None given — like almost every Itivuttaka discourse, no place, audience, or occasion is named
Form
A brief prose statement naming three defilements, followed by a single verse reusing the same formula found at Iti 52 and Iti 54
Segments
16 (iti56:1.1–5.1)
Length
Under 1 minute to read
Parallel
No complete Chinese Itivuttaka survives for comparison; no specific parallel is asserted here
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief and formulaic on its own, but the list of exactly three defilements (rather than four) is a genuine doctrinal detail worth noting
Why this discourse, fifty-sixth
Iti 56 applies the by-now-familiar four-part formula — understand the thing, its cause, its cessation, the path to that cessation — to a third topic: the āsavas, usually translated “defilements” or “effluents.” Here exactly three are named — sensuality, the desire to be reborn, and ignorance — which is worth flagging, since a very well-known list elsewhere in the canon gives four, adding a defilement of view. This discourse belongs to a real, if less common, threefold version of the list.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are three defilements — sensuality, the desire to be reborn, and ignorance — and a mendicant who understands them, their cause, their ending, and the path to that ending is, once again, “hungerless, quenched.”
Three, not four
This is worth pausing on. Elsewhere in the canon, defilements are commonly listed as four: sensuality, desire to be reborn, views, and ignorance. This discourse gives only three, omitting the defilement of views entirely. Rather than an error, this reflects a real variation preserved across the early texts — some formulas count three defilements, others four, and the three-defilement version found here happens to line up neatly with the three roots later named for Iti 57’s liberated person: sensuality ended, ignorance faded, the desire to be reborn finished.
The same tool, a third target
By this point in the Book of the Threes, the pattern is unmistakable: feeling (Iti 52), searches (Iti 54), and now defilements (Iti 56) are each run through an identical four-part method — understand the thing, its cause, its cessation, the path to that cessation — and each ends with the same phrase, “hungerless, quenched.” The three discourses are not making three unrelated points; they are demonstrating that one method of investigation applies across very different categories of experience, from something as immediate as feeling to something as foundational as the defilements that keep the mind bound.
Why “defilement” matters here
The āsavas are traditionally treated as deeper and more stubborn than ordinary unwholesome states — they are what remain even in someone otherwise quite developed, and their complete ending is a standard description of full awakening. That this discourse subjects them to the same brief, four-part treatment as feeling and searching is a claim about method, not about difficulty: the tool for investigating something as subtle as the defilements is not different in kind from the tool for investigating feeling, even if applying it fully takes far longer.
Key terms
the defilement of sensuality — the first of the three (kāmāsava), craving for sense pleasure at its most persistent.
the defilement of desire to be reborn — the second (bhavāsava), the wish for existence to continue.
the defilement of ignorance — the third (avijjāsava), not knowing things as they are.
the fourfold list, elsewhere — a well-known variant elsewhere in the canon adds a defilement of views to this discourse’s three, reflecting genuine variation in how the early texts count the āsavas.
“hungerless, quenched” — the same closing phrase used for feeling (Iti 52) and searches (Iti 54).
The text
The discourse in full — brief prose and a single verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
§2“Mendicants, there are these three defilements. What three? The defilements of sensuality, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. These are the three defilements.” The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
§3“Stilled, aware, a mindful disciple of the Buddha understands defilements, the cause of defilements,
§4where they cease, and the path that leads to their ending. With the ending of defilements, a mendicant is hungerless, quenched.”
§5This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
· · ·
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
What are the “three defilements” named in this discourse?
Correct: B. Named directly in the prose statement.
Question 2 of 10
According to the reading guide, how does this list compare to a well-known variant listed elsewhere in the canon?
Correct: C. The reading guide treats this as a genuine variation, not an error.
Question 3 of 10
What four things does the verse say a mindful disciple understands about defilements?
Correct: A. The same four-part formula used for feeling and searches.
Question 4 of 10
How is the mendicant described once the ending of defilements is reached?
Correct: D. The identical phrase used to close Iti 52 and Iti 54.
Question 5 of 10
According to the reading guide, what point do Iti 52, Iti 54, and Iti 56 make together?
Correct: B. Each discourse runs a different topic through the same formula.
Question 6 of 10
What is traditionally said about the āsavas (defilements) compared to ordinary unwholesome states, according to the reading guide?
Correct: C. The reading guide notes this while also noting the brevity of the formula applied to them here.
Question 7 of 10
Does this discourse name a narrative setting?
Correct: A. The text moves directly from the opening formula to the teaching.
Question 8 of 10
What is the third of the three defilements named here?
Correct: D. Listed third, after sensuality and desire to be reborn.
Question 9 of 10
What formula closes this discourse, as in nearly every Itivuttaka discourse?
Correct: B. The standard closing formula of the collection.
Question 10 of 10
Which discourse immediately follows Iti 56 and returns to the same three defilements with a different verse?
Correct: C. Iti 57 pairs with Iti 56 the same way Iti 53 pairs with Iti 52 and Iti 55 pairs with Iti 54.
