Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A real bone-washing ceremony in the southern lands, with its food, drink, and music, does exist and is not denied, but it is low, ignoble, and pointless, leading nowhere toward liberation; the true noble washing is the same ten right factors already met in this chapter, each washing away its wrong counterpart and the bad qualities it produces.
A real ritual, acknowledged rather than invented
This is a rare moment in this project where the Buddha references an actual, specific contemporary practice by name — a real funerary or purification rite involving feasting, drink, and music — and explicitly says “there is such a washing, I don't deny it,” rather than constructing a hypothetical example to critique.
Criticized for its aim, not for being fictional
The Buddha's objection is not that the ceremony fails to do what it claims, but that what it claims to do isn't worth doing: it is “low, crude, ordinary, ignoble, and pointless,” not because the ritual washing itself is fraudulent, but because it doesn't lead toward “disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment” — the only standard by which the Buddha judges any practice worthwhile.
The same ten factors, now named a washing
Once the folk ceremony is set aside, the discourse returns to the identical ten right factors already given at AN 10.106, applying the same threefold formula — wrong factor washed away, its bad qualities washed away, good qualities developed — now under the image of washing rather than wearing away.
Key terms
The text
A real ceremony, acknowledged and dismissed
§1“Mendicants, in the southern lands there is a ceremony named ‘bone-washing’. There they have food, drink, snacks, meals, refreshments, and beverages, as well as dancing, singing, and music. There is such a washing, I don’t deny it. But that washing is low, crude, ordinary, ignoble, and pointless. It doesn’t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. I will teach a noble washing that leads solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. Relying on that washing, sentient beings who are liable to rebirth, old age, and death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress are freed from all these things. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:
The noble washing
§2“And what is that noble washing? For one of right view, wrong view is washed away. And the many bad, unskillful qualities that arise because of wrong view are washed away. And because of right view, many skillful qualities are fully developed. For one of right purpose, wrong purpose is washed away. … For one of right speech, wrong speech is washed away. … For one of right action, wrong action is washed away. … For one of right livelihood, wrong livelihood is washed away. … For one of right effort, wrong effort is washed away. … For one of right mindfulness, wrong mindfulness is washed away. … For one of right immersion, wrong immersion is washed away. … For one of right knowledge, wrong knowledge is washed away. … For one of right freedom, wrong freedom is washed away. And the many bad, unskillful qualities that arise because of wrong freedom are washed away. And because of right freedom, many skillful qualities are fully developed. This is the noble washing that leads solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. Relying on this washing, sentient beings who are liable to rebirth, old age, and death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress are freed from all these things.”
Self-check quiz
5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.