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Numbered Discourses · AN 3.89

  • Numbered Discourses 3.89Aṅguttara Nikāya 3.89
  • 9. Ascetics9. Samaṇavagga

Three Trainings (1st)Paṭhamasikkhattayasutta

“Mendicants, these are the three trainings.“Tisso imā, bhikkhave, sikkhā. What three?Katamā tisso? The training in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom.Adhisīlasikkhā, adhicittasikkhā, adhipaññāsikkhā.

And what is the training in the higher ethics?Katamā ca, bhikkhave, adhisīlasikkhā? It’s when a mendicant is ethical, restrained in the monastic code, conducting themselves well and resorting for alms in suitable places. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, they keep the rules they’ve undertaken.Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sīlavā hoti …pe… samādāya sikkhati sikkhāpadesu. This is called the training in the higher ethics.Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, adhisīlasikkhā.

And what is the training in the higher mind?Katamā ca, bhikkhave, adhicittasikkhā? It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption … second absorption … third absorption … fourth absorption.Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi …pe… catutthaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati. This is called the training in the higher mind.Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, adhicittasikkhā.

And what is the training in the higher wisdom?Katamā ca, bhikkhave, adhipaññāsikkhā? They truly understand: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering’.Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu ‘idaṁ dukkhan’ti yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti …pe… ‘ayaṁ dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā’ti yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti. This is called the training in the higher wisdom.Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, adhipaññāsikkhā. These are the three trainings.”Imā kho, bhikkhave, tisso sikkhā”ti.

Similar passages elsewhere

Found by meaning, not by citation: the passages in other texts whose wording sits closest to a passage here.

  1. AN 3.90 Three Trainings (2nd) 0.96near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.90 9. Ascetics Three Trainings (2nd) “Mendicants, these are the three trainings. What three? The training in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom. And what is the training in th…
  2. AN 3.86 Training (1st) 0.76near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.86 9. Ascetics Training (1st) “Mendicants, each fortnight over a hundred and fifty training rules come up for recitation, in which gentlemen who desire self-knowledge train. These are all included i…
  3. AN 3.88 Training (3rd) 0.75near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.88 9. Ascetics Training (3rd) “Mendicants, each fortnight over a hundred and fifty training rules come up for recitation, in which gentlemen who desire self-knowledge train. These are all included i…
  4. AN 3.81 Ascetics 0.73near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.81 9. Ascetics Ascetics “Mendicants, there are three duties of an ascetic. What three? Undertaking the training in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom. These are the three duti…
  5. AN 3.87 Training (2nd) 0.71near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.87 9. Ascetics Training (2nd) “Mendicants, each fortnight over a hundred and fifty training rules come up for recitation, in which gentlemen who desire self-knowledge train. These are all included i…