Attabyābādhasutta — Rathakāravagga — the second 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 parallel passages on the standard threefold division of action
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
The threefold analysis of harm is standard across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — four sentences, with one distinction worth keeping
Why this discourse
Bad conduct of body, speech, and mind leads to hurting yourself, hurting others, and hurting both. Three destinations for one cause, and the discourse names them as three rather than collapsing them into “harm.” That separation is the whole of what the discourse adds, and it is enough.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The same bad conduct produces three distinguishable kinds of damage, and the first of them is to yourself.
Why three and not one
Attabyābādhāya, parabyābādhāya, ubhayabyābādhāya: for the hurting of self, of another, of both. The Pāli gives three separate compounds where one would have done.
Read as a list they are not three degrees of the same thing. Some conduct damages the person doing it and nobody else — a private resentment, a habit of thought. Some damages another and leaves the doer apparently untouched. And some does both, which is the ordinary case and the one people notice.
By naming all three the discourse forecloses two familiar defenses at once. It only hurts me is answered by the first item being on a list of harms. It doesn’t hurt me is answered by the first item being on the list at all.
Reading it beside AN 3.9
AN 3.9, eight discourses earlier, said the fool keeps themselves broken and damaged. This one gives the same claim without the image and adds the other two terms. The pair is worth reading together: AN 3.9 established that the harm falls on the doer, and AN 3.17 establishes that it does not fall only there.
The Aṅguttara does this constantly — states a claim in one discourse with an image and in another as a bare list — and the two versions are useful for different purposes. The image is what a person remembers. The list is what they can check themselves against.
The positive half
Good conduct of body, speech, and mind does not lead to hurting yourself, others, or both. Note the form: the positive is stated as a negation. It is not said that good conduct helps yourself, others, and both — only that it does not hurt.
That is characteristic and worth noticing rather than reading past. The collection is quite capable of stating positive benefits when it wants to, and here it does not. What is being claimed for good conduct is precisely and only that it is not one of the three kinds of damage. Whether it produces anything further is a different question, answered elsewhere.
Key terms
attabyābādha — “hurting oneself” — the first of the three, and the one the collection puts first.
parabyābādha — “hurting another” — the second.
ubhayabyābādha — “hurting both” — the third, and the ordinary case that people notice.
duccarita / sucarita — “bad conduct” and “good conduct” — by way of body, speech, and mind, as throughout this chapter.
byābādha — “hurting, affliction” — the same root as sabyābajjha, hurtful, at AN 3.8.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three things that lead to hurting
§1“These three things, mendicants, lead to hurting yourself, hurting others, and hurting both. What three? Bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. These are three things that lead to hurting yourself, hurting others, and hurting both.
And three that do not
§2These three things, mendicants, don’t lead to hurting yourself, hurting others, or hurting both. What three? Good conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. These are three things that don’t lead to hurting yourself, hurting others, or hurting both.”
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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 kinds of hurting does bad conduct lead to?
Correct: A. Three separate Pāli compounds where one would have done.
Question 2 of 10
Are the three degrees of the same thing?
Correct: B. The third is the ordinary case and the one people notice.
Question 3 of 10
Which two familiar defenses does naming all three foreclose?
Correct: A. Both are closed by the same item.
Question 4 of 10
How does this discourse relate to AN 3.9?
Correct: B. The same claim, once with an image and once as a bare list.
Question 5 of 10
What does the guide say the two versions are useful for?
Correct: A. The Aṅguttara does this constantly.
Question 6 of 10
How is the positive half stated?
Correct: B. Characteristic, and worth noticing rather than reading past.
Question 7 of 10
What does the guide say is being claimed for good conduct here?
Correct: B. The collection is quite capable of stating positive benefits when it wants to, and here it does not.
Question 8 of 10
What is the root of byābādha shared with?
Correct: A. Which is why AN 3.8 and AN 3.17 read as a pair.
Question 9 of 10
Which of the three does the collection put first?
Correct: C. Consistent with AN 3.9, where the internal consequence is also stated first.
