Reading guide
The question, again
The same mendicant, or one like him, asks the same question in the same words: how is one who lives by the teaching defined?
Four who fail to grasp the higher meaning
The same four false candidates recur — one who studies a lot, advocates a lot, rehearses a lot, and thinks a lot — but this time none of them is accused of neglecting retreat. The sole diagnosis given for each is that they do not understand the higher meaning (uttari cassa paññāya atthaṁ nappajānāti) of what they are doing.
The one who understands
The true dhammavihārī performs the same activity — memorizing the identical ninefold body of material — but does understand the higher meaning. As in AN 5.73, the activity itself never distinguishes the false candidates from the true one; only the single stated criterion does.
Two ways to fail
Read together, AN 5.73 and 5.74 establish that living by the teaching can be undermined in at least two independent ways: by letting study, teaching, recitation, or thought crowd out retreat and serenity, or by remaining at the surface of what is memorized without grasping its deeper import. Either failure earns the same verdict — not a dhammavihārī.
What 'the higher meaning' is left undefined
The discourse does not spell out what this higher meaning consists of; this reading guide does not supply a definition the text itself withholds. What is clear is only that memorizing correct words is, on its own, insufficient.
The same closing exhortation
As at AN 5.73, the discourse closes with the identical instruction: roots of trees, empty huts, practice absorption, don't be negligent, don't regret it later — framed once more as what a sympathetic teacher owes students.
Key terms
The text
The question, again
§1Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, they speak of ‘one who lives by the teaching’. How is a mendicant who lives by the teaching defined?”
Four who fail to grasp the higher meaning
§2“Mendicant, take a mendicant who memorizes the teaching—statements, mixed prose & verse, discussions, verses, inspired exclamations, legends, stories of past lives, amazing stories, and elaborations. But they don’t understand the higher meaning. That mendicant is called one who studies a lot, not one who lives by the teaching.
§3Furthermore, a mendicant teaches Dhamma in detail to others as they learned and memorized it. But they don’t understand the higher meaning. That mendicant is called one who advocates a lot, not one who lives by the teaching.
§4Furthermore, a mendicant rehearses the teaching in detail as they learned and memorized it. But they don’t understand the higher meaning. That mendicant is called one who rehearses a lot, not one who lives by the teaching.
§5Furthermore, a mendicant thinks about and considers the teaching in their heart, examining it with the mind as they learned and memorized it. But they don’t understand the higher meaning. That mendicant is called one who thinks a lot, not one who lives by the teaching.
The one who understands
§6Take a mendicant who memorizes the teaching—statements, mixed prose & verse, discussions, verses, inspired exclamations, legends, stories of past lives, amazing stories, and elaborations. And they do understand the higher meaning. That’s how a mendicant is one who lives by the teaching.
The Buddha's instruction, repeated
§7So, mendicant, I’ve taught you the one who studies a lot, the one who advocates a lot, the one who rehearses a lot, the one who thinks a lot, and the one who lives by the teaching. Out of sympathy, I’ve done what a teacher should do who wants what’s best for their disciples. Here are these roots of trees, and here are these empty huts. Practice absorption, mendicant! Don’t be negligent! Don’t regret it later! This is my instruction to you.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.