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Tidipa

4. Tika (Threes)

· 39 min read

The sixty Threes of Sāriputta's recitation, from the three unwholesome roots to the three kinds of miracles. The Saṅgītisutta (8D/10), translated from the Dīgha Nikāya.

Original text: 8D/10.3 Tika 818–879 in the World Tipitaka Edition

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

Sixty triads, the longest of the sutta’s lists: roots, conducts, thoughts, intentions, apperceptions and components, unwholesome and wholesome; cravings, defilements, existences, feelings and kinds of suffering; persons, elders, trainings, developments, kinds of focus, knowledges and miracles. Most are bare lists of three; the three kinds of reappearance in the realm of sensual desire and in happiness, the three things of the Tathāgata that need not be guarded, and the three topics of conversation are spelled out.

Diagram

Section titled “Diagram”
flowchart TB
    subgraph g1["Unwholesome and wholesome 819–833"]
        A1["Roots, conduct, thoughts, intentions"]
        A2["Apperceptions and components"]
    end
    subgraph g2["Existence and its marks 834–847"]
        B1["Cravings, fetters, defilements, existences, quests"]
        B2["Conceits, times, ends"]
        B3["Feelings, suffering, categories, darkness"]
    end
    subgraph g3["Persons 848–859"]
        C1["The Tathāgata has nothing to guard"]
        C2["Impediments, fires, form, mental constructions"]
        C3["Learners, elders, merit, admonishment"]
        C4["Reappearance in sensual desire and in happiness"]
    end
    subgraph g4["Training 860–878"]
        D1["Wisdom, weapons, faculties, eyes"]
        D2["Trainings, developments, focus, purities"]
        D3["Knowledges, abodes, miracles"]
    end
    g1 --> g2 --> g3 --> g4

Text

Section titled “Text”

(305.)

818. Āvuso, there are three Dhammas well proclaimed by the Bhagavā, the liberated one, the perfectly awakened one, who knows and sees. Therein all should recite in harmony, not quarrel, so that this optimal life may endure long and last for a long time, which would be for the welfare and happiness of many people, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of gods and humans. What three?

819. Three unwholesome roots: greed, hatred, and delusion. (1)

820. Three wholesome roots: non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. (2)

821. Three bad conducts: bodily, verbal, and mental. (3)

822. Three good conducts: bodily, verbal, and mental. (4)

823. Three unwholesome thoughts: the thought of sensual desire, the thought of ill will, and the thought of harming. (5)

824. Three wholesome thoughts: the thought of renunciation, the thought of good, and the thought of not harming. (6)

825. Three unwholesome intentions: the intention of sensual desire, the intention of ill will, and the intention of harming. (7)

826. Three wholesome intentions: the intention of renunciation, the intention of good, and the intention of not harming. (8)

827. Three unwholesome saññā (apperceptions): the apperception of sensual desire, the apperception of ill will, and the apperception of harming. (9)

828. Three wholesome apperceptions: the apperception of renunciation, the apperception of good, and the apperception of not harming. (10)

829. Three unwholesome components: the component of sensual desire, the component of ill will, and the component of harming. (11)

830. Three wholesome components: the component of renunciation, the component of good, and the component of not harming. (12)

831. Another three components: the component of sensual desire, the component of form, and the component of the formless. (13)

832. Another three components: the component of form, the component of the formless, and the component of cessation. (14)

833. Another three components: the inferior, the middling, and the superior. (15)

834. Three taṇhā (cravings): kāmataṇhā (craving for sensual pleasures), craving for existence, and vibhavataṇhā (craving for non-existence). (16)

835. Another three cravings: craving for sensual pleasures, craving for form, and craving for the formless. (17)

836. Another three cravings: craving for form, craving for the formless, and craving for cessation (of existence). (18)

837. Three fetters: identity view, doubt, and adherence to rites and rituals. (19)

838. Three āsavā (defilements): of sensual pleasure, of existence, and of ignorance. (20)

839. Three bhavā (existences): kāmabhava (existence in the realm of sensual desire), existence in the realm of form, and existence in the formless realm. (21)

840. Three quests: for sensual pleasures, for existence, and for the optimal life. (22)

841. Three kinds of conceit: ‘I am better’, ‘I am equal’, and ‘I am worse’. (23)

842. Three times: past, future, and present. (24)

843. Three ends: identity, the origin of identity, and the cessation of identity. (25)

844. Three vedanā (feelings): pleasant, painful, and neutral. (26)

845. Three kinds of dukkhatā (suffering): suffering as pain, suffering due to mental constructions, and suffering due to change. (27)

846. Three categories: fixed in wrongness, fixed in rightness, and unfixed. (28)

847. Three kinds of darkness: one doubts, is perplexed, is not fully convinced, and is not confident concerning the past; concerning the future; and concerning the present now. (29)

848. Three things of the Tathāgata that need not be guarded: The Tathāgata, Āvuso, has perfectly pure bodily conduct; there is no bodily bad conduct of the Tathāgata that the Tathāgata would need to guard, thinking, ‘May others not know this about me.’ The Tathāgata, Āvuso, has perfectly pure verbal conduct; there is no verbal bad conduct of the Tathāgata that the Tathāgata would need to guard, thinking, ‘May others not know this about me.’ The Tathāgata, Āvuso, has perfectly pure mental conduct; there is no mental bad conduct of the Tathāgata that the Tathāgata would need to guard, thinking, ‘May others not know this about me.’ (30)

