Rāgasutta — Tikavagga — the eleventh chapter of the Sixes, continuing the Second Fifty
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A fixed template — three things named, three antidotes to develop against them, one to one — opening a chapter of ten discourses sharing this exact grammatical shape
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The pairing of ugliness-perception, love, and wisdom as antidotes to greed, hate, and delusion recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas' meditation instructions; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and highly formulaic, opening a chapter built entirely from ten instances of one template
Why this discourse
Tikavagga, ‘Triads,’ opens on the theme its name promises: the three poisons — greed, hate, and delusion — paired one to one with three named antidotes: the perception of ugliness against greed, love against hate, and wisdom against delusion. Every discourse in this chapter repeats this exact template, naming three things and their three matched antidotes, differing only in content.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To give up greed, hatred, and delusion, one should develop the perception of ugliness, love, and wisdom, one antidote matched to each poison in turn.
A one-to-one matching, not a general remedy
The discourse does not offer a single cure for all three poisons but pairs each with its own specific antidote — ugliness-perception targets greed specifically, love targets hate specifically, wisdom targets delusion specifically — a structural principle this entire chapter will repeat with different content nine more times.
The three poisons, this literature's most basic diagnosis
Rāga, dosa, and moha — greed, hatred, and delusion — are among the most fundamental categories in this literature's account of what drives unwholesome action, already implicit throughout this collection's other discourses without being named together as a fixed triad until this chapter makes the naming explicit.
Ten discourses, one template, checked individually
Given this chapter's shared template, each of its ten discourses requires the same caution already earned repeatedly in this collection: sharing the discourse's grammatical shape does not mean sharing its specific triad, and each page in this chapter names its own distinct three things and three antidotes.
Key terms
rāga, dosa, moha — “greed, hatred, delusion” — the three poisons, this discourse's opening triad and this literature's most basic diagnostic category.
asubhasaññā — “the perception of ugliness” — the antidote matched to greed, a standard meditation subject counteracting attraction.
mettā — “love,” loving-kindness — the antidote matched to hatred.
paññā — “wisdom” — the antidote matched to delusion, closing this discourse's list.
tika — “triad,” a set of three — this chapter's own title term, naming the fixed 3+3 template every discourse here repeats.
The text
The discourse in full: the three poisons and their three matched antidotes. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three things to give up
§1“Mendicants, there are these three things. What three? Greed, hate, and delusion. These are the three things.
Three things to develop against them
§2To give up these three things you should develop three things. What three? You should develop the perception of ugliness to give up greed, love to give up hate, and wisdom to give up delusion. These are the three things you should develop to give up those three things.”
· · ·
Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 6
What three things does this discourse name, and what does this chapter's title mean?
Correct: B. This chapter's own namesake structure, a fixed 3+3 template repeated ten times.
Question 2 of 6
How are the three antidotes matched to the three poisons?
Correct: B. A specific, targeted pairing rather than one general remedy.
Question 3 of 6
What caution does the guide draw for this entire chapter, given its shared template?
Correct: B. A caution earned repeatedly by this collection's other same-shape, different-content discourses.
Question 4 of 6
What are rāga, dosa, and moha, according to the guide?
Correct: B. This literature's most basic diagnostic triad, made explicit here.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.107?
Correct: B. A bare formula, opening this new chapter.
Question 6 of 6
What does asubhasaññā mean?
Correct: B. The antidote matched specifically to greed.
