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Cariyapitaka · Story 1

Akitti’s Conduct

Akitti Cariyā — The Chapter With Akitti · The Perfection of Giving (1st of 10)

Setting
No external narrative frame; the Buddha speaks in the first person about one of his own past lives
Speaker
The Buddha, recounting his life as the ascetic Akitti
Form
A homage line, then ten four-line verses of first-person narration
Length
1–2 minutes to read
Northern parallel
Many of the Cariyapitaka's underlying past-life stories are also known, sometimes with variant names or details, in other Buddhist literatures; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for Akitti's story.
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — short and direct, though it opens a collection built from unfamiliar names

Why this text

This is the first of the Cariyapitaka's thirty-five stories — and unlike the Jātaka tradition, which narrates the Buddha's past lives in the third person as ‘the bodhisatta’, every story here is spoken by the Buddha himself, in the first person, recounting what he did in a specific past life and why. This one is the simplest kind: an ascetic living alone in the jungle gives away his only food, plain leaves gathered without oil or salt, three times over to a disguised visitor, without complaint or hesitation.

Reading guide

Thirty-five stories, only seven perfections

The Cariyapitaka (“Basket of Conduct”) collects thirty-five verse stories across three chapters, each illustrating one of the pāramī — the “perfections” a bodhisatta cultivates on the way to Buddhahood. Ten stories illustrate giving, ten illustrate ethics, and the rest are divided across renunciation, resolve, truth, love, and equanimity — leaving patience, energy, and wisdom without a dedicated story of their own in this particular collection.

A homage, then a name

The text opens with the same homage formula that opens Kp 1 of the Khuddakapatha — ‘Homage to him, the blessed one...’ — before turning immediately to a specific claim: ‘my name was Akitti the mortifier’. Each of the collection's thirty-five stories will open this same way, naming who the Buddha says he once was.

Tested three times, unmoved each time

Sakka, king of the gods, disguised as a brahmin, comes to Akitti's hut three times asking for food. Each time Akitti has nothing but plain gathered leaves, unseasoned; each time he gives them without reservation, and each time turns back to his hut having given up on finding more food for himself that day.

A closing formula that names the point

The story ends by stating its own purpose directly: ‘while giving him that gift I did not wish for fame or profit. Wishing for omniscience I performed those deeds.’ A close variant of this line will close nearly every story in the collection — each act of giving is framed explicitly as a step toward Buddhahood, not virtue for its own sake.

Key terms

cariyā — “conduct” — this collection's title, and the word used for each of its thirty-five stories.
pāramī — “perfection” — the quality each story illustrates; this one illustrates the first of ten, giving (dāna).
bodhisatta — a being on the path to Buddhahood — the role every speaker of every Cariyapitaka story claims to have occupied in that particular past life.
Sakka — king of the gods, who appears across many of these stories, often in disguise, testing the bodhisatta's resolve.
tapasa — “ascetic” or “mortifier” — the description attached to Akitti's name here, a forest-dwelling renunciant of no fixed affiliation.

The text

The text in full: a homage line, then ten verses of first-person narration. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1Homage to him, the blessed one, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha!

§2“For a hundred thousand eons and four incalculable ages, all my conduct in that period ripens in awakening.

§3Setting aside my conduct in past eons through different lives, I shall speak of my conduct in this eon, hear me.

§4When I lived having plunged into the formidable jungle of empty thickets and glades, my name was Akitti the mortifier.

§5Then, burned by the fires of my mortification, the sovereign of the Third Heaven, came to me for alms in the form of a brahmin.

§6I had gathered leaves from the forest without oil or salt, and seeing him standing at my door, I placed them in his pot.

§7After giving him the leaves I turned over my plate, and having given up on seeking more food, I entered my hut of leaves.

§8A second and a third time he came to me. Undisturbed, ungrasping, I gave in just the same way.

§9That is the reason why my body is not discolored. In rapture and bliss free of relishing I spend the day.

§10If even for a month or two I were to find a worthy recipient, undisturbed, unattached, I would give the supreme gift.

§11While giving him that gift I did not wish for fame or profit. Wishing for omniscience I performed those deeds.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10
How does the Cariyapitaka's narration differ from the Jātaka tradition's?
Correct: B. Every Cariyapitaka story is the Buddha's own first-person account.
Question 2 of 10
How many of the ten traditional perfections get a dedicated story in this particular collection?
Correct: B. Ten stories on giving, ten on ethics, and the rest spread across five more perfections.
Question 3 of 10
What formula opens this text, shared with Kp 1 of the Khuddakapatha?
Correct: B. A widely shared formula, not unique to either text.
Question 4 of 10
Who tests Akitti in this story, and how many times?
Correct: B. Each time asking for food, each time given the same plain leaves without hesitation.
Question 5 of 10
What does Akitti give each time he is asked?
Correct: B. His only food, given without reservation each of the three times.
Question 6 of 10
What does the closing formula say Akitti's giving was NOT motivated by?
Correct: A. 'I did not wish for fame or profit. Wishing for omniscience I performed those deeds.'
Question 7 of 10
What does the closing formula say Akitti's giving WAS aimed at?
Correct: B. A variant of this line closes nearly every story in the collection.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'pāramī' mean?
Correct: A. This story illustrates the first of ten, giving (dāna).
Question 9 of 10
How many stories make up the Cariyapitaka in total, and how are they organized?
Correct: B. This story opens the first chapter, on giving.
Question 10 of 10
What role does Akitti occupy in this story, according to the text?
Correct: B. Living alone in the jungle, without possessions beyond gathered leaves.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading