Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The Buddha, the noble eightfold path, fading away, the Saṅgha, and the ethics loved by the noble ones are each named the best of their kind, and confidence in the best produces the best result.
A reframe, not a confirmation
Cunda's formula, as Cundī relays it, is refuge in the Three Jewels plus the five precepts. The Buddha's answer covers overlapping ground — the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, and ethics all appear — but organized around a different logic: not a checklist to complete, but a claim about superlatives. Fading away, virāga, is added as a fifth item with no equivalent in Cunda's original formula at all.
The same two-step logic, five times
Each of the five follows an identical pattern: this is said to be the best of its category; those with confidence in it have confidence in the best; and confidence in the best produces the best result. The pattern is not varied once across all five applications, which makes the discourse function almost as a template a reader could apply to any claim about supreme worth, not only these five specific ones.
Fading away, defined at length
Of the five, only virāga, fading away, receives an extended definition: the quelling of vanity, the removing of thirst, the uprooting of clinging, the breaking of the round, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment. Eight terms stacked together for what is otherwise a one-word claim elsewhere in the discourse, marking this item as needing the most unpacking of the five.
What the ethics named here specify
The ‘ethics loved by the noble ones’ are given their own eightfold description — intact, impeccable, spotless, unmarred, liberating, praised by sensible people, not mistaken, and leading to immersion — distinguishing this as a specific quality of ethical conduct rather than simply the five precepts Cunda named. Not every observance of the five precepts, on this account, automatically counts as the ethics being praised here.
Key terms
The text
Cundī relays her brother's question
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then Princess Cundī, escorted by five hundred chariots and five hundred royal maidens, went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:
§2“Sir, my brother, Prince Cunda, says this: ‘Take a woman or man who goes for refuge to the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or consume beer, wine, and liquor intoxicants. Only then do they get reborn in a good place, not a bad place, when their body breaks up, after death.’ And so I ask the Buddha: Sir, what kind of teacher should you have confidence in so as to be reborn in a good place, not a bad place, when the body breaks up, after death? Sir, what kind of teaching should you have confidence in so as to be reborn in a good place, not a bad place, when the body breaks up, after death? Sir, what kind of Saṅgha should you have confidence in so as to be reborn in a good place, not a bad place, when the body breaks up, after death? Sir, what kind of ethics should you fulfill so as to be reborn in a good place, not a bad place, when the body breaks up, after death?”
The best of beings
§3“Cundī, the Realized One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha, is said to be the best of all sentient beings—be they footless, with two feet, four feet, or many feet; with form or formless; with perception or without perception or with neither perception nor non-perception. Those who have confidence in the Buddha have confidence in the best. Having confidence in the best, the result is the best.
The best of conditioned things
§4The noble eightfold path is said to be the best of all conditioned things. Those who have confidence in the noble eightfold path have confidence in the best. Having confidence in the best, the result is the best.
The best of all things
§5Fading away is said to be the best of all things whether conditioned or unconditioned. That is, the quelling of vanity, the removing of thirst, the uprooting of clinging, the breaking of the round, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment. Those who have confidence in the teaching of fading away have confidence in the best. Having confidence in the best, the result is the best.
The best of communities
§6The Saṅgha of the Realized One’s disciples is said to be the best of all communities and groups. It consists of the four pairs, the eight individual persons. This is the Saṅgha of the Buddha’s disciples that is worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods, worthy of hospitality, worthy of a religious donation, worthy of greeting with cupped palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world. Those who have confidence in the Saṅgha have confidence in the best. Having confidence in the best, the result is the best.
The best of ethics
§7The ethical conduct loved by the noble ones is said to be the best of all ethics. It is intact, impeccable, spotless, and unmarred, liberating, praised by sensible people, not mistaken, and leading to immersion. Those who fulfill the ethics loved by the noble ones fulfill the best. Fulfilling the best, the result is the best.
Self-check quiz
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