Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Six roots generate disputes in the Saṅgha: being irritable and acrimonious, offensive and contemptuous, jealous and stingy, devious and deceitful, having corrupt wishes and wrong view, and being attached to one's own views, holding them tight and refusing to let go.
Paired traits, not six isolated flaws
Each of the six items names not one quality but a pair: irritable and acrimonious, offensive and contemptuous, jealous and stingy, devious and deceitful, corrupt wishes and wrong view. The pairing suggests each root is a cluster — an inner disposition and its outward expression — rather than a single simple trait.
A shared consequence stated for each
Every one of the six items, not only the sixth, is followed by the identical diagnosis: such a mendicant “lacks respect and reverence for the Teacher, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and doesn't fulfill the training,” and “creates a dispute in the Saṅgha, which is for the detriment and suffering of the people… for the harm, detriment, and suffering of gods and humans.” This is a serious claim: the discourse treats interpersonal friction not as a minor social problem but as harm extending to “gods and humans” broadly.
An identical instruction, repeated six times
Rather than varying its advice item by item, the discourse attaches the same instruction to every root: “if you see such a root of dispute in yourselves or others, you should try to give up this bad thing. If you don't see it, you should practice so that it doesn't come up in the future.” The instruction covers both correction and prevention, and applies equally whether the fault is found in oneself or observed in another.
The sixth root as a special case
The final root, attachment to one's own views — “holding them tight, and refusing to let go” — stands apart from the other five, which concern temperament and conduct. This one concerns intellectual rigidity specifically, and its presence at the list's end, closing five traits about how a person acts with one about how a person clings to what they believe, suggests dispute can be rooted as much in doctrine defended too fiercely as in bad behavior.
Key terms
The text
The first root: irritable and acrimonious
§1“Mendicants, there are these six roots of dispute. What six? Firstly, a mendicant is irritable and acrimonious. Such a mendicant lacks respect and reverence for the Teacher, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and they don’t fulfill the training. They create a dispute in the Saṅgha, which is for the detriment and suffering of the people, against the people, for the harm, detriment, and suffering of gods and humans. If you see such a root of dispute in yourselves or others, you should try to give up this bad thing. If you don’t see it, you should practice so that it doesn’t come up in the future. That’s how to give up this bad root of dispute, so it doesn’t come up in the future.
Five further roots, and the conclusion
§2Furthermore, a mendicant is offensive and contemptuous … They’re jealous and stingy … devious and deceitful … with corrupt wishes and wrong view … They’re attached to their own views, holding them tight, and refusing to let go. Such a mendicant lacks respect and reverence for the Teacher, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and they don’t fulfill the training. They create a dispute in the Saṅgha, which is for the detriment and unhappiness of the people, against the people, for the harm, detriment, and suffering of gods and humans. If you see such a root of dispute in yourselves or others, you should try to give up this bad thing. If you don’t see it, you should practice so that it doesn’t come up in the future. That’s how to give up this bad root of dispute, so it doesn’t come up in the future. These are the six roots of dispute.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.