voice heard throughou
Page 294–296 Three Similes on the Duties of an Ascetic (AN 3.81-3.83) This short run of three formulaic discourses uses simple similes to press home the same point: a genuine ascetic's essential work is training in higher ethics, higher mind (meditation), and higher wisdom. The first simply states these as the "three duties of an ascetic." The second compares a mendicant who merely follows the Saṅgha without real enthusiasm for training to a donkey that tags along behind a herd of cattle mooing "I can moo too!" but is not really a cow. The third compares the three
Page 296–297 A Vajji Monk Overwhelmed by the Rules (AN 3.84) A monk from the Vajji confederacy tells the Buddha he cannot manage to keep the more than one hundred and fifty training rules recited each fortnight. The Buddha reframes the problem, asking instead whether he can train in just three things: higher ethics, higher mind, and higher wisdom, to which the monk agrees. The Buddha explains that training in these three broader categories naturally gives rise to giving up greed, hatred, and delusion, and stopping unskillful action altogether; the text no
Page 297 A Trainee Defined (AN 3.85) A mendicant asks the Buddha how the term "trainee" is to be understood. The Buddha explains simply that one is called a trainee because one trains—specifically in the higher ethics, higher mind, and higher wisdom. A short verse adds that as a trainee follows this "straight road," they eventually know the ending of defilements and attain enlightenment within that same life, arriving at unshakeable freedom through knowing "my freedom is unshakable."
Page 297–304 The Three Trainings and the Stages of Awakening (AN 3.86-3.90) This extended series of five closely related discourses explores how the same threefold training in higher ethics, higher mind, and higher wisdom produces different levels of spiritual attainment depending on how completely each factor is developed. Each version works through the same basic pattern: a mendicant who has fulfilled ethics but has only partial immersion and wisdom becomes a stream-enterer or once-returner; one who has also fulfilled immersion but not wisdom becomes a non-returner, d
Page 305–308 Kassapagotta's Regret at Paṅkadhā (AN 3.91) While the Buddha is teaching mendicants about the training rules at Paṅkadhā, a resident monk named Kassapagotta becomes impatient and privately thinks the Buddha is being too strict. After the Buddha departs, Kassapagotta is overcome with remorse, travels to Rājagaha, and confesses his mistake. The Buddha accepts the confession, explaining that recognizing and admitting a mistake, then committing to restraint, is itself a mark of growth in the training of a noble disciple. The Buddha then expla
Page 308–310 The Urgent Duties of a Farmer and a Mendicant (AN 3.92) The Buddha compares a farmer's three urgent seasonal duties—ploughing the field, planting seed, and irrigating or draining as needed—to a mendicant's three urgent duties of training in higher ethics, higher mind, and higher wisdom. Just as a farmer cannot force crops to ripen on a chosen day but must simply carry out the necessary work and let nature take its course, a mendicant cannot command their mind to be freed from defilements on demand; freedom comes naturally, in its own time, as a resul
Page 310–312 True Seclusion Versus Ascetic Austerity (AN 3.93) The Buddha contrasts the seclusion practiced by wanderers of other religions—wearing crude or uncomfortable robes made of materials like hemp, bark, or hair, eating meager foods like herbs and rice bran, and dwelling in austere places like charnel grounds—with the seclusion taught in his own tradition. Genuine seclusion, he says, consists of being secluded from unethical conduct through ethics, from wrong view through right view, and from defilements through their ending, not merely from physica
Page 312 The Dawn of Insight Compared to Sunrise (AN 3.94) The Buddha compares the arising of clear, "stainless" insight into the Dhamma in a noble disciple to the sun rising in a cloudless autumn sky, dispelling all darkness as it shines. When this vision arises, three fetters are abandoned at once: substantialist (self) view, doubt, and misapprehension about the value of precepts and observances. The disciple is further freed from covetousness and ill will, and can enter the first absorption; the Buddha states that if such a disciple were to die at th
Page 313–314 Three Kinds of Assembly (AN 3.95) The Buddha describes three types of monastic assembly: the best assembly, where senior mendicants lead by tirelessly pursuing spiritual attainment and younger members follow their example; a divided assembly, marked by quarreling and wounding words; and a harmonious assembly, where mendicants live like "milk and water," appreciating one another. He describes how harmony generates abundant merit and produces a chain reaction of wholesome mental states—joy, rapture, tranquility, bliss, and finally
