Moranivāpadutiyasutta — Yodhājīvavagga — the fourteenth chapter of the Threes
Setting
Rājagaha, at the monastery of the wanderers in the peacocks’ feeding ground, continuing from AN 3.143
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
The identical four-part formula as AN 3.143, with a different triad filling the third slot
Length
≈30 seconds to read
Northern parallel
The three kinds of demonstration recur across the Chinese Āgamas in discussions of a teacher's proper conduct; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief here, but worth reading against DN 11's much fuller and more cautious treatment
Why this discourse
The same ultimate goal as the discourse just before, named this time through three demonstrations: psychic power, revealing another's mind, and instruction. Named here without qualification as marks of the highest attainment, the identical three demonstrations receive a far more guarded treatment in DN 11, where the Buddha explains why he dislikes showing two of them in public.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant who has mastered the three demonstrations — psychic power, revealing another's mind, and instruction — has reached the same ultimate goal named in AN 3.143, this time by a different route.
The same formula, a new triad
AN 3.144 opens with the identical stacked superlative as AN 3.143 — ultimate end, sanctuary, spiritual life, goal — and swaps the earlier discourse's ethics, immersion, and wisdom for a new set of three: iddhipāṭihāriya, ādesanāpāṭihāriya, anusāsanīpāṭihāriya.
Three demonstrations, defined
The demonstration of psychic power covers feats like flying or multiplying the body; the demonstration of revealing covers reading and describing another person's thoughts; the demonstration of instruction covers teaching that actually changes how someone lives. All three are named here as marks of ultimate attainment, listed without comment, ranking, or reservation.
A tension worth naming plainly
DN 11, already on this site, has the Buddha discuss these identical three pāṭihāriya at much greater length and take a notably more cautious position: he says he is “horrified, repelled, and disgusted” by publicly demonstrating psychic power or revealing, since a skeptic can always dismiss either as a trick, and he endorses only the demonstration of instruction without reservation. AN 3.144 lists all three side by side as equally marking the ultimate goal, with no such hierarchy stated. Both are genuine positions found in the canon, and a class should be told plainly that they sit in real tension rather than have one silently read into the other.
How the tension might be resolved, without forcing it
One honest reading: AN 3.144 describes what an adept has actually mastered, a descriptive claim about capability, while DN 11 addresses what should be publicly displayed, a separate question about prudence and effect on an audience. Mastery of a capacity and wisdom about deploying it are not the same thing, and the two discourses may simply be answering different questions rather than disagreeing about one.
Continuing the set
AN 3.145, immediately next, will complete this set of three at the same location, naming the ultimate goal a third time through right view, right knowledge, and right freedom — and will close with the chapter's own summary verse.
Key terms
iddhipāṭihāriya — “the demonstration of psychic power” — flying, walking through walls, multiplying the body; the demonstration DN 11 says the Buddha is reluctant to display publicly.
ādesanāpāṭihāriya — “the demonstration of revealing” — telepathically describing another person's thoughts; subject to the same reservation in DN 11.
anusāsanīpāṭihāriya — “the demonstration of instruction” — teaching that actually changes how someone thinks and lives; the only one of the three DN 11 endorses without reservation.
pāṭihāriya — “a demonstration, a marvel” — the shared root of all three terms, elsewhere in this collection (AN 3.125) rendered “demonstrable” in a related sense of something that can be checked.
moranivāpa — “the peacocks' feeding ground” — the same setting as AN 3.143, continuing without a new frame.
The text
The discourse in full: the fourfold formula for the ultimate goal, and the triad of three demonstrations that earns it here. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The ultimate goal, by three demonstrations
§1“Mendicants, a mendicant who has three qualities has reached the ultimate end, the ultimate sanctuary from the yoke, the ultimate spiritual life, the ultimate goal. They are the best among gods and humans. What three? A demonstration of psychic power, a demonstration of revealing, and a demonstration of instruction. A mendicant with these three qualities has reached the ultimate end, the ultimate sanctuary from the yoke, the ultimate spiritual life, the ultimate goal. They are the best among gods and humans.”
· · ·
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 triad does this discourse offer as the route to the ultimate goal?
Correct: B. A different triad from AN 3.143, filling the same closing slot.
Question 2 of 10
What does "the demonstration of revealing" (ādesanāpāṭihāriya) refer to?
Correct: B. One of the three demonstrations, alongside psychic power and instruction.
Question 3 of 10
What tension does the guide identify between this discourse and DN 11?
Correct: B. A real tension the guide names plainly rather than resolving away.
Question 4 of 10
Which of the three demonstrations does DN 11 endorse without reservation?
Correct: C. The only one the Buddha endorses without qualification in DN 11's fuller treatment.
Question 5 of 10
Why, according to DN 11, is the Buddha reluctant to display psychic power and revealing in public?
Correct: B. A concern about how the demonstration lands with a skeptical audience.
Question 6 of 10
What honest resolution does the guide propose for the tension, without forcing an answer?
Correct: B. Mastery of a capacity and wisdom about deploying it may be two different questions.
Question 7 of 10
What does the discourse's version of "the demonstration of instruction" cover?
Correct: B. The demonstration DN 11 endorses without reservation.
Question 8 of 10
What is the relationship between the Pāli root "pāṭihāriya" here and its use in AN 3.125?
Correct: B. A shared vocabulary of what can be shown or verified, across two different discourses.
Question 9 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: B. The same location as its immediate predecessor.
Question 10 of 10
What comes next in this set of three discourses?
Correct: B. The final discourse in the set, closing with the chapter's own summary verse.
