Duccaritasutta — 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
This chapter's shared template — three things named, three antidotes developed — applied to the three doors of action
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The threefold division of conduct into bodily, verbal, and mental action recurs throughout the Chinese Āgamas and Vinaya literature; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and formulaic, naming the three doors of action rather than an inward state
Why this discourse
AN 6.108 applies AN 6.107's exact template to a different, more externally observable register: bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, reversed one to one by good conduct in each of the same three domains — the three “doors” through which action is traditionally classified in this literature.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To give up bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, one should develop good conduct of body, speech, and mind, each antidote matched exactly to its corresponding poor conduct.
The three doors of action, not the three poisons
Where AN 6.107 named three inward motivations (greed, hate, delusion), this discourse names three outward channels through which any motivation, wholesome or not, expresses itself — kāya, vacī, and mano, body, speech, and mind, the standard threefold classification of karmic action in this literature.
The simplest possible antidote structure
Unlike AN 6.107's distinct antidotes (ugliness-perception, love, wisdom) matched to distinct poisons, this discourse's antidotes are simply the direct positive counterpart of each named fault — good bodily conduct against bad bodily conduct, and so on — the most literal possible instance of this chapter's template.
A conduct-level companion to AN 6.107's inward triad
Read together, AN 6.107 and 6.108 suggest two complementary registers this chapter will continue to alternate between: inward states requiring a specifically matched antidote, and outward conduct requiring simply its own direct reversal.
Key terms
kāyaduccarita, vacīduccarita, manoduccarita — “bad conduct by way of body, speech, mind” — this discourse's opening triad, the three standard doors of karmic action.
kāyasucarita, vacīsucarita, manosucarita — “good conduct by way of body, speech, mind” — the antidote triad, the direct positive counterpart of each named fault.
duccarita — “bad conduct,” misconduct — this discourse's own title term.
kāya, vacī, mano — “body, speech, mind” — the three doors through which action is traditionally classified in this literature.
tika — “triad” — this chapter's shared structural principle, here applied to the three doors of action rather than the three poisons.
The text
The discourse in full: bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, and its direct reversal. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three things to give up
§1“Mendicants, there are these three things. What three? Bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. 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 good bodily conduct to give up bad bodily conduct, good verbal conduct to give up bad verbal conduct, and good mental conduct to give up bad mental conduct. These are the three things you should develop to give up those three things.”
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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, unlike AN 6.107's three poisons?
Correct: B. Outward channels of action, rather than AN 6.107's inward motivations.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse's antidote structure differ from AN 6.107's, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The most literal possible instance of this chapter's template.
Question 3 of 6
What two complementary registers does the guide say AN 6.107 and 6.108 together suggest?
Correct: B. Two registers this chapter continues to alternate between across its ten discourses.
Question 4 of 6
What are the three standard 'doors' of karmic action named in this discourse?
Correct: B. The standard threefold classification of action in this literature.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.108?
Correct: B. A bare formula, matching AN 6.107 immediately before it.
Question 6 of 6
What does duccarita mean?
Correct: B. This discourse's own title term, negated by its antidote triad.
