Paṭicchannasutta — Kusināravagga — the thirteenth 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 matched triads: what is conveyed hidden, and what shines in the open
Length
≈1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The claim that a true teaching is proclaimed openly rather than kept secret recurs across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a short discourse whose first item deserves comment rather than a quick pass
Why this discourse
Three things are conveyed under cover: women are given in marriage veiled, brahmin hymns are kept secret, wrong view spreads quietly. Three things shine in the open: the moon, the sun, and the teaching a Realized One proclaims. The discourse’s point is about the second triad, but the first deserves to be read carefully rather than passed over.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A true teaching does not need concealment to survive scrutiny, and the discourse proves the point by placing it next to the sun and the moon rather than behind a veil.
The first triad, read honestly
The three things kept under cover are a marriage custom, a class of religious knowledge, and an error. Grouping a bride’s veil together with wrong view is an uncomfortable move for a modern reader, and the discomfort is reasonable. The discourse is not claiming that women are like wrong view; it is using “kept from public view” as a purely formal link between three things that are otherwise unrelated. Ancient Indian marriage practice conducted a bride’s presentation privately rather than publicly, and the discourse simply names that custom as a known example of something kept under cover, alongside two others.
A closed transmission
Mantā, brahmin hymns, were traditionally passed down within a guarded lineage, teacher to qualified student, not published for anyone to examine. The discourse names this as a real feature of the religious landscape the Buddha was teaching into, not as a criticism in itself — the criticism, if there is one, comes from the contrast with the third triad below.
Wrong view, the one item that is actually a fault
Of the three hidden things, only micchādiṭṭhi, wrong view, is presented as bad. It is worth noticing that the discourse does not explain why wrong view specifically travels under cover rather than in the open — only that it does, joining the other two as things that are not publicly displayed, for whatever reason each has its own.
Sun, moon, teaching
The second triad drops the mixed company entirely: the moon shines openly, the sun shines openly, and the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One shines openly. Putting the Dhamma next to the two most visible objects in the sky is a specific claim, not a poetic flourish — it says that a true teaching does not need the kind of protection a guarded lineage or a private custom requires.
The same standard as AN 3.125
This is the same claim AN 3.125 makes from a different angle, that the Buddha teaches with a demonstrable basis, not without one. A demonstrable teaching and an openly shining teaching are the same idea stated twice: nothing in the Dhamma depends on being kept from scrutiny to hold up under it.
Key terms
paṭicchanna / vivaṭa — “hidden / open” — the organizing contrast between the discourse’s two triads.
mantā (brāhmaṇānaṁ) — “brahmin hymns” — traditionally transmitted within a closed lineage, named here as an example of guarded knowledge.
micchādiṭṭhi — “wrong view” — the one member of the first triad presented as a fault rather than merely a custom.
candamaṇḍala, sūriyamaṇḍala — “the moon disc, the sun disc” — the two most visible objects in the sky, chosen as company for the Buddha’s teaching.
tathāgatappavedito dhammavinayo — “the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One” — the discourse’s actual point, matched against sun and moon.
The text
The discourse in full: what is conveyed under cover, and what shines in the open. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three things kept under cover
§1“Mendicants, three things are conveyed under cover, not in the open. What three? Females are married with a veil, not unveiled. Brahmin hymns are conveyed under cover, not openly. Wrong view is conveyed under cover, not in the open. These three things are conveyed under cover, not in the open.
Three things that shine in the open
§2Three things shine in the open, not under cover. What three? The moon shines in the open, not under cover. The sun shines in the open, not under cover. The teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One shine in the open, not under cover. These three things shine in the open, not under cover.”
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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
What three things does the discourse say are conveyed under cover?
Correct: B. The first triad, linked only by the formal feature of not being publicly displayed.
Question 2 of 10
How does the guide address the discomfort of grouping a marriage custom with wrong view?
Correct: B. The discourse does not claim women are like wrong view; it uses concealment as a formal category only.
Question 3 of 10
What does the discourse say about brahmin hymns?
Correct: B. Named as a real feature of the religious landscape, not itself criticized.
Question 4 of 10
Which of the first triad's three items does the guide say is actually presented as a fault?
Correct: B. Micchādiṭṭhi is the one item treated as bad; the discourse doesn’t explain why it too travels under cover.
Question 5 of 10
What three things does the discourse say shine in the open?
Correct: B. The second triad, matching the Dhamma against the two most visible objects in the sky.
Question 6 of 10
What kind of claim does the guide say this second triad makes?
Correct: B. Openness itself is presented as evidence of the teaching’s soundness.
Question 7 of 10
How does the guide connect this discourse to AN 3.125?
Correct: B. Nothing in the Dhamma depends on being kept from scrutiny to hold up under it.
Question 8 of 10
What is the discourse's overall structure?
Correct: B. No narrative frame at all, just the two lists side by side.
Question 9 of 10
What historical practice does the guide say the marriage item reflects?
Correct: B. Named as a known social custom of the time, not a claim reaching beyond it.
Question 10 of 10
What does the pairing of sun, moon, and Dhamma ultimately assert?
Correct: B. Visibility itself is the shared property being claimed.
