Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 3.115

Immeasurable

Appameyyasutta — Āpāyikavagga — the twelfth 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
Three individuals, each defined; the first two by lists of qualities and the third in one line
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
Comparable material on individuals who can and cannot be measured is preserved in the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — short, with a good joke in the first definition

Why this discourse

Three individuals: one easy to measure, one hard to measure, and one immeasurable. The first is described with nine words for being all over the place; the second with the same list negated; and the third in a single line. What makes the discourse work is that being easy to measure turns out to be a criticism.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

You can take the measure of a scattered person quickly, and that is not a compliment.

The person easy to measure

The list is one of the best strings of adjectives in the collection: restless, insolent, fickle, scurrilous, loose-tongued, unmindful, lacking situational awareness and immersion, with straying mind and undisciplined faculties.

Nine items, and they describe one condition from nine angles — a person who is moving constantly, talking constantly, and attending to nothing. Uddhata, restless, is the first, and it is the same word as the hindrance of restlessness.

And the verdict is that such a person is suppameyya, easy to measure. That is the joke and the point together. Everything about them is on display; there is nothing held, so there is nothing to find out. A few minutes is enough.

The person hard to measure

The definition is the same list negated, plus four positives: established mindfulness, situational awareness, immersion, a unified mind, and restrained faculties.

Duppameyya, hard to measure. Not impossible — the discourse keeps a grade between the easy case and the immeasurable one, and the middle person can be measured with difficulty.

The reason is worth drawing out and the discourse leaves it implicit. What makes somebody hard to measure is not concealment. It is that their faculties are restrained and their mind unified, so what comes out is a small and consistent part of what is there. Nothing is being hidden; there is simply more than the surface shows.

The immeasurable one

“It’s a mendicant who is perfected, and has ended defilements.” One line, no adjectives.

Appameyya is the same word family as the appamāṇa of the four immeasurables at AN 3.63 and of the limitless immersion in AN 3.90’s verses. Applied to a person it makes a stronger claim than the middle case: not that measuring is difficult but that the operation does not apply.

The canon says this elsewhere in stronger terms — AN 3.80 has the Buddha say Realized Ones are immeasurable when Ānanda tries to compare the reach of his voice to a disciple’s. That was a refusal to answer a comparative question, and this discourse gives the general principle behind it.

It is also the reason the three form a scale that stops. There is no fourth category, and the third one is not the top of a ladder; it is the point at which the measuring instrument stops working.

Using it

The first definition is the usable part and it should be read aloud slowly. Nine adjectives is a long time to spend on somebody who is easy to sum up, and a class will recognize the person before the list finishes — possibly in themselves.

The teaching point is the inversion. Ordinary judgment treats being readable as a virtue and being hard to read as evasive. The discourse reverses both, and gives the reason without stating it: what makes a person quick to sum up is that there is nothing in them that is not being spent.

Key terms

suppameyya — “easy to measure” — said of the restless and scattered person, and intended as a criticism.
duppameyya — “hard to measure” — the middle case. Not concealment: their faculties are restrained, so what comes out is a small and consistent part of what is there.
appameyya — “immeasurable” — said of the perfected one. The same family as the appamāṇa of the four immeasurables.
uddhata — “restless” — the first of nine adjectives, and the same word as the hindrance of restlessness.
asaṁvutindriya — “with undisciplined faculties” — the last of the nine, and the one whose negation the middle case is built on.

The text

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

Easy to measure

§1“Mendicants, these three individuals are found in the world. What three? Someone easy to measure, someone hard to measure, and someone who is immeasurable. And who is the individual easy to measure? It’s an individual who is restless, insolent, fickle, scurrilous, loose-tongued, unmindful, lacking situational awareness and immersion, with straying mind and undisciplined faculties. This is called ‘an individual easy to measure’.

Hard to measure

§2And who is the individual hard to measure? It’s an individual who is not restless, insolent, fickle, scurrilous, or loose-tongued. They have established mindfulness, situational awareness and immersion, with unified mind and restrained faculties. This is called ‘an individual hard to measure’.

Immeasurable

§3And who is the immeasurable individual? It’s a mendicant who is perfected, and has ended defilements. This is called ‘an immeasurable individual’. These are the three individuals found in the world.”

· · ·

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 individuals?
Correct: B. And being easy to measure turns out to be a criticism.
Question 2 of 10
How many adjectives describe the first?
Correct: C. A person moving constantly, talking constantly, and attending to nothing.
Question 3 of 10
Why is such a person easy to measure?
Correct: B. A few minutes is enough.
Question 4 of 10
How is the second defined?
Correct: B. Duppameyya: hard, but not impossible.
Question 5 of 10
What makes the second hard to measure, on the guide’s reading?
Correct: B. Nothing is being hidden; there is simply more than the surface shows.
Question 6 of 10
Who is the immeasurable one?
Correct: B. Appameyya, the same family as the four immeasurables.
Question 7 of 10
How does that claim differ from the middle case?
Correct: B. The point at which the measuring instrument stops working.
Question 8 of 10
Where else does the canon say this?
Correct: A. That was a refusal to answer a comparative question; this gives the principle behind it.
Question 9 of 10
Why does the guide say the scale stops?
Correct: B. It is where the instrument stops working.
Question 10 of 10
What inversion does the guide identify?
Correct: A. What makes a person quick to sum up is that nothing in them is not being spent.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

  • Full Sujato translation on SuttaCentral — with Pāli alongside, segment by segment.
  • AN 3.80 · Lesser — where the same word is used to refuse a comparison, and Ānanda is told that Realized Ones are immeasurable.
  • AN 3.63 · At Venāgapura — for the same word family applied to the heart spread in all directions, which is what makes it available for a person.
  • AN 3.21 · With Saviṭṭha — the collection’s other discourse about the limits of ranking people, where a question about who is finest is declined because the categories cut across the stages.
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