Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant who falsely declares enlightenment, when pursued and grilled by a mind-reading investigator, turns out to be irritable, acrimonious, disdainful, contemptuous, jealous, stingy, devious, and deceitful, of corrupt wishes, and to have stopped halfway after a trifling attainment — and growth in the teaching is impossible without giving up every one of these ten.
Investigation as a diagnostic tool, not an accusation
The “grilling” described is not portrayed as hostile interrogation for its own sake: it is a precise diagnostic process, undertaken specifically by someone “skilled in attainments, in the minds of others, and in encompassing another's mind,” aimed at locating exactly which unabandoned quality explains the mismatch between claim and reality.
Anger as the diagnosis's opening thread
The investigation begins by tracing the false declaration to irritability and a heart often full of anger, then follows a chain of closely related interpersonal faults — acrimony, disdain, contempt, jealousy, stinginess, deviousness, deceitfulness — before finally naming corrupt wishes and premature satisfaction as the last two causes.
The first of three parallel investigations
This discourse opens a run of closely related teachings — AN 10.85 and AN 10.86 use the identical narrative structure of pursuit, grilling, and diagnosis, each spoken by a different senior disciple, and each tracing a different false claim back to its own distinct set of ten unabandoned qualities.
Key terms
The text
A false declaration, investigated
§1“Take a mendicant who declares enlightenment: ‘I understand: “Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.”’ They’re pursued, pressed, and grilled by the Realized One, or by one of his disciples who is a meditator skilled in attainments, in the minds of others, and in encompassing another’s mind. Grilled in this way they get stuck or lose their way. They fall to ruin and disaster. The Realized One or one of his disciples encompasss their mind and investigates: ‘Why does this venerable declare enlightenment, saying: “I understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’?”’ They understand:
Ten unabandoned qualities, diagnosed
§2‘This venerable gets irritable, and often lives with a heart full of anger. But being full of anger means decline in the teaching and training proclaimed by the Realized One. This venerable is acrimonious … prone to disdain … contemptuous … jealous … stingy … devious … deceitful … This venerable has corrupt wishes, and often lives with a heart full of desire. But being full of desire means decline in the teaching and training proclaimed by the Realized One. When there is still more to be done, this venerable stopped half-way after achieving some trifling distinction. But stopping half-way means decline in the teaching and training proclaimed by the Realized One.’
Closing
§3It is quite impossible for a mendicant to achieve growth, improvement, or maturity in this teaching and training without giving up these ten qualities. It is quite possible for a mendicant to achieve growth, improvement, or maturity in this teaching and training after giving up these ten qualities.”
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