Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
One who has gone forth should often reflect: I have secured freedom from class; my livelihood depends on others; my behavior must change accordingly; am I blameless in ethics, and free of my companions' reproach; I will be parted from all I hold dear; I am the owner and heir of my own deeds; what am I becoming as the days pass; do I love solitude; and do I have anything to show for this practice when I die?
A list built for daily return
Unlike most lists in this project, this one is framed explicitly for repeated, ongoing use — abhiṇhaṁ, “often, again and again” — not as doctrine to be understood once but as a practice of regular self-examination, still recited in many monastic communities today.
From social status to mortality
The ten reflections trace an arc: the first three concern the renunciate's changed social position (freedom from caste, dependent livelihood, changed conduct), the middle four turn inward to ethics, loss, and karma, and the final three confront practice directly — daily self-scrutiny, love of solitude, and, starkly, whether there will be anything to show for it at the moment of death.
A death-facing final reflection
The tenth and final reflection is unusually direct for this project: it asks whether the renunciate has “any superhuman distinctions in knowledge and vision” worthy of the noble ones, so that when spiritual companions question them on their deathbed they will not be embarrassed — making the entire list, in effect, an examination to be passed before death arrives.
Key terms
The text
Ten regular reflections
§1“Mendicants, one who has gone forth should often review these ten things. What ten? One who has gone forth should often review this: ‘I have secured freedom from class.’ ‘My livelihood is tied up with others.’ ‘My behavior should be different.’ ‘I hope there’s no reason to blame myself when it comes to ethical conduct?’ ‘I hope that, after examination, sensible spiritual companions don’t reproach any aspect of my ethics?’ ‘I must be parted and separated from all I hold dear and beloved.’ ‘I am the owner of my deeds and heir to my deeds. Deeds are my womb, my relative, and my refuge. I shall be the heir of whatever deeds I do, whether good or bad.’ ‘As the days and nights pass by, what sort of person am I becoming?’ ‘Do I love to stay in empty huts?’ ‘Do I have any superhuman distinctions in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones, so that when my spiritual companions question me on my deathbed I will not be embarrassed?’ One who has gone forth should often review these ten things.”
Self-check quiz
5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.