Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 3.84

The Vajji

Vajjiputtasutta — Samaṇavagga — the ninth chapter of the Threes

Setting
Vesālī, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof
Speakers
A Vajji monk and the Buddha
Form
An admission, a counter-offer, an agreement, and a report of what followed
Length
~2 minutes to read
Northern parallel
Comparable material on reducing the training to its three headings is preserved in the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — short, and the kindest discourse in the chapter

Why this discourse

A monk comes and says, without excuse or explanation, that more than a hundred and fifty training rules are recited every fortnight and he cannot train in them. He is not rebuked, not encouraged to try harder, and not told to leave. He is asked whether he can train in three things instead. He says he can. And the discourse reports that he did, and that it worked.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

Somebody who cannot manage a hundred and fifty rules can be given three headings, and the three will produce what the rules were for.

What the monk says

“Sir, each fortnight over a hundred and fifty training rules are recited. I’m not able to train in them.”

There is no apology and no excuse in it. He does not say the rules are too many, or wrong, or that his circumstances are special; he reports a fact about himself.

The number is worth pausing on, because it dates the text. The Pātimokkha recited fortnightly grew over time and the fully developed monastic code has well over two hundred rules for monks; over a hundred and fifty is a figure from an earlier stage, and the discourse preserves it. That is a small piece of evidence about the age of the material, and it is the kind of detail worth showing a class who assume the canon is a single flat surface.

What he is offered

“But monk, are you able to train in three trainings: the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom?”

The offer is not a reduction of the requirement and it is not a dispensation. It is the same training under three headings instead of a hundred and fifty items, and the monk says he can do that.

What makes it work is worth spelling out. A list of rules is a list of things not to do, each of which must be remembered separately. The three trainings are directions of effort. A person can hold three directions in mind continuously and cannot hold a hundred and fifty prohibitions in mind at all.

It is also worth noticing what is not offered. He is not given a shorter list of rules, not told which rules matter most, and not excused any of them. The Vinaya is not amended; the way he holds it is changed.

The promise, and the report

“As you train in these, you will give up greed, hate, and delusion. Then you won’t do anything unskillful, or practice anything bad.”

That is a claim about mechanism: the three trainings remove the roots, and with the roots gone the conduct the rules were protecting follows without the rules having to be recalled one by one. The rules were never the point; they were a description of how somebody without greed, hate, and delusion behaves.

And then the discourse does something the Threes rarely do: it reports the outcome. After some time that monk trained in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom. He gave up greed, hate, and delusion. Then he didn’t do anything unskillful, or practice anything bad.

No verse, no praise, and no name. The discourse ends with a report that the advice was taken and worked, which is a form of ending the collection almost never uses.

Read against the donkey

Two discourses earlier, a monk who follows the Saṅgha without the enthusiasm for the three trainings is compared to a braying donkey. Here, a monk who cannot manage the training says so and is helped.

The pair should be taught together, because either one alone gives a false picture of the collection. AN 3.82 is what this literature sounds like when it is describing somebody who wants the standing without the work. AN 3.84 is what it sounds like when somebody says plainly that they are struggling.

The difference between the two figures is not capacity. It is that one of them said something. The donkey goes on insisting I’m a monk too; the Vajji monk says I’m not able, and is immediately given something he can do.

For a teacher that is the whole lesson, and it does not require any Buddhist commitment to use.

Using it

This is the discourse for anybody who has been given a system too large to hold — a curriculum, a rule book, a practice with too many parts. The move it models is not cutting the requirement but re-describing it at a level the person can actually carry.

It also gives a teacher permission to do that. The Buddha does not check whether the monk is really incapable, does not negotiate, and does not ask him to try the rules again first. The report of incapacity is accepted at face value and answered with a workable alternative in a single sentence.

Key terms

sikkhāpada — “training rule” — the items of the monastic code recited fortnightly. “Over a hundred and fifty” is a figure from an earlier stage of the code.
uddesa — “recitation” — the fortnightly recital of the code at which the rules are gone through.
nāhaṁ sakkomi — “I’m not able” — the monk’s statement, offered without excuse or explanation and accepted at face value.
tisso sikkhā — “the three trainings” — offered in place of the hundred and fifty, not as a reduction but as the same training under three headings.
pahāsi — “he gave up” — in the closing report, which states that the advice was taken and worked. An ending the collection almost never uses.

The text

The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

“I’m not able”

§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. Then a certain Vajji monk went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, each fortnight over a hundred and fifty training rules are recited. I’m not able to train in them.” “But monk, are you able to train in three trainings: the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom?” “I am, sir.” “So, monk, you should train in these three trainings: the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom.

What follows from three

§2As you train in these, you will give up greed, hate, and delusion. Then you won’t do anything unskillful, or practice anything bad.”

And what happened

§3After some time that monk trained in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom. He gave up greed, hate, and delusion. Then he didn’t do anything unskillful, or practice anything bad.

· · ·

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 does the monk say?
Correct: B. He reports a fact about himself.
Question 2 of 10
Why is the number worth pausing on?
Correct: B. Worth showing a class who assume the canon is a single flat surface.
Question 3 of 10
What is he offered?
Correct: C. The Vinaya is not amended; the way he holds it is changed.
Question 4 of 10
Why does the guide say the substitution works?
Correct: B. Nobody can hold a hundred and fifty prohibitions in mind at all.
Question 5 of 10
What is not offered?
Correct: A. The requirement is re-described rather than reduced.
Question 6 of 10
What claim about mechanism does the Buddha make?
Correct: B. The rules were a description of how somebody without the three roots behaves.
Question 7 of 10
How does the discourse end?
Correct: C. No verse, no praise, no name — an ending the collection almost never uses.
Question 8 of 10
How does this discourse relate to AN 3.82?
Correct: C. Either one alone gives a false picture of the collection.
Question 9 of 10
What does the guide say the difference between the two figures is?
Correct: C. And is immediately given something he can do.
Question 10 of 10
What does the Buddha not do before offering the alternative?
Correct: A. The report of incapacity is accepted at face value and answered in a single sentence.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

  • Full Sujato translation on SuttaCentral — with Pāli alongside, segment by segment.
  • AN 3.82 · The Donkey — the discourse two earlier, and the necessary companion. Between them the chapter shows how it treats somebody who wants the standing without the work, and somebody who admits they are struggling.
  • Nanshan Vinaya for Laypeople — Hongyi’s compendium of the Chinese vinaya tradition, for how a later school organized a code that had grown far past a hundred and fifty rules into something a person could actually hold.
  • AN 3.78 · Precepts and Observances — for the criterion that makes this substitution legitimate: an observance is judged by whether the unskillful declines, not by its completeness.
← PreviousAN 3.83 · Fields