Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Defilements grow or fade depending on what the mind pays attention to — and there are exactly seven kinds of situation in which that attention matters.
The diagnosis: rational vs. irrational attention
Before the seven methods, the Buddha names the single mental factor that everything else hinges on: yoniso manasikāra — usually translated rational attention, wise attention, or application of the mind at the root. When the mind is applied rationally, defilements that haven't arisen don't arise, and those that have arisen are given up. When the mind is applied irrationally, the opposite. Everything in the rest of the discourse is, in one way or another, training of this single factor.
As an example of irrational attention, the Buddha gives a famous list of questions: "Did I exist in the past? Did I not? What was I? How was I?" and so on. These are the speculative questions about the self that consume meditators in every era. The Buddha calls them the thicket of views, the desert of views, the dodge of views. Note: he does not say they are bad questions because the answers are wrong — he says they are bad questions because they don't help. Wrong views proliferate from them; suffering does not end.
The architecture: seven methods
The Buddha lists seven methods. Each is matched to a different kind of defilement-event:
| # | Method (Pāli) | What it addresses |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | By seeing (dassana) | Wrong views about the self, given up by understanding the Four Noble Truths |
| 2 | By restraint (saṁvara) | Defilements arising at the six sense-doors — guard the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind |
| 3 | By using (paṭisevana) | Defilements around the four requisites (robes, food, lodging, medicine) — use them for purpose, not for indulgence |
| 4 | By enduring (adhivāsana) | Defilements that arise from physical discomfort — cold, heat, hunger, pain, criticism |
| 5 | By avoiding (parivajjana) | Defilements that arise from external danger — bad places, bad company, bad situations |
| 6 | By dispelling (vinodana) | Defilements already arisen as sensual, malicious, or cruel thoughts — give them up the moment they appear |
| 7 | By developing (bhāvanā) | Defilements removed by cultivating the seven factors of awakening |
Each of the seven works on a different layer. The first works on the foundation (right view). The middle five work on the daily handling of body and circumstance. The last works on positive cultivation. Together they cover every place the mind meets the world.
The three āsavas
The defilements the Buddha is talking about are called āsavas — literally "what flows in," sometimes translated taints, cankers, or influxes. The text names three principal ones: the defilement of sensual desire (kāma), the defilement of desire to be reborn (bhava), and the defilement of ignorance (avijjā). A fourth, the defilement of views, is added in some lists. The seven methods are tools for working with each of these.
A method-by-method tour
1. Seeing. The most foundational. By rationally attending to the Four Noble Truths — this is suffering, this is its origin, this is its cessation, this is the path — three specific fetters are abandoned: identification with a self, doubt, and the misapprehension that ritual observances by themselves lead to liberation. These are the three fetters of stream-entry. This method is therefore the gateway to the path itself.
2. Restraint. Live restraining the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind. This does not mean suppressing perception. It means not letting attention follow what would feed sensual desire, ill-will, or distraction. In a modern context: the discipline of not following every notification, every glance, every craving as it appears.
3. Using. The four requisites — robes, food, lodging, medicine — are not to be avoided, but used wisely. The Buddha's formula is rigorous: clothing only for warmth and modesty; food only for sustaining the body and supporting practice, not for pleasure or decoration; lodging only for shelter; medicine only for warding off the pains of illness. The principle is general — engage with the world, but for purpose.
4. Enduring. Some discomfort cannot be removed: cold, heat, hunger, thirst, insect bites, criticism, pain. The defilement that would normally arise here — irritation, complaint, hostility — is given up by enduring. Endurance is a positive practice, not gritted-teeth tolerance.
5. Avoiding. Other situations should not be endured but avoided. The discourse names dangerous animals and physical hazards (a snake, a cliff, a pit), and then names the social parallels: inappropriate seats, inappropriate neighborhoods, bad companions. The principle is to recognize what your mind cannot yet handle without harm.
6. Dispelling. When sensual, malicious, or cruel thoughts have already arisen, do not "process" them or sit with them: give them up, get rid of them, eliminate them, obliterate them. This is the strongest verb-stack in the discourse. The Buddhist treatment of thought is not "watch and let go" at this stage — it is decisive removal.
7. Developing. The positive counterpart. Cultivate the seven factors of awakening — mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture, tranquility, immersion, equanimity. This is the only method described in positive terms: not what you stop doing, but what you grow.
