Sampadāsutta — 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 bare list of three, the shortest possible form this collection uses
Length
≈15 seconds to read
Northern parallel
Faith, ethics, and wisdom as a summary triad recur throughout the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the single shortest discourse in the Threes so far
Why this discourse
Three accomplishments, named and nothing more: faith, ethics, and wisdom. At eighteen words in Sujato’s translation, this is among the shortest discourses anywhere in the Nikāyas, and its very brevity places it in dialogue with much longer treatments of the identical triad elsewhere in this collection.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Faith, ethics, and wisdom, named as the three accomplishments, with no further explanation attached.
The shortest form this collection uses
Even by the standards of the Threes, which already contains many single-sentence discourses, this one is stripped to the bone: a title term, sampadā, accomplishment, and the three items that fill it. There is no simile, no narrative frame, and no explanation of what “accomplishment” in faith or ethics or wisdom actually consists of.
A familiar triad, given no elaboration here
Faith, ethics, and wisdom, saddhā, sīla, paññā, are not obscure or invented terms — they recur constantly across the canon, usually alongside the two the next discourse adds. The near-total absence of elaboration here is itself informative: the discourse assumes an audience that already knows these three well enough not to need them defined.
Why keep such a short discourse at all
A collector assembling this nipāta could have folded this triad into a longer discourse elsewhere rather than preserving it as its own numbered item. That it survives on its own is a small piece of evidence about how this material was actually used: as recitable units, short enough to remember exactly, that a teacher could invoke by name without having to reconstruct the full content each time.
Reading it as a checklist
Used practically, the discourse works less as a teaching to unpack and more as three headings to check against: is there faith, is there ethical conduct, is there wisdom, in that order. The order itself is worth noting — faith first, as the entry point, wisdom last, as what the other two are ultimately in service of.
Paired with the next discourse
AN 3.139, immediately following, states the identical triad under a different heading, growth rather than accomplishment. Read together, the two ask a single question from two angles: what has been reached, and what is still increasing. The same three items answer both.
Key terms
sampadā — “accomplishment” — the discourse’s title term, describing faith, ethics, and wisdom as things already achieved.
saddhā — “faith” — the first of the three, named as an entry point rather than a final state.
sīla — “ethics” — the second, the same term used throughout this collection for restrained, well-considered conduct.
paññā — “wisdom” — the third and final, what the other two are ultimately in service of.
uddesa — “a recitable heading” — not a term used in the discourse itself, but the kind of unit a discourse this short and this bare most resembles.
The text
The discourse in full, a single sentence. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three accomplishments
§1“Mendicants, there are three accomplishments. What three? Accomplishment in faith, ethics, and wisdom. These are the three accomplishments.”
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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 accomplishments does the discourse name?
Correct: B. Saddhā, sīla, paññā — stated with no further elaboration.
Question 2 of 10
How does the guide describe this discourse's length compared to the rest of the collection?
Correct: B. A title term and three items, with no simile or narrative frame at all.
Question 3 of 10
What does the guide say the near-total absence of elaboration indicates?
Correct: B. Faith, ethics, and wisdom recur constantly across the canon and would already be familiar.
Question 4 of 10
What does the guide suggest this brevity indicates about how such material was used?
Correct: B. A small piece of evidence about the practical function of very short discourses.
Question 5 of 10
How does the guide suggest reading this discourse practically?
Correct: B. A checklist rather than a teaching requiring extensive unpacking.
Question 6 of 10
What does the guide say is significant about the order faith, ethics, wisdom?
Correct: B. A progression from entry point to culmination.
Question 7 of 10
How does this discourse relate to AN 3.139?
Correct: B. Two angles on the same question: what has been reached, and what is still increasing.
Question 8 of 10
What are the two angles the paired discourses (3.138 and 3.139) offer on the same triad?
Correct: B. The same three items answer both questions.
Question 9 of 10
What is "sīla" in this context?
Correct: B. The second of the three accomplishments.
Question 10 of 10
Approximately how long does this discourse take to read?
Correct: B. Among the shortest discourses anywhere in the Nikāyas.
