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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 3.108

Satisfaction

Atittisutta — Sambodhavagga — the eleventh 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
A statement and a list of three
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
Comparable short lists on what never satisfies are preserved in the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the shortest discourse in the Threes

Why this discourse

Three indulgences never satisfy: sleep, drinking, and sex. Twenty-six words in English, and the whole content is in the word never. The discourse does not say these things are wicked, harmful, or forbidden. It says something narrower and more testable: that no amount of them produces the state of having had enough.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

There are three things that cannot be finished by doing more of them.

Atitti

Titti is satisfaction, satiety, the state of having had enough — the word for what a full meal produces. Atitti is its absence.

So the claim is precise and it is not a moral claim. Eating produces satiety; these three do not. A person who sleeps more does not arrive at a condition of no longer needing sleep, and the same is asserted of the other two.

That is worth separating carefully from the claim it is usually confused with. The discourse is not saying these things are bad, or that they should never be done. It says they do not terminate. Anything one does for the purpose of arriving at enough will not arrive there by this route.

The three, and why these three

Sleep is the odd one out and it is the reason the list is interesting. It is not an ethical category, it is not restricted by any precept in the ordinary case, and everybody has to do it. Its presence signals that the list is not a list of vices.

Drinking beer and wine is the fifth precept, and sexual intercourse is the third for laypeople and the first grave rule for monastics. Both come with rules attached elsewhere. Neither is presented here in terms of rules.

Putting sleep beside them makes the point of the list unmistakable. What the three share is a structure — each provides a temporary relief of a recurring pressure, and the pressure returns — and the discourse is naming the structure rather than condemning the items.

What follows, and what does not

What follows is a practical observation: a strategy of the form once I have had enough of this, I will stop wanting it does not work for these three, and anybody who has tried it can confirm that quickly.

What does not follow is abstinence. The discourse draws no conclusion at all — there is no instruction, no verse, and no consequence named. It is a bare observation, and among the Threes that is unusual enough to notice.

A teacher can be honest that the collection elsewhere does draw conclusions about two of the three: intoxicants are a precept and celibacy is a factor of the sabbath and of monastic life. But those conclusions are drawn on other grounds and in other places. Here nothing is asked for.

Sleep is again the test. Nobody proposes giving up sleep, and it is on the list. Whatever the discourse is recommending, it cannot be the elimination of the three items.

Using it

Twenty-six words, and the exercise takes two minutes: ask a class which of the three they have tried to satisfy by having more of it, and whether it worked.

The transferable form is the distinction between a need that can be met and a pressure that recurs. Hunger is the first kind and the discourse names three of the second. Almost every plan that begins once I have enough of X is a plan that mistakes the second kind for the first.

Key terms

atitti — “never satisfying” — from titti, the satiety a full meal produces. The claim is that these three do not produce it.
soppa — “sleep” — the item that makes the list a description of a structure rather than a list of vices.
majjapāna — “drinking beer and wine” — the subject of the fifth precept, but not presented here in terms of a rule.
methunasamāpatti — “sexual intercourse” — the subject of the third precept for laypeople and the first grave rule for monastics, likewise not presented here as a rule.
titti — “satiety, having had enough” — the state these three are said not to produce, however much of them there is.

The text

The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, there are three indulgences that never satisfy. What three? Sleep, drinking beer and wine, and sexual intercourse. These are the three indulgences that never satisfy.”

· · ·

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
What are the three indulgences that never satisfy?
Correct: B. Twenty-six words in English, and the content is in the word never.
Question 2 of 10
What does titti mean?
Correct: B. Atitti is its absence.
Question 3 of 10
Why does the guide say this is not a moral claim?
Correct: B. Anything done for the purpose of arriving at enough will not arrive there by this route.
Question 4 of 10
Which item makes the list interesting, and why?
Correct: A. Its presence signals that the list is not a list of vices.
Question 5 of 10
What do the three share?
Correct: B. The discourse names the structure rather than condemning the items.
Question 6 of 10
What does the discourse conclude?
Correct: B. A bare observation, which among the Threes is unusual enough to notice.
Question 7 of 10
What does the collection do elsewhere about two of the three?
Correct: B. But those conclusions are drawn in other places.
Question 8 of 10
Why is sleep the test of any reading?
Correct: B. The item that keeps the discourse honest.
Question 9 of 10
What practical observation follows?
Correct: B. Anybody who has tried it can confirm that quickly.
Question 10 of 10
What distinction does the guide draw out as transferable?
Correct: B. Almost every plan beginning “once I have enough of X” mistakes the second kind for the first.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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