The closing twist
The discourse ends with the line "Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said." If you have just read MN 1, this is striking — there the mendicants did not approve. The placement is deliberate. MN 1 names the operation the mind resists (conceiving); MN 2 names the operation the mind welcomes (a practical scaffold). The pair is the canon's quiet pedagogical statement: first the truth that bruises, then the prescription that heals.
A modern parallel
Consider the structure of a single day. You speculate before getting out of bed (irrational attention — work on method 1). You pick up the phone (method 2: sense restraint). You eat breakfast (method 3: using). The bus is late and cold (method 4: enduring). A colleague who once provoked you is on the bus (method 5: avoiding — sit elsewhere). A vindictive thought about them rises anyway (method 6: dispelling). You arrive at work and settle into a focused half-hour (method 7: developing). The discourse is a complete day-shape.
Three questions Western students often ask
"Isn't 'avoid' a kind of denial? Shouldn't we face our defilements directly?" Method 5 (avoiding) and method 6 (dispelling) are paired for exactly this reason. Method 5 is about not engineering trouble — not seating yourself next to the buffet at a wedding when you are working on diet, not walking through the neighborhood that triggers you, not reading the post that will inflame you. Method 6 is for what arises anyway. Avoiding is wisdom about your current capacity; dispelling is how you act when the wisdom-window closed.
"Why is 'seeing' first and 'developing' last? Wouldn't 'developing' the seven awakening factors be the foundation?" Without right view (method 1), cultivation builds on misconception. The seven enlightenment factors developed by a mind that still takes the self as eternal become spiritual ornaments, not liberation. So seeing is first. Developing is last because it is the most refined, and it presupposes that the rougher work (restraint, using, enduring, avoiding, dispelling) has stabilized the practitioner enough that subtle factors can be cultivated.
"This is so structured — almost mechanical. Where's the heart?" The structure is the heart. MN 2 is a working scaffold, not poetry. The Buddha gave it because the absence of such a scaffold is exactly the problem that defilements exploit. The "heart" is the freedom this structure earns the practitioner; the structure is the doorway, not the room.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, "Mendicants!" "Venerable sir," they replied. The Buddha said this:
§2"Mendicants, I will teach you the explanation of the restraint of all defilements. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak." "Yes, sir," they replied. The Buddha said this:
§3"Mendicants, I say that the ending of defilements is for one who knows and sees, not for one who does not know or see. For one who knows and sees what? Rational application of mind and irrational application of mind. When you apply the mind irrationally, defilements arise, and once arisen they grow. When you apply the mind rationally, defilements don't arise, and those that have already arisen are given up.
§4Some defilements should be given up by seeing, some by restraint, some by using, some by enduring, some by avoiding, some by dispelling, and some by developing.
1. Defilements given up by seeing
§5And what are the defilements that should be given up by seeing? Take an unlearned ordinary person who has not seen the noble ones, and is neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the noble ones. They've not seen true persons, and are neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the true persons. They don't understand to which things they should apply the mind and to which things they should not apply the mind. So they apply the mind to things they shouldn't and don't apply the mind to things they should.
§6And what are the things to which they apply the mind but should not? They are the things that, when the mind is applied to them, give rise to unarisen defilements and make arisen defilements grow: the defilements of sensual desire, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. These are the things to which they apply the mind but should not. And what are the things to which they do not apply the mind but should? They are the things that, when the mind is applied to them, do not give rise to unarisen defilements and give up arisen defilements: the defilements of sensual desire, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. These are the things to which they do not apply the mind but should.
§7Because of applying the mind to what they should not and not applying the mind to what they should, unarisen defilements arise and arisen defilements grow. This is how they apply the mind irrationally: 'Did I exist in the past? Did I not exist in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? After being what, what did I become in the past? Will I exist in the future? Will I not exist in the future? What will I be in the future? How will I be in the future? After being what, what will I become in the future?' Or they are undecided about the present thus: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? This sentient being — where did it come from? And where will it go?'
§8When they apply the mind irrationally in this way, one of the following six views arises in them and is taken as a genuine fact. The view: 'My self survives.' The view: 'My self does not survive.' The view: 'I perceive the self with the self.' The view: 'I perceive what is not-self with the self.' The view: 'I perceive the self with what is not-self.' Or they have such a view: 'This self of mine is he, the one who speaks, the one who knows, who experiences the results of good and bad deeds in all the different realms. This self is permanent, everlasting, eternal, and imperishable, and will last forever and ever.' This is called a misconception, the thicket of