Page 315–317 The Thoroughbred Mendicant (AN 3.96-3.98) This trio of closely parallel discourses compares a fine royal thoroughbred horse—valued for being beautiful, strong, and fast—to a mendicant worthy of offerings and respect. In each version, "beautiful" consistently means being ethical and careful in conduct, and "strong" means having energy for giving up unskillful qualities and cultivating skillful ones; only the meaning of "fast" changes across the three versions, progressing from understanding the four noble truths, to attaining non-return
Page 318–320 Jute Canvas and Cloth of Kāsi (AN 3.99) The Buddha compares an unethical, badly-behaved mendicant to coarse jute canvas—ugly, unpleasant, and of so little value that even donations given to such a person yield little merit for the donor—versus a virtuous mendicant compared to fine, valuable cloth from Kāsi, prized even when worn out. He extends the comparison across junior, middle, and senior mendicants, noting that an unethical senior who tries to speak up in the Saṅgha is shouted down and effectively discarded like worthless cloth,
Page 321–324 A Lump of Salt in the Ganges (AN 3.100) The Buddha argues against the view that everyone experiences the results of their deeds identically regardless of circumstance, since that view would make the spiritual life pointless. Using the famous simile of a lump of salt dropped into a small cup of water (which becomes undrinkably salty) versus the same lump dropped into the vast Ganges River (which remains unaffected), he explains that an undeveloped, small-minded, morally undisciplined person experiences even a trivial bad deed as leadin
Page 325–329 Refining Gold, Refining the Mind (AN 3.101) The Buddha describes how a gold panner progressively washes away coarse, medium, and fine impurities from native gold, and how a goldsmith then repeatedly heats and works the purified gold until it becomes pliable and ready to be shaped into ornaments. He applies this directly to meditative development: a mendicant committed to the higher mind must first give up coarse defilements (bad bodily, verbal, and mental conduct), then middling ones (sensual, malicious, or cruel thoughts), then fine ones
Page 330–331 Three Bases for Cultivating the Higher Mind (AN 3.102) The Buddha teaches that a mendicant developing the higher mind must attend, from time to time, to three bases: immersion, exertion, and equanimity, warning that overreliance on any single one is counterproductive—too much immersion breeds laziness, too much exertion breeds restlessness, and too much equanimity prevents proper concentration for ending defilements. He illustrates this with the image of a goldsmith working native gold in a crucible, alternating between fanning the fire, sprinkling
Page 332 The Buddha's Reflection Before Awakening (AN 3.103) The Buddha recounts that before his awakening, while still unenlightened but striving toward it, he investigated the world by asking three questions: what is its gratification, what is its drawback, and what is its escape. He discovered that the pleasure and happiness the world offers is its gratification, its impermanence and inherent suffering is its drawback, and removing desire and greed for it is the escape. He states that he did not declare his full awakening to the world until he had dire
Page 333 The Buddha's Realization of the World's Gratification, Drawback, and Escape This closing declaration explains that the Buddha searched for and found the world's gratification (its allure), its drawback (its danger and suffering), and the escape from it (liberation). He states that only once he had fully understood all three did he feel entitled to proclaim his supreme awakening before gods and humans. The passage ends with his famous declaration that his freedom is unshakable and that this is his final rebirth. The teaching frames genuine spiritual authority as resting
Page 334 Numbered Discourses 3.105 – Gratification (2nd) The Buddha explains why sentient beings become caught up in the world and why they can also grow free of it. Because the world offers real gratification, beings are drawn to it; because it also has genuine drawbacks, beings can grow disillusioned with it; and because a real escape exists, beings can find liberation from it. Only by understanding all three aspects together can one become detached and live with a mind unbound by the world's limits. This generalizes the Buddha's own realization fro
Page 335 Numbered Discourses 3.106 – Ascetics and Brahmins The Buddha redefines who truly deserves to be called an ascetic or brahmin. Outward renunciation or religious status is not enough; a genuine ascetic or brahmin must have truly understood the world's gratification, drawback, and escape. Those who lack this understanding, however respected their appearance, have not realized the actual goal of the spiritual life. Those who do understand it have realized that goal through their own direct insight and are worthy of the title.
