Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Three senior mendicants each propose a specific time of day as the proper occasion for visiting an esteemed mendicant, each proposal rejected by the next speaker on practical grounds, until Mahākaccāna corrects the whole discussion by reciting the Buddha's actual six-occasion answer: not a time of day at all, but five hindrances and one gap in understanding.
Three proposed times, three practical objections
The first mendicant proposes just after the midday meal, freshly returned from almsround; the second objects that fatigue from walking and eating has not yet faded, and proposes late afternoon instead; the third objects that the mind is still absorbed in the day's meditation subject at that hour, and proposes dawn. Each answer is plausible on its own practical terms, and each is overturned by an equally practical objection — the debate never resolves on its own footing.
A shared misreading, not three competing answers
What the three mendicants share is not disagreement about content but a common misconstrual of the question itself: they treat “occasion” (samaya) as meaning a time of day, when the Buddha's own answer, cited moments later, treats it as meaning a circumstance — a specific inner state calling for guidance, regardless of what hour it occurs in. The debate is not wrong in its practical observations about fatigue and mental absorption; it is answering a question no one actually asked.
Mahākaccāna's correction, cited as received teaching
Mahākaccāna does not argue against the three proposals directly, or offer a fourth time of day. He instead says, “I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha,” and recites the identical six occasions given at AN 6.27 — word for word, checked directly against the source. His authority here rests entirely on accurate transmission, not on his own reasoning; he settles the debate by supplying what the Buddha actually said, not by out-arguing his peers.
Why this pairing matters for how the canon transmits teaching
Read beside AN 6.27, this discourse dramatizes a real risk in oral transmission: even senior, well-intentioned practitioners can drift from a teaching's actual content toward a superficially similar but different question, simply by discussing it among themselves without a fixed reference. The corrective is not better reasoning but accurate memory of what was actually taught.
Key terms
The text
At Isipatana: the question arises
§1At one time several senior mendicants were staying near Varanasi, in the deer park at Isipatana. Then after the meal, on their return from almsround, this discussion came up among them while sitting together in the pavilion. “Reverends, how many occasions are there for going to see an esteemed mendicant?”
Three proposed times of day, each rejected
§2When this was said, one of the mendicants said to the senior mendicants: “Reverends, there’s a time after an esteemed mendicant’s meal when they return from almsround. Having washed their feet they sit down cross-legged, set their body straight, and bring mindfulness to the present. That is the proper occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant.” When this was said, one of the mendicants said to that mendicant: “Reverend, that’s not the proper occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant. For at that time the fatigue from walking and from eating has not faded away. There’s a time late in the afternoon when an esteemed mendicant comes out of retreat. They sit cross-legged in the shade of their porch , set their body straight, and bring mindfulness to the present. That is the proper occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant.” When this was said, one of the mendicants said to that mendicant: “Reverend, that’s not the proper occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant. For at that time they are still practicing the same meditation subject as a basis of immersion that they focused on during the day. There’s a time when an esteemed mendicant has risen at the crack of dawn. They sit down cross-legged, set their body straight, and bring mindfulness to the present. That is the proper occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant.” When this was said, one of the mendicants said to that mendicant: “Reverend, that’s not the proper occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant. For at that time their body is full of vitality and they find it easy to focus on the instructions of the Buddhas.”
Mahākaccāna's correction
§3When this was said, Venerable Mahākaccāna said to those senior mendicants: “Reverends, I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘Mendicants, there are six occasions for going to see an esteemed mendicant.
The six occasions, recited from memory
§4What six? Firstly, there’s a time when a mendicant’s heart is overcome and mired in sensual desire, and they don’t truly understand the escape from sensual desire that has arisen. On that occasion they should go to an esteemed mendicant and say: “My heart is overcome and mired in sensual desire, and I don’t truly understand the escape from sensual desire that has arisen. Venerable, please teach me how to give up sensual desire.” Then that esteemed mendicant teaches them how to give up sensual desire. This is the first occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant. Furthermore, there’s a time when a mendicant’s heart is overcome and mired in ill will … dullness and drowsiness … restlessness and remorse … doubt … Furthermore, there’s a time when a mendicant doesn’t understand what kind of meditation they need to focus on in order to end the defilements without delay. On that occasion they should go to an esteemed mendicant and say, “I don’t understand what kind of meditation to focus on in order to end the defilements without delay. Venerable, please teach me how to end the defilements.” Then that esteemed mendicant teaches them how to end the defilements. This is the sixth occasion for going to see an esteemed mendicant.’ Reverends, I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘These are the six occasions for going to see an esteemed mendicant.’”
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