Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A practice grows fast when a person sees the situation clearly, keeps working, and has somebody to ask.
The shopkeeper’s three
Seeing clearly is knowing the numbers: this product is bought at this price and sells at this; with this much investment it will bring this much profit. Being indefatigable is skill in buying and selling. Having supporters is credit — wealthy householders who know the shopkeeper is capable and deposit money with him to trade on.
The third is the most concrete and the most social. The reason given for the deposit is specific: they are capable of providing for their wives and children, and paying us back from time to time. Support is extended on the basis of demonstrated competence and demonstrated reliability, not goodwill. That detail matters when the simile turns.
The mendicant’s three
Seeing clearly is understanding the four truths. Being indefatigable is living with energy roused for giving up the unskillful and embracing the skillful — strong, staunchly vigorous, not slacking off.
And having supporters is this: from time to time going up to those mendicants who are very learned — inheritors of the heritage, who have memorized the teachings, the monastic law, and the outlines — and asking them questions. Why, sir, does it say this? What does that mean? And those venerables reveal what is hidden, clarify what is unclear, and dispel doubt regarding the many doubtful matters.
The two questions again
Those are the same two questions, in the same words, that AN 2.47 in the Twos made the mark of an assembly educated in questioning rather than in fancy talk. There the test was whether the members of a community interrogate each other after hearing a teaching. Here it is an individual competence, and it is named as one of three things that make a practice grow quickly.
The correspondence is exact enough to be worth teaching as a pair. A community that asks is AN 2.47; a person who asks is AN 3.20; and the questions are the same two. For a teacher, that is a usable standard on both scales, and it has the advantage of being observable — you can hear whether anyone in a room is asking what a passage means.
It is also worth noticing what the definition rules out. Having supporters is not described as being encouraged, funded, admired, or looked after. It is described as having access to people who know more and going to them with a specific kind of question. That is a narrow and rather demanding account of what support consists of.
Who the supporters are
The description of the senior monastics is worth reading closely: very learned, inheritors of the heritage, who have memorized the teachings, the monastic law, and the outlines. Three bodies of material — discourse, discipline, and summaries — and the emphasis is on retention rather than on attainment.
That is characteristic of an oral tradition and it names a specific role: the person worth asking is the one who has the material. Nothing here says they must be awakened, senior in years, or personally impressive. What they have is what has been handed down, and what they do with it is reveal what is hidden, clarify what is unclear, and dispel doubt — three verbs, and none of them is teach.
The whole exchange, on both sides, is transactional in the way the shopkeeper simile prepared for. The learner brings a question; the learned bring the material; the doubt is dispelled. Nobody is being inspired.
Closing the chapter
AN 3.20 ends the Rathakāravagga, and the chapter it closes is unusually varied: a well-known monastic’s influence, three places to commemorate, three kinds of hope, the king who has a king, a chariot-maker’s two wheels, three preliminaries, three kinds of harm, a question about heaven, and two shopkeepers.
What holds it together, if anything does, is that almost every discourse in it is about how something is built — a reputation, a life measured in three places, a wheel, a body of skillful qualities, a business. The first chapter of the Threes was about recognizing what a person is. The second is about what a person accumulates, and how fast, and whether it will stand when the initial push runs out.
Key terms
The text
A shopkeeper who acquires great wealth
§1“Mendicants, a shopkeeper who has three factors soon acquires great and abundant wealth. What three? It’s when a shopkeeper sees clearly, is indefatigable, and has supporters. And how does a shopkeeper see clearly? It’s when a shopkeeper knows of a product: ‘This product is bought at this price and is selling at this price. With this much investment, it’ll bring this much profit.’ That’s how a shopkeeper sees clearly.
§2And how is a shopkeeper indefatigable? It’s when a shopkeeper is skilled in buying and selling products. That’s how a shopkeeper is indefatigable.
§3And how does a shopkeeper have supporters? It’s when rich, affluent, and wealthy householders or householders’ children know of him: ‘This good shopkeeper sees clearly and is indefatigable. They are capable of providing for their wives and children, and paying us back from time to time.’ They deposit money with the shopkeeper, saying: ‘With this, my good shopkeeper, earn money to provide for your wives and children, and pay us back from time to time.’ That’s how a shopkeeper has supporters. A shopkeeper who has these three factors soon acquires great and abundant wealth.
And a mendicant
§4In the same way, a mendicant who has three qualities soon acquires great and abundant skillful qualities. What three? It’s when a mendicant sees clearly, is indefatigable, and has supporters. And how does a mendicant see clearly? It’s when a mendicant truly understands: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering’. That’s how a mendicant sees clearly.
§5And how is a mendicant indefatigable? It’s when a mendicant lives with energy roused up for giving up unskillful qualities and embracing skillful qualities. They are strong, staunchly vigorous, not slacking off when it comes to developing skillful qualities. That’s how a mendicant is indefatigable.
§6And how does a mendicant have supporters? It’s when from time to time a mendicant goes up to those mendicants who are very learned—inheritors of the heritage, who have memorized the teachings, the monastic law, and the outlines—and asks them questions: ‘Why, sir, does it say this? What does that mean?’ Those venerables reveal what is hidden, clarify what is unclear, and dispel doubt regarding the many doubtful matters. That’s how a mendicant has supporters. A mendicant who possesses these three qualities soon acquires great and abundant skillful qualities.”
Self-check quiz
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