Page 335 Numbered Discourses 3.107 – Wailing A short teaching on restrained conduct compares ordinary worldly enjoyments to breaches of monastic discipline. Singing is likened to wailing, dancing to madness, and excessive laughter that shows the teeth is dismissed as childish. The advice given is to give up singing and dancing altogether, and even when genuinely pleased, to express it with no more than a simple smile. This reflects the ideal of a composed, dignified demeanor for those in spiritual training.
Page 335 Numbered Discourses 3.108 – Satisfaction A brief warning names three sensual indulgences that can never bring lasting satisfaction no matter how much one partakes of them: sleep, drinking beer and wine, and sexual intercourse. The teaching highlights the inherently insatiable, ultimately unsatisfying nature of these pleasures. The implication is that chasing them further never resolves the underlying craving that drives the pursuit.
Page 336–337 Numbered Discourses 3.109 – Unprotected Speaking to the householder Anathapindika, the Buddha teaches that an unguarded mind leads to unguarded, and eventually corrupted, deeds of body, speech, and mind, resulting in a bad death. He illustrates this with the image of a poorly built roof whose exposed timbers rot from being left unprotected from the weather. Conversely, when the mind is guarded, one's bodily, verbal, and mental conduct stays sound and untainted, like a well-roofed house that keeps its rafters dry, leading to a good dea
Page 337–338 Numbered Discourses 3.110 – Fallen A companion teaching to the previous one, again addressed to Anathapindika, reuses the roof-and-rafters simile but frames the mind as "fallen" rather than merely unprotected. When the mind collapses into unwholesome states, one's bodily, verbal, and mental conduct collapses along with it, ensuring a bad death. When the mind remains steady and undefeated, one's conduct likewise stays intact, ensuring a good death, just as a well-built roof's timbers do not fall in.
Page 338–339 Numbered Discourses 3.111 – Sources (1st) The Buddha identifies the root causes from which all deeds ultimately spring. Unskillful, blameworthy deeds that create suffering and perpetuate further unwholesome action arise from the three roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. In contrast, skillful, blameless deeds that lead to happiness and to the cessation of further unwholesome action arise from their opposites: contentment, love, and understanding. The teaching frames ethical cause and effect as flowing directly from the underlying menta
Page 339–341 Numbered Discourses 3.112 – Sources (2nd) This teaching examines how desire and attachment actually arise in the mind. Desire for things that stimulate greed, whether encountered in the past, present, or imagined in the future, comes up when one dwells on and mentally elaborates such things, and this lustful preoccupation is itself the "fetter" that binds a person. Desire fails to arise, by contrast, when one instead reflects on the true, disillusioning nature of such things, growing dispassionate and seeing them with clear wisdom. The
Page 342 Numbered Discourses 3.113 – Bound for Loss The Buddha names three types of people headed for a bad rebirth in hell unless they abandon their fault. These are: someone unchaste who falsely claims to be chaste, someone who falsely and maliciously accuses a genuinely chaste person of unchastity, and someone who holds that indulging in sensual pleasure is harmless and so throws themselves into it without restraint. Each represents a form of dishonesty or wrong view about sensuality that, left uncorrected, leads to a bad destination after dea
Page 342 Numbered Discourses 3.114 – Rare A short teaching lists three things that rarely appear in the world: a fully awakened Buddha, a teacher who faithfully transmits the teaching and training proclaimed by a Buddha, and a person who is genuinely grateful and appreciative of what they have received. The rarity underscores how precious each of these is, implicitly urging the listener to value them while they are present.
Page 342–343 Numbered Discourses 3.115 – Immeasurable The Buddha classifies people into three types based on how easily their character can be judged. The person "easy to measure" is impulsive, careless, and lacking self-control, so their flaws are readily apparent. The person "hard to measure" is composed, mindful, and disciplined, making them difficult to read. The "immeasurable" person is one who has fully ended all defilements, a mendicant whose complete liberation exceeds ordinary standards of measurement altogether.
