No narrative frame at all — no time, place, or listener is named; the text opens with the fixed formula and moves straight into the Buddha’s words
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants collectively
Form
A four-item list of blameless, easy-to-find requisites, followed by a two-stanza verse restating the same point
Length
<1 minute to read
Position
2nd of 13 discourses in the Chapter on the Brahmin’s Offering of the Teaching, the sole chapter of the Book of the Fours (Iti 100–112)
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a short, direct list with no simile to unpack
Why this discourse
Four things any mendicant can always get, and no one can ever object to: patched-together rag-robes, a single lump of begged food, the shade under a tree, and stale urine as medicine. This is one of the plainest teachings in the whole collection — no simile, no dialogue, just a short list and the single observation that contentment with a rock-bottom standard of living removes an entire category of possible distress.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Four requisites of the ascetic life — rag-robes, a lump of almsfood, a spot under a tree, and stale urine as medicine — are singled out as “trifling and easy to find, and blameless,” and a mendicant who is content with exactly this much already has, the Buddha says, “one of the factors of the ascetic life.”
Four things nobody can begrudge you
Each of the four items gets the identical three-part description: “trifling” (appa), “easy to find” (sulabha), and “blameless” (anavajja). Rag-robes for clothing, a lump of almsfood for food, the root of a tree for lodging, and rancid urine for medicine — these are, in effect, the coarsest possible version of each of the four requisites (cīvara, piṇḍapāta, senāsana, bhesajja) that every mendicant depends on. The Vinaya’s own ordination ceremony tells every new mendicant, in almost identical language, that these four are the basis of monastic life, with anything better received as a bonus. This discourse is that same instruction turned into a piece of praise: not a bare minimum to be tolerated, but a genuinely blameless standard that, once accepted, closes off an entire source of anxiety.
What contentment buys
The point is not asceticism for its own sake. The verse spells out the payoff directly: someone content with what is blameless, trifling, and easy to find “doesn’t get distressed about lodgings, robes, food, and drink, and they’re not obstructed anywhere.” A person who has genuinely settled for the four coarsest options is, by that very fact, free of a whole category of worry — whether tonight’s lodging will be adequate, whether this robe is fine enough, whether the food will be good. Nothing about the surrounding conditions can trouble someone who has already agreed to accept the least.
A single, integral factor
The Buddha is precise about what this earns: not liberation itself, but “one of the factors of the ascetic life” (aññataraṁ sāmaññaṅgaṁ). The verse’s closing line calls these qualities “integral to the ascetic life” and adds that they are “mastered by a mendicant, content and diligent” — content is paired with diligent, not with passive. Being satisfied with trifles is not the whole of the path; it is one piece of infrastructure that removes a distraction so the rest of the training can proceed unobstructed.
Key terms
paṁsukūla — “rag-robes,” literally cloth gathered from a rubbish heap or charnel ground and sewn together; the coarsest form of the robe requisite.
piṇḍiyālopa — “a lump of almsfood,” a single morsel gathered on the alms round; the coarsest form of the food requisite.
rukkhamūla — “the root of a tree,” the coarsest form of lodging, requiring no built shelter at all.
pūtimutta — “rancid” or fermented urine, used as medicine; the coarsest form of the medicine requisite.
sāmaññaṅga — “a factor of the ascetic life” (samaññaṅga); what contentment with trifles is said to constitute, one piece among several that make up the monastic path.
The text
The discourse in full, given complete: the four trifles, and the verse restating the same point. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
§2“Mendicants, these four trifles are easy to find and are blameless. What four? Rag-robes… A lump of almsfood… Lodgings at the root of a tree… Rancid urine as medicine… These four trifles are easy to find and are blameless. When a mendicant is content with trifles that are easy to find, they have one of the factors of the ascetic life, I say.”
The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
§3–4“When one is content with what’s blameless, trifling, and easy to find, they don’t get distressed about lodgings, robes, food, and drink, and they’re not obstructed anywhere. These qualities are said to be integral to the ascetic life. They’re mastered by a mendicant, content and diligent.”
§5This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
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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 many "trifles" does this discourse identify as easy to find and blameless?
Correct: C. Rag-robes, a lump of almsfood, lodging at the root of a tree, and rancid urine as medicine.
Question 2 of 10
Which of the following is listed as one of the four trifles?
Correct: B. Paṁsukūla, cloth reclaimed from refuse, is the coarsest form of the robe requisite.
Question 3 of 10
What three qualities does the text repeat for each of the four trifles?
Correct: A. The same three-part description is applied to all four items in turn.
Question 4 of 10
What does the Buddha say a mendicant gains by being content with trifles that are easy to find?
Correct: D. Not the whole path, but a genuine piece of it — sāmaññaṅga.
Question 5 of 10
According to the closing verse, what does someone content with the blameless and easy-to-find avoid?
Correct: B. "They don't get distressed about lodgings, robes, food, and drink, and they're not obstructed anywhere."
Question 6 of 10
Does this discourse open with a narrative frame naming a time, place, or interlocutor?
Correct: C. Like almost every discourse in this collection, no narrative setting is given at all.
Question 7 of 10
What is used as medicine in the fourth trifle listed?
Correct: A. Pūtimutta, the coarsest form of the medicine requisite.
Question 8 of 10
According to the reading guide, how does the Vinaya's own ordination ceremony relate to this discourse?
Correct: D. This discourse turns that same instruction into praise rather than bare tolerance.
Question 9 of 10
How does the closing verse describe the mendicant who masters these qualities?
Correct: B. Contentment is paired with diligence, not passivity.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this discourse fall within the Itivuttaka's Book of the Fours?
Correct: C. Iti 100 opens the chapter; this is the second discourse in it.
