Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are ten grounds for praise: a mendicant who is personally has few wishes, content, secluded, aloof, energetic, ethical, immersed, wise, free, and possessed of the knowledge and vision of freedom, and who can also speak to others on each of these same qualities, earns praise on each count.
The same catalogue, a different consequence
This discourse opens with the identical sprawling list of low talk already met in AN 10.69, but where that discourse responded with ten topics to discuss, this one responds with ten grounds for praise — shifting the emphasis from what mendicants should talk about to what kind of person is worthy of commendation.
A doubled requirement, not a single quality
Each of the ten grounds is explicitly two-part: personal possession of the quality alone is not enough, nor is the ability to speak about it alone — praise requires both embodying the quality and being able to articulate it for others, a higher bar than either half alone.
Closing the chapter of pairs, with a pair of its own
As the second half of this chapter's fifth and final matched pair, this discourse closes Yamakavagga fittingly — itself internally doubled (personal quality plus teaching ability), closing a chapter built entirely from doubled discourses, with its own colophon and uddāna verse naming all ten discourses of the chapter.
Key terms
The text
Caught in low talk, again
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time, after the meal, on return from almsround, several mendicants sat together in the assembly hall. They engaged in all kinds of low talk, such as talk about kings, bandits, and chief ministers; talk about armies, threats, and wars; talk about food, drink, clothes, and beds; talk about garlands and fragrances; talk about family, vehicles, villages, towns, cities, and nations; talk about women and heroes; street talk and well talk; talk about the departed; miscellaneous talk; tales of land and sea; and talk about being reborn in this or that state of existence.
Ten grounds for praise
§2“Mendicants, there are ten grounds for praise. What ten? It’s when a mendicant personally has few wishes, and speaks to the mendicants on having few wishes. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is content, and speaks to the mendicants on contentment. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is secluded, and speaks to the mendicants on seclusion. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally doesn’t mix closely with others, and speaks to the mendicants on not mixing closely with others. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is energetic, and speaks to the mendicants on rousing energy. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is accomplished in ethics, and speaks to the mendicants on being accomplished in ethics. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is accomplished in immersion, and speaks to the mendicants on being accomplished in immersion. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is accomplished in wisdom, and speaks to the mendicants on being accomplished in wisdom. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is accomplished in freedom, and speaks to the mendicants on being accomplished in freedom. This is a ground for praise. A mendicant personally is accomplished in the knowledge and vision of freedom, and speaks to the mendicants on being accomplished in the knowledge and vision of freedom. This is a ground for praise. These are the ten grounds for praise.”
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