Page 343–345 Numbered Discourses 3.116 – Imperturbable This teaching describes meditators who master the three formless absorptions, the dimensions of infinite space, infinite consciousness, and nothingness, and are reborn among the very long-lived gods of those respective realms after death. It contrasts an ordinary person, who eventually falls back into lower rebirths once that immense godly lifespan is exhausted, with a disciple of the Buddha, who instead attains final liberation directly from that heavenly state and never returns to a worse exis
Page 345–348 Numbered Discourses 3.117–118 – Failures, Accomplishments, and the Sure-Bet Dice Two closely related teachings describe three ways a person can fail or succeed spiritually: through ethics (harmful action or its opposite), through mind (covetousness and ill will, or contentment and kindness), and through view (wrong view that denies moral cause and effect and the afterlife, or right view that affirms them). Failure in any of these leads to a bad rebirth in hell, while accomplishment leads to a good rebirth in heaven. The second version repeats the same content but adds a vivi
Page 349 Numbered Discourses 3.119 – Action A restatement of the failure and accomplishment framework uses a slightly different threefold structure: failure or accomplishment in action (harmful or harmless conduct), in livelihood (wrong or right ways of earning a living), and in view (denying or affirming moral cause and effect). The teaching reinforces that how one earns a living is as important a factor in one's spiritual trajectory as bodily conduct and belief.
Page 350 Numbered Discourses 3.120 – Purity (1st) The Buddha defines three kinds of purity for a general audience: purity of body, meaning refraining from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; purity of speech, meaning refraining from lying, divisive, harsh, or nonsensical talk; and purity of mind, meaning being content, kind-hearted, and holding right view. Together these three describe a complete standard of ethical and mental cleanliness applicable to anyone.
Page 350–351 Numbered Discourses 3.121 – Purity (2nd) This version of the purity teaching is addressed specifically to mendicants and defines purity of mind in much greater depth. It describes how a practitioner recognizes and works through the five hindrances, sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt, understanding how each arises, how it is abandoned, and how it is prevented from recurring. The teaching closes with a short verse praising one whose body, speech, and undefiled heart are all made pure.
Page 351–352 Numbered Discourses 3.122 – Sagacity A parallel teaching describes three kinds of "sagacity," or wise mastery, of body, speech, and mind for mendicants. Sagacity of body and speech match the ethical restraints of the purity teaching, while sagacity of mind is defined as the direct realization of complete liberation of heart and freedom by wisdom through the ending of defilements. A closing verse praises the sage who has given up everything in body, speech, and undefiled heart.
Page 353–355 Numbered Discourses 3.123 – At Kusinārā Staying near Kusinara, the Buddha contrasts two ways a mendicant can receive an invited meal from a lay supporter. One mendicant eats the food with attachment and craving, hoping for the same treatment again in future and harboring sensual, hostile, or cruel thoughts, making a gift to them of little spiritual value because the mendicant is negligent. The other mendicant eats without attachment, seeing the drawbacks of clinging and understanding the escape from it, thinking instead with renunciat
Page 355–356 Numbered Discourses 3.124 – Arguments The Buddha states that he feels deeply uncomfortable even thinking about a place where mendicants quarrel and wound each other with harsh words, since such conflict shows they have abandoned wholesome thoughts of renunciation, goodwill, and harmlessness in favor of sensual, malicious, and cruel ones. Conversely, he delights in visiting a community that lives in harmony, blending like milk and water, since this shows the reverse has occurred: unwholesome thoughts given up and wholesome ones culti
Page 356 Numbered Discourses 3.125 – The Gotamaka Shrine At the Gotamaka Shrine near Vesali, the Buddha declares that his teaching is grounded in direct knowledge, reasoned argument, and demonstrable results rather than blind assertion, and that this is sufficient grounds for the mendicants to trust and follow his guidance. He tells them that simple confidence in the excellence of the Buddha, the teaching, and the Sangha's practice is enough to bring joy and happiness. The account notes that as he spoke, the entire thousandfold galaxy shook, marking t
Page 357–359 Numbered Discourses 3.126 – Bharaṇḍu Kālāma Unable to find suitable lodging in Kapilavatthu, the Buddha stays instead at the hermitage of Bharandu the Kalama, an old spiritual companion. The Buddha poses a question to Mahanama the Sakyan about whether three different kinds of teachers, who each advocate understanding only some versus all of sensual pleasures, forms, and feelings, ultimately reach the same goal or different ones. When Bharandu repeatedly insists the answer is "the same" while the Buddha insists it is "different," Bharandu
Page 359–360 Numbered Discourses 3.127 – With Hatthaka The deceased godling Hatthaka, now reborn in a heavenly realm, visits the Buddha but initially cannot maintain a stable form, melting like oil poured on sand until instructed to manifest solidly. He reports that he still teaches the same doctrine he taught as a human, and more besides, now surrounded by godlings eager to hear him. He explains that he died still unsatisfied by three things: never having had enough of seeing the Buddha, hearing the true teaching, and serving the Sangha, expressing
Page 360–362 Numbered Discourses 3.128 – Bitter Encountering a disgruntled, unmindful monk while walking for alms near Varanasi, the Buddha warns him not to be "bitter," using the image of a wound infested by flies. When later asked to explain the metaphor, the Buddha clarifies that desire is the bitterness, ill will is the putrefaction, and unwholesome thoughts are the flies that swarm an undisciplined mind whose senses are unguarded. Accompanying verses contrast the restless, fly-plagued fool who finds no peace anywhere with the ethical, wi
Page 362–363 Numbered Discourses 3.129 – With Anuruddha (1st) Venerable Anuruddha tells the Buddha that his clairvoyant vision shows women are, upon death, mostly reborn in bad destinations, and asks why this is so. The Buddha explains that a woman who lives at home with a heart clouded by stinginess in the morning, jealousy at midday, and sexual desire in the evening will, upon death, be reborn in a place of loss. The teaching frames these three recurring mental stains as the specific cause of the unfortunate rebirth pattern Anuruddha observed.
Page 363–364 Numbered Discourses 3.130 – With Anuruddha (2nd) Anuruddha tells Sariputta that despite possessing powerful clairvoyance able to survey a thousandfold galaxy, roused energy, established mindfulness, and a tranquil, unified mind, his mind is still not free from the defilements. Sariputta diagnoses each of these claims as a subtle form of conceit, restlessness, and remorse respectively, and advises Anuruddha to let go of them and instead apply his mind to freedom from death. Anuruddha follows this advice and, through diligent solitary practice,
Page 364 Numbered Discourses 3.131 – Under Cover A short teaching contrasts three things conventionally kept hidden, a bride conveyed under a veil, the secret hymns of brahmins, and wrong view, with three things that shine openly for all to see: the sun, the moon, and the teaching and training proclaimed by the Buddha. The implicit point is that truth, unlike concealment or error, does not need to hide and instead dazzles openly for anyone to witness.
Page 365 Numbered Discourses 3.132 – Etchings The Buddha compares three types of people to lines drawn in different materials. A person like a line drawn in stone is quick to anger and holds onto resentment for a long time, just as a stone-carved line resists erosion. A person like a line drawn in sand grows angry but their anger fades quickly, like a sand line washed away by wind and water. A person like a line drawn in water stays friendly and unbothered even when spoken to harshly, their reaction vanishing instantly, like a line traced o
Page 366–368 Numbered Discourses 3.133 – A Warrior Just as a royal warrior earns his standing through being a long-range marksman, an accurate shot, and one who can shatter large targets, the Buddha describes a mendicant worthy of offerings and veneration through three analogous spiritual skills. Being a "long-distance shooter" means seeing all forms, feelings, perceptions, choices, and consciousness, past, present, or future, near or far, as not one's own self. Being a "marksman" means truly understanding the four noble truths. "Shattering larg
Page 368 Numbered Discourses 3.134 – Assemblies A brief classification names three kinds of assemblies of people: one trained mainly in fine rhetoric, one trained mainly in skillful questioning, and one trained to the fullest, most complete extent. The short list implies a hierarchy of depth in how different gatherings engage with the teaching.
Page 368 Numbered Discourses 3.135 – A Friend The Buddha advises associating with a friend who possesses three qualities: one who gives what is difficult to give, does what is difficult to do, and endures what is difficult to endure. These three traits mark a truly reliable and valuable companion, worth deliberately seeking out.
Page 369 Numbered Discourses 3.136 – Arising The Buddha teaches that certain truths about reality hold as fixed laws of nature whether or not a Buddha ever appears to reveal them: that all conditioned things are impermanent, that all conditioned things are suffering, and that all things whatsoever are not-self. A Buddha's role is not to invent these truths but to awaken to them and then clearly explain, establish, and disclose them to the world.
Page 369–370 Numbered Discourses 3.137 – A Hair Blanket The Buddha likens the doctrine of a rival ascetic known as the "bamboo-staffed ascetic," who denies that deeds have any real power or consequence, to a coarse and miserable hair blanket, the worst kind of cloth, uncomfortable in every season. He notes that past, future, and present Buddhas have all taught the efficacy of action, directly opposing this ascetic's nihilistic view. He compares the ascetic to a fish trap set at a river mouth that brings ruin to many, since this teaching leads people
Page 370 Numbered Discourses 3.138 – Accomplishment A short teaching names three accomplishments a practitioner can achieve: accomplishment in faith, in ethical conduct, and in wisdom. These three together represent a complete foundation of spiritual maturity.
Page 370 Numbered Discourses 3.139 – Growth A parallel short teaching names three kinds of growth a practitioner can cultivate: growth in faith, in ethical conduct, and in wisdom, mirroring the previous teaching on accomplishment as an ongoing developmental process rather than a fixed state.
Page 370–375 Numbered Discourses 3.140–142 – Wild Colts, Excellent Horses, and Thoroughbreds Using the image of young horses, the Buddha describes three grades of both animals and people, each combining varying degrees of speed, beauty (the ability to answer questions on the teaching without faltering), and good proportion (receiving proper material support from the community). Progressing from "wild colts" through "excellent horses" to full "thoroughbreds," the underlying spiritual meaning deepens at each stage, from simply understanding the four noble truths, to also ending the five l
Page 375–376 Numbered Discourses 3.143–145 – At the Peacocks' Feeding Ground Three short, closely related teachings delivered near Rajagaha each declare that a mendicant possessing a particular set of three qualities reaches the ultimate spiritual goal and becomes best among gods and humans. The three sets given are the complete mastery of an adept's ethics, immersion, and wisdom; the ability to demonstrate psychic power, mind-reading, and instruction; and the possession of right view, right knowledge, and right freedom. Each set offers a different lens on the same culmi
Page 376–378 Numbered Discourses 3.146–153 – Formulaic Teachings on Hell, Heaven, and Integrity This is a run of short, tightly formulaic discourses in the "Good Fortune" chapter, each stating that a person is delivered to hell or heaven, or keeps themselves "broken" or "intact," based on whether their bodily, verbal, and mental deeds are unskillful or skillful, blameworthy or blameless, unethical or ethical, and impure or pure. Though phrased with slightly different vocabulary each time, all eight discourses repeat the same underlying message: consistent conduct of body, speech, and mind
Page 378–379 Numbered Discourses 3.154–155 – Homage and a Good Morning A pair of short closing teachings for the "Good Fortune" chapter. The first simply notes that homage can be paid through body, speech, and mind. The second is a blessing-style teaching stating that beings who act well in body, speech, and mind in the morning, at midday, and in the evening have a good morning, midday, and evening respectively, concluding with a verse wishing auspicious deeds, benefits, health, and happiness for the listener and all their relatives.
Page 380–383 Numbered Discourses 3.156–162 – The Chapter on Practices This grouped set of formulaic discourses describes three overall approaches to spiritual practice: the "addicted" practice of indulging freely in sensual pleasure on the view that there is nothing wrong with it, the "scorching" practice of extreme ascetic self-mortification (described in vivid, exhaustive detail through nakedness, restricted eating, painful postures, and wearing rough or filthy materials), and the "middle" practice that avoids both extremes. Across repeated variations, the middl
Page 383–385 Numbered Discourses 3.163–182 – The Chapter on Ways of Performing Deeds This large grouped set of near-identical short discourses walks through the ten courses of unwholesome and wholesome action: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, backbiting, harsh speech, idle chatter, covetousness versus contentment, ill will versus goodwill, and wrong versus right view. For each, the formula states that someone who personally does the deed, encourages others to do it, and approves of others doing it is bound for hell, or for heaven in the case of its wholesome opposite
Page 385 Numbered Discourses 3.183–352 – Abbreviated Texts Beginning with Greed This final, highly abbreviated section of the Book of the Threes applies a single template across a huge list of unwholesome mental qualities beginning with greed, hatred, and delusion and continuing through anger, contempt, jealousy, stinginess, deceit, conceit, and negligence, among many others. For gaining insight into, fully understanding, and ultimately abandoning each of these defilements, the text prescribes cultivating the three doors to liberation: emptiness immersion, signless immersio