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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 3.137

A Hair Blanket

Kesakambalasutta — Yodhājīvavagga — the fourteenth 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 simile stating a worst case, an identification of the target by name, and a second simile of harm
Length
~2 minutes to read
Northern parallel
Refutations of fatalist and non-action doctrines are preserved in the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — unusually harsh language, aimed at a specific named rival

Why this discourse

A hair blanket is the worst kind of cloth: cold in the cold, hot in the heat, ugly, smelly, unpleasant to touch. The worst of all doctrines, the discourse says, belongs to Makkhali, who taught that there is no power in deeds, action, or energy at all — and the Buddha names him directly, calls him a futile man, and compares him to a trap set to catch every fish that swims past.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A doctrine that denies any power to deeds, action, and energy is named the worst of all rival teachings, and the discourse does not soften its language in saying so.

Not Kesakambalī, but a different "hair blanket"

The discourse’s title comes from its opening simile, a literal hair blanket — the coarsest, least comfortable cloth available. It is worth being precise about this: the target is not Ajita Kesakambalī, the materialist teacher of that name known from DN 2’s list of six rivals. The person actually named here is Makkhali, called “the bamboo-staffed ascetic” in Sujato’s translation, and the hair-blanket connection is a shared word for coarse cloth, not a shared identity.

Who Makkhali was

Makkhali Gosāla, founder of the Ājīvika movement, is one of the six teachers DN 2 has King Ajātasattu describe in detail: a strict determinist who taught that purification and corruption alike happen without cause, on a timetable no effort can change. AN 3.137’s complaint targets exactly this: if nothing anyone does has any power, then striving itself is pointless, and the entire Buddhist path — built on exactly the opposite premise — collapses if he is right.

A doctrine argued against by continuity, not just logic

The Buddha’s refutation is unusual in its shape: past Buddhas taught the efficacy of deeds, future Buddhas will teach it, and the present Buddha teaches it now. Makkhali is set not merely against one teacher’s opinion but against every awakened teacher there has ever been or will be — an argument from unanimity across time rather than an argument from first principles.

A trap at the river's mouth

The closing image is harsher than the hair blanket that opened the discourse. A trap set at a river’s mouth catches every fish that passes, indiscriminately, causing “harm, suffering, calamity, and disaster for many.” Applied to Makkhali, the image says his teaching does not merely fail to help; it actively catches whoever encounters it, regardless of that person’s own merit or intention.

Reading the harshness honestly

This is some of the most severe language the Buddha uses about a named rival anywhere in this collection, and it should not be softened for a modern audience uncomfortable with religious polemic. The stakes explain the tone: a doctrine that denies any power to effort is not a minor disagreement about method but a direct denial of the premise every other discourse in this collection depends on. Ancient religious debate in this milieu was not gentle, and this discourse is a clear example of that fact rather than an exception to it.

Key terms

kesakambala — “hair blanket” — the coarsest cloth available, opening the discourse’s simile; not to be confused with Ajita Kesakambalī, a different rival teacher named for the same textile.
Makkhali — the founder of the Ājīvika movement, called “the bamboo-staffed ascetic” here and in DN 2, teacher of a strict determinism that denies any power to action.
natthi kammaṁ, natthi kiriyaṁ, natthi vīriyaṁ — “there is no power in deeds, action, or energy” — Makkhali’s doctrine, quoted directly and rejected.
moghapurisa — “a futile man” — the Buddha’s epithet for Makkhali, one of the harsher personal terms used anywhere in this collection.
kummī nadīmukhe — “a trap at a river’s mouth” — the closing image, an indiscriminate harm catching whoever passes.

The text

The discourse in full: the hair-blanket simile, the identification and refutation of Makkhali’s doctrine, and the closing image of a trap at a river’s mouth. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

The worst kind of cloth, the worst kind of doctrine

§1“Mendicants, a hair blanket is said to be the worst kind of woven cloth. It’s cold in the cold, hot in the heat, ugly, smelly, and unpleasant to touch. In the same way, the teaching of the bamboo-staffed ascetic is said to be the worst of all the doctrines of the various ascetics and brahmins.

Makkhali named and refuted

§2The bamboo-staffed ascetic, that futile man, has this doctrine and view: ‘There is no power in deeds, action, or energy.’ Those who were perfected ones, fully awakened Buddhas in the past also taught the efficacy of deeds, action, and energy. But the bamboo-staffed ascetic opposes them by saying: ‘There is no power in deeds, action, or energy.’ Those who will be perfected ones, fully awakened Buddhas in the future will also teach the efficacy of deeds, action, and energy. But the bamboo-staffed ascetic opposes them by saying: ‘There is no power in deeds, action, or energy.’ I too, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha in the present, teach the efficacy of deeds, action, and energy. But the bamboo-staffed ascetic opposes me by saying: ‘There is no power in deeds, action, or energy.’

A trap at the river's mouth

§3It’s like a trap set at the mouth of a river, which would bring harm, suffering, calamity, and disaster for many fish. In the same way that futile man the bamboo-staffed ascetic is a trap for humans, it seems to me. He has come into the world for the harm, suffering, calamity, and disaster of many beings.”

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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 does the discourse say about a hair blanket?
Correct: B. The opening simile, setting up the comparison to the worst of all doctrines.
Question 2 of 10
Who is the actual target of this discourse's criticism?
Correct: B. The guide is careful to distinguish him from Ajita Kesakambalī, a different rival who shares only the hair-blanket word.
Question 3 of 10
What doctrine does Makkhali teach, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. A strict determinism denying that effort or action has any efficacy.
Question 4 of 10
What form does the Buddha's refutation take?
Correct: B. Makkhali is set against every awakened teacher there has ever been or will be.
Question 5 of 10
What does the closing river-trap image say about Makkhali's teaching?
Correct: B. An indiscriminate harm, not a targeted or deserved one.
Question 6 of 10
How does the guide characterize the tone of this discourse?
Correct: B. The guide says this should not be softened for a modern audience.
Question 7 of 10
Why does the guide say the stakes explain the harsh tone?
Correct: B. Not a minor methodological disagreement, but a challenge to the path's basic premise.
Question 8 of 10
Where else on this site is Makkhali discussed in more detail?
Correct: B. DN 2 gives the fuller account of Makkhali's determinism among the six teachers.
Question 9 of 10
What epithet does the Buddha apply to Makkhali?
Correct: B. One of the harsher personal terms used anywhere in this collection.
Question 10 of 10
What movement did Makkhali found?
Correct: B. Named directly in the guide and confirmed by DN 2's fuller account.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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