849. Three impediments: passion, hatred, and delusion. (31)

850. Three fires: the fire of passion, the fire of hatred, and the fire of delusion. (32)

851. Another three fires: the fire of those worthy of offerings, the householder’s fire, and the fire of those worthy of gifts. (33)

852. Three ways of classifying form: visible and impinging, invisible and impinging, and invisible and non-impinging. (34)

853. Three mental constructions: meritorious, demeritorious, and imperturbable. (35)

854. Three kinds of persons: the learner, the one beyond training, and the one who is neither a learner nor beyond training. (36)

855. Three kinds of elders: by birth, by Dhamma, and by convention. (37)

856. Three bases for making merit: by giving, by virtue, and by development (meditation). (38)

857. Three bases for admonishment: by what is seen, by what is heard, and by what is suspected. (39)

858. Three kinds of reappearance in the realm of sensual desire: There are, Āvuso, beings who desire what is present; they wield power over the sensual pleasures that are present, such as humans, some gods, and some beings in the lower realms. This is the first kind of reappearance in the realm of sensual desire. There are, Āvuso, beings who desire what is created; having created and created, they wield power over sensual pleasures, such as the Nimmānaratī gods. This is the second kind of reappearance in the realm of sensual desire. There are, Āvuso, beings who desire what is created by others; they wield power over sensual pleasures created by others, such as the Paranimmitavasavattī gods. This is the third kind of reappearance in the realm of sensual desire. (40)

859. Three kinds of reappearance in happiness: There are, Āvuso, beings who generate happiness again and again and dwell in happiness, such as the Brahmakāyika gods. This is the first kind of reappearance in happiness. There are, Āvuso, beings who are permeated, pervaded, filled, and suffused with happiness. They utter an inspired utterance now and then: ‘Oh, what happiness! Oh, what happiness!’, such as the Ābhassara gods. This is the second kind of reappearance in happiness. There are, Āvuso, beings who are permeated, pervaded, filled, and suffused with happiness. Contented, they experience only a peaceful happiness, such as the Subhakiṇhā gods. This is the third kind of reappearance in happiness. (41)

860. Three kinds of paññā (wisdom): the learner’s, that of one beyond training, and that of one who is neither a learner nor beyond training. (42)

861. Another three kinds of wisdom: based on thinking, based on learning, and based on development (meditation). (43)

862. Three weapons: learning, seclusion, and wisdom. (44)

863. Three faculties: the faculty of thinking ‘I shall know the unknown’, the faculty of final knowledge, and the faculty of one who has final knowledge. (45)

864. Three eyes: the physical eye, the divine eye, and the eye of wisdom. (46)

865. Three trainings: in higher virtue, in higher mind, and in higher wisdom. (47)

866. Three developments: of the body, of the mind, and of wisdom. (48)

867. Three supreme things: supreme vision, supreme path, and supreme liberation. (49)

868. Three kinds of focus: focus with reflection and consideration, focus without reflection but with consideration only, and focus without reflection or consideration. (50)

869. Another three kinds of focus: empty, signless, and undirected. (51)

870. Three purities: bodily, verbal, and mental. (52)

871. Three sagacities: bodily, verbal, and mental. (53)

872. Three skills: in gain, in loss, and in means. (54)

873. Three forms of intoxication: with health, with youth, and with life. (55)

874. Three authorities: oneself as authority, the world as authority, and the Dhamma as authority. (56)

875. Three topics of conversation: one might speak about the past, saying, ‘Thus it was in the past’; or about the future, saying, ‘Thus it will be in the future’; or about the present now, saying, ‘Thus it is now in the present.’ (57)

876. Three kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the recollection of past lives, knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings, and knowledge of the destruction of the defilements. (58)

877. Three abodes: divine, Brahmā, and of the liberated. (59)

878. Three kinds of miracles: of psychic power, of mind reading, and of instruction. (60)

879. Āvuso, these are the three Dhammas well proclaimed by the Bhagavā, the liberated one, the perfectly awakened one, who knows and sees. Therein all should recite in harmony, not quarrel, so that this optimal life may endure long and last for a long time, which would be for the welfare and happiness of many people, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of gods and humans.

Commentary

Section titled “Commentary”
  • The Threes are the model for the sutta’s list form on this site: “Three X: a, b, and c. (n)”, a term in backticks only where the glossary fixes its word; the lists’ sources and dating are discussed on the sutta’s index page.
  • By the glossary: dhātu component (829–833), saññā apperception (827), āsava defilement (838), bhava existence (839), vedanā feeling (844), samādhi focus (868), ariya liberated (877), ādesanā mind reading (878).
  • The refrain’s …pe… at 818 and 879 is written out in full, as at 780; the line is the twin of 782–817’s.
  • The gods of 858–859 (Nimmānaratī, Paranimmitavasavattī, Brahmakāyika, Ābhassara, Subhakiṇhā) stay as names, the text’s own picture of the realms; upapatti is “reappearance”, as punabbhava is “appearing again”.
  • The three cravings (834) and the three fires (850) on buddhavacana: https://buddhavacana.github.io/pali-textbook/5-dhammacakka/ and https://buddhavacana.github.io/pali-textbook/9-fire/

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