Moranivāpatatiyasutta — Yodhājīvavagga — the fourteenth chapter of the Threes
Setting
Rājagaha, at the monastery of the wanderers in the peacocks’ feeding ground, continuing from AN 3.143–144
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
The identical four-part formula as its two predecessors, closing the vagga with its own summary verse
Length
≈30 seconds to read
Northern parallel
Right view, right knowledge, and right freedom as a summary of the completed path recur across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the shortest of the three, and the plainest
Why this discourse
A third and final naming of the same ultimate goal: right view, right knowledge, and right freedom. Closing both this short set of three and the whole Yodhājīvavagga, the discourse leaves the chapter’s own summary verse as its final word.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The ultimate goal receives a third name — right view, right knowledge, right freedom — completing a set that has now offered three genuinely different, equally valid descriptions of the same destination.
The simplest of the three triads
Where AN 3.143 needed technical vocabulary for a completed threefold training and AN 3.144 needed three specialized terms for demonstration, this final triad uses the plainest language of the set: right view, right knowledge, right freedom, sammādiṭṭhi, sammāñāṇa, sammāvimutti. Simplicity at the very end of a set is worth noticing as a deliberate closing move, landing the pattern on its most accessible formulation.
Knowledge after view, freedom after knowledge
The sequence tracks a natural order: right view is the correct orientation that starts the path; right knowledge is the direct seeing that view, developed, becomes; right freedom is what that seeing accomplishes. Unlike AN 3.143 and AN 3.144, whose triads name three co-present qualities, this triad reads as a single process told in three stages.
Three names for one thing, held together honestly
Ethics/immersion/wisdom, the three demonstrations, and view/knowledge/freedom are not competing definitions where only one can be correct. Read across all three discourses, the set’s actual claim is that the ultimate goal is rich enough to support several true and non-identical descriptions at once, and naming it once is not the same as naming it completely.
The chapter's own summary verse
AN 3.145 closes with the Yodhājīvavagga’s uddāna, a mnemonic verse listing the chapter’s thirteen discourses in order: the warrior, the assembly, arising, the hair blanket; accomplishment, growth, the three horse-discourses; and the peacocks’ feeding ground, three times. The verse is a memory aid for reciters, not new content, and it confirms this reading guide’s own count of thirteen discourses in the chapter.
Closing the Yodhājīvavagga
From a literal warrior's three combat skills to a mendicant's three names for the ultimate goal, this chapter has moved from martial imagery through doctrinal formula, a named refutation of a rival teacher, paired accomplishment and growth, three escalating horse-discourses, and finally three equally valid names for the same destination. The Maṅgalavagga, next, turns to shorter material and a different register entirely.
Key terms
sammādiṭṭhi — “right view” — the first of this closing triad, the correct orientation that starts the path.
sammāñāṇa — “right knowledge” — the second, the direct seeing that developed right view becomes.
sammāvimutti — “right freedom” — the third, what that seeing ultimately accomplishes.
uddāna — “a summary, a mnemonic verse” — the closing list of the chapter’s thirteen discourse-titles in order, a memory aid for reciters.
Yodhājīvavagga — “the chapter of the warrior” — named for its opening discourse, closing here on its thirteenth and final entry.
The text
The discourse in full: the fourfold formula for the ultimate goal, and the triad of right view, right knowledge, and right freedom that earns it here. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The ultimate goal, by right view, knowledge, and freedom
§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? Right view, right knowledge, and right freedom. 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.”
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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 triad does this discourse offer as the third and final route to the ultimate goal?
Correct: C. The plainest of the three triads offered across this short set.
Question 2 of 10
How does the guide characterize this triad compared to the previous two discourses' triads?
Correct: B. Simplicity at the end of a set, worth noticing as intentional.
Question 3 of 10
How does this triad's internal structure differ from AN 3.143's and AN 3.144's?
Correct: B. View, then knowledge, then freedom — a natural sequence rather than a simultaneous set.
Question 4 of 10
What is the overall claim the guide draws from all three peacocks'-feeding-ground discourses together?
Correct: B. Naming the goal once is not the same as naming it completely.
Question 5 of 10
What does this discourse close with, that its two predecessors do not have?
Correct: B. A memory aid for reciters, confirming the chapter's discourse count.
Question 6 of 10
What is an "uddāna"?
Correct: B. Not new teaching content, but a recitation aid.
Question 7 of 10
How many discourses does the Yodhājīvavagga contain, according to its own summary verse?
Correct: B. Confirmed by both the guide's own count and the chapter's uddāna.
Question 8 of 10
What does the sequence "right view, right knowledge, right freedom" track?
Correct: B. View starts the path, knowledge is what developed view becomes, freedom is the result.
Question 9 of 10
What chapter follows the Yodhājīvavagga?
Correct: B. The fifteenth chapter of the Threes, next in the collection.
Question 10 of 10
What formula opens all three discourses at the peacocks' feeding ground?
Correct: B. The shared formula that structures all three discourses in this short set.
