None given — like almost every Itivuttaka discourse, no place, audience, or occasion is named
Form
A brief prose statement naming three grounds for making merit, followed by a two-stanza verse
Segments
16 (iti60:1.1–5.1)
Length
Under 1 minute to read
Parallel
No complete Chinese Itivuttaka survives for comparison; no specific parallel is asserted here
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — among the most approachable discourses in this run, and a natural entry point for lay practice
Why this discourse, sixtieth
Iti 60 opens Chapter Two of the Book of the Threes with a shift in register: after nine discourses analyzing feeling, searching, defilement, and craving, this one turns to something constructive and immediately practicable — the three grounds for making merit: giving, ethical conduct, and meditation. Its verse narrows the third of these, meditation, to a specific practice: “developing a mind of love.”
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are three grounds for making merit — giving, ethical conduct, and meditation — and someone who develops all three, described in the verse specifically as giving, moral conduct, and “developing a mind of love,” is reborn “in a happy, pleasing world.”
Opening a new chapter, a new register
This discourse marks the start of Chapter Two of the Book of the Threes, and the shift is noticeable. Iti 51 through 59 mostly analyze things to be understood and ended — feelings, searches, defilements, cravings, Māra’s dominion. Iti 60 instead names three things to be actively cultivated. It is a reminder that the Book of the Threes is not a single sustained argument but a collection organized by a shared numerical shape (all discourses here happen to involve exactly three of something), gathering together material of quite different character and aim.
Giving, ethical conduct, meditation
The three grounds for making merit — dāna (giving), sīla (ethical conduct), and bhāvanā (meditation, literally “development”) — form one of the most commonly cited frameworks for lay Buddhist practice specifically because none of the three requires monastic ordination. The prose statement gives all three without elaboration or ranking; nothing here suggests one ground is more valuable than the others, only that all three are “grounds for making merit.”
A specific gloss on meditation
The verse is worth reading closely for what it does with the third ground. Rather than leaving “meditation” as a broad, unspecified category, it narrows to a single practice: “developing a mind of love.” Of the many forms meditation can take, this discourse singles out the deliberate cultivation of goodwill toward others as the one worth naming in verse, paired directly with giving and moral conduct as together yielding rebirth “in a happy, pleasing world.” The result described — a favorable rebirth — is more modest than the endings of ignorance and full liberation described in the surrounding discourses, and deliberately so: this is a teaching aimed at establishing a good foundation, not at describing the final goal.
Key terms
giving — the first ground (dāna), material or other generosity offered to others.
ethical conduct — the second (sīla), living within moral precepts.
meditation — the third (bhāvanā, literally “development”), here specified in verse as “developing a mind of love.”
a mind of love — the verse’s specific gloss on meditation, the deliberate cultivation of goodwill (mettā) toward others.
“a happy, pleasing world” — the favorable rebirth described as the fruit of developing all three grounds; a modest goal compared to the full liberation described in several surrounding discourses.
The text
The discourse in full — brief prose and a two-stanza verse, opening Chapter Two of the Book of the Threes. 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 grounds for making merit. What three? Giving, ethical conduct, and meditation are all grounds for making merit. These are the three grounds for making merit.” The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
§3“One should practice only good deeds, whose happy outcome stretches ahead. Giving and moral conduct, developing a mind of love:
§4having developed these three things yielding happiness, that astute one is reborn in a happy, pleasing world.”
§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
What are the “three grounds for making merit” named in this discourse?
Correct: C. Named directly in the prose statement.
Question 2 of 10
What does the verse specifically say the third ground, meditation, consists of here?
Correct: B. The verse narrows meditation to this specific practice.
Question 3 of 10
According to the verse, what is the result of developing giving, ethical conduct, and a mind of love?
Correct: D. “That astute one is reborn in a happy, pleasing world.”
Question 4 of 10
According to the reading guide, what chapter of the Book of the Threes does Iti 60 open, and what shift comes with it?
Correct: A. The reading guide notes discourses before this one mostly analyze things to be understood and ended.
Question 5 of 10
According to the reading guide, why is the three-grounds-for-merit framework especially significant for lay practice?
Correct: C. This is why the reading guide calls it one of the most commonly cited frameworks for lay practice.
Question 6 of 10
Does the prose statement rank the three grounds, treating one as more valuable than the others?
Correct: B. The reading guide notes nothing in the text suggests one ground outranks the others.
Question 7 of 10
How does the goal described in this discourse (a happy rebirth) compare to the goals described in several surrounding discourses, according to the reading guide?
Correct: D. The reading guide contrasts this with the endings of ignorance and full liberation described in nearby discourses.
Question 8 of 10
Does this discourse name a narrative setting?
Correct: A. The text moves directly from the opening formula to the teaching.
Question 9 of 10
What is the second of the three grounds for making merit?
Correct: C. Listed second, between giving and meditation.
Question 10 of 10
What formula closes this discourse, as in nearly every Itivuttaka discourse?
Correct: B. The standard closing formula of the collection.
