Malasutta — Bālavagga — the first chapter of the Threes
Setting
None stated; the discourse continues from AN 3.1, whose setting at Sāvatthī is understood to hold
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
Two parallel passages naming three qualities and three stains, each closing on a destination
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The triad of immorality, jealousy, and stinginess appears across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — short, and specific where the rest of the chapter was general
Why this discourse
The chapter closes by dropping the fool-and-astute vocabulary entirely and naming three things: immorality, jealousy, and stinginess. After nine discourses that defined a fool by conduct in general — bad, unskillful, blameworthy, hurtful, all by way of body, speech, and mind — the last one names three particular faults and says where they lead. It is the only discourse in the chapter with content this specific, and the specificity is the point of putting it last.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Being unethical, jealous, and stingy — and not having given up the stains of these — places a person in hell as if delivered there.
Why three stains
Mala is a stain, dirt, or impurity — the word for what discolors a cloth or tarnishes metal. It is not the collection’s usual word for a fault, and its appearance here is deliberate.
The discourse also does something grammatically odd that is easy to read past. It names each item twice: the person is unethical and has not given up the stain of immorality; jealous and has not given up the stain of jealousy; stingy and has not given up the stain of stinginess. The quality and its stain are listed as two things.
The distinction is worth taking seriously rather than treating as verbal doubling. Being stingy is a present condition; the stain of stinginess is what it leaves. A person may stop acting stingily and still carry the discoloration — the disposition remains, the residue has not been removed. That reading fits the image exactly: a cloth is not clean because nothing is currently being spilled on it.
The three, and why these three
Immorality (dussīlya), jealousy (issā), and stinginess (macchariya). The last two are a fixed pair across the canon, met in the Twos at AN 2.180–229, where jealousy resents what another has and stinginess refuses to release what one has oneself — the same reflex pointed outward and inward.
Putting general unethical conduct alongside them makes an interesting group: one item covering everything the chapter has been discussing, and two very specific social faults about the flow of goods and standing between people. Nothing here is about meditation, doctrine, or belief. A person who wanted to know what this chapter would actually have them stop doing would be answered by these three names.
A destination, with no instruction
Like AN 3.9, this discourse ends without so you should train. What it ends with instead is a destination: such a person is placed in hell as if delivered there, and the person who has given the three up is placed in heaven the same way.
The phrase is the one met at AN 1.43–44 in the Ones and again in the Twos: yathābhataṁ nikkhitto, carried and set down. There is no judgment, no interval, and no agent doing the placing. The image is of something being put where it belongs by the simple fact of what it is.
Ending the chapter this way is a considered choice. Nine discourses have argued that folly is recognizable, that it is recognizable by conduct, and that it damages both others and the person themselves. The tenth stops arguing, names three faults, states where they lead, and does not tell anyone what to do about it. After nine training instructions, the absence of a tenth is the most emphatic thing the chapter could have done.
Key terms
mala — “stain, impurity” — the word for what discolors cloth or tarnishes metal, and not the collection’s usual term for a fault.
dussīlya — “immorality, bad conduct” — the first of the three, covering in one word everything the chapter has spent nine discourses on.
issā / macchariya — “jealousy” and “stinginess” — a fixed pair across the canon: resenting what another has, and refusing to release what one has.
appahīna — “not given up” — the word that makes the discourse list each quality and its stain as two things: the condition, and the residue it leaves.
yathābhataṁ nikkhitto — “placed as if delivered there” — carried and set down. No judgment, no interval, no agent doing the placing.
The text
The discourse in full, in two parallel passages. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three qualities, three stains, and hell
§1“Anyone who has three qualities, and has not given up three stains, is placed in hell as if delivered there. What three? They’re unethical, and haven’t given up the stain of immorality. They’re jealous, and haven’t given up the stain of jealousy. They’re stingy, and haven’t given up the stain of stinginess. Anyone who possesses these three qualities, and has not given up these three stains, is placed in hell as if delivered there.
And their opposites
§2Anyone who has three qualities, and has given up three stains, is placed in heaven as if delivered there. What three? They’re ethical, and have given up the stain of immorality. They’re not jealous, and have given up the stain of jealousy. They’re not stingy, and have given up the stain of stinginess. Anyone who possesses these three qualities, and has given up these three stains, is placed in heaven as if delivered there.”
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
Which three stains does the discourse name?
Correct: B. The only discourse in the chapter with content this specific.
Question 2 of 10
What does mala mean, and why is the word notable?
Correct: A. Its appearance here is deliberate.
Question 3 of 10
What grammatical oddity does the discourse contain?
Correct: A. Worth taking seriously rather than treating as verbal doubling.
Question 4 of 10
What distinction does the guide draw from that doubling?
Correct: B. A cloth is not clean because nothing is currently being spilled on it.
Question 5 of 10
How do jealousy and stinginess relate?
Correct: B. A fixed pair across the canon, met in the Twos at AN 2.180–229.
Question 6 of 10
What is notable about the composition of the three?
Correct: B. A person asking what this chapter would have them stop doing is answered by these three names.
Question 7 of 10
How does the discourse end?
Correct: B. Like AN 3.9, and going further.
Question 8 of 10
What does yathābhataṁ nikkhitto convey?
Correct: B. Something put where it belongs by the simple fact of what it is.
Question 9 of 10
Why does the guide call the missing instruction a considered choice?
Correct: B. The tenth discourse stops arguing, names three faults, and states where they lead.
Question 10 of 10
What has the chapter argued across its ten discourses?
Correct: A. And then it names three things and stops.
