Itivuttaka · Book of the Threes, Chapter Two · Iti 65
Good Conduct
Sucaritasutta
Setting
None given — no place, audience beyond “mendicants,” or occasion, in keeping with the Itivuttaka’s spare form throughout
Speakers
The Buddha alone; the Itivuttaka’s bipartite form never includes an interlocutor
Form
A one-line list of three items, restated and extended in a single two-stanza verse — the exact mirror of the previous discourse
Length
Under a minute to read the passage itself
Parallels
No complete Chinese Itivuttaka survives; a partial parallel collection exists in Tibetan translation, with scattered individual parallels across the Āgamas, none specifically identified for this short discourse
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the plainest possible statement of a very familiar three-part scheme
Why this discourse
This discourse is, almost word for word, the previous one with every value reversed. Where Bad Conduct named three doors of wrongdoing and ended in hell for a “witless” person, this one names the same three doors used well and ends in heaven for a “wise” one. Reading the two side by side is more instructive than reading either alone: it shows, almost like a diagram, how the compilers of this collection built teachings in matched, symmetrical pairs.
Reading guide
Three doors, reversed
The prose statement names three kinds of good conduct (sucarita): “by way of body, speech, and mind” (kāyasucarita, vacīsucarita, manosucarita) — the identical threefold division used one discourse earlier for bad conduct, now applied to its positive counterpart. Where that discourse’s prose was diagnostic, naming a problem, this one is prescriptive, naming its resolution.
The verse: giving up, not just avoiding
Notice the verse’s exact phrasing: it does not simply say “good conduct by body, speech, and mind.” It says “having given up bad conduct by way of body… speech, and mind, and whatever else is corrupt” — conduct is framed as an active renunciation of the very same wrongdoing named in the previous sutta, not simply a separate, unrelated virtue. Then comes the same reversal seen in the prose: “not having done bad deeds, and having done many good, when their body breaks up, that wise person is reborn in heaven.” Sappañña, “wise,” is the exact opposite of duppañña, “witless,” used in the mirrored line of the previous discourse.
A matched pair, read together
Placed side by side, Bad Conduct and Good Conduct are close to being a single teaching split into two discourses: identical three-part structure, identical two-stanza verse form, every specific term inverted — bad becomes good, done becomes given up, witless becomes wise, hell becomes heaven. This kind of deliberate pairing is a genuine feature of how the Itivuttaka’s short chapters are organized, not an accident of translation or arrangement.
Part of a larger quartet
This discourse is also the second of four in this chapter built on the “three, by way of body, speech, and mind” template — followed immediately by Purity and Sagacity, which keep the same three-part structure but shift their outcome away from heaven and hell altogether, toward a state described as having “given up everything.” Seen as a set of four, the chapter appears to be working through variations on a single grammatical mold.
The form itself
As throughout this collection, Good Conduct opens with “This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard,” states its teaching in prose, restates it in verse, and closes with a near-mirror of the opening line. No place, occasion, or listener is named beyond “mendicants” — nothing narrative frames it at all.
Key terms
sucarita — “good conduct,” of three kinds: by body, speech, and mind — the direct counterpart of duccarita in the previous discourse.
kāya-, vacī-, manosucarita — good conduct “by way of body,” “by way of speech,” and “by way of mind” respectively.
“having given up” — the verse’s framing of good conduct as an active renunciation of the very wrongdoing named in the previous discourse, not a separate virtue.
sappañña — “wise,” literally endowed with wisdom (paññā); the exact opposite of duppañña, “witless,” used in Iti 64.
sagga — heaven; the stated destination when the cumulative pattern of good conduct predominates.
The text
The discourse in full — a one-line prose list of three kinds of good conduct, followed by a two-stanza verse describing their cumulative result. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
The teaching
§2“Mendicants, there are these kinds of good conduct. What three? Good conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. These are the three kinds of good conduct.” The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
The verse
§3“Having given up bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, and whatever else is corrupt;
§4not having done bad deeds, and having done many good, when their body breaks up, that wise person is reborn in heaven.”
§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 three kinds of good conduct does the prose statement name?
Correct: A. This is the exact same threefold structure used for bad conduct in the previous discourse, now applied to its positive counterpart.
Question 2 of 10
How does the verse frame good conduct, according to its exact wording?
Correct: C. The verse’s phrasing directly echoes and reverses that of Iti 64.
Question 3 of 10
What word does the verse use for the person reborn in heaven, and how does it relate to Iti 64?
Correct: B. This precise reversal is part of what makes the two discourses a matched pair.
Question 4 of 10
According to the reading guide, what is the relationship between this discourse and Iti 64, Bad Conduct?
Correct: D. Bad becomes good, done becomes given up, witless becomes wise, hell becomes heaven.
Question 5 of 10
What happens “when their body breaks up,” according to the verse, to the person this discourse describes?
Correct: C. This is the verse’s stated outcome for the cumulative pattern of good conduct.
Question 6 of 10
Which two discourses come immediately after this one in the chapter’s body-speech-mind quartet, according to the reading guide?
Correct: B. These keep the same three-part template but shift the outcome away from heaven and hell.
Question 7 of 10
Is any specific place, listener, or occasion named in this discourse?
Correct: A. Only the standing address “mendicants” appears.
Question 8 of 10
How many verse stanzas restate the prose statement in this discourse?
Correct: D. As in Iti 64, the verse unfolds across two stanzas before the closing formula.
Question 9 of 10
What is the opening formula shared by every discourse in this collection, including this one?
Correct: B. This formula, and a near-mirror at the close, frame every discourse in the Itivuttaka.
Question 10 of 10
What does the verse mean by describing the good-conduct pattern as having “done many good” deeds, paired with not having done bad ones?
Correct: C. This is the precise positive mirror of Iti 64's “not having done good deeds, and having done many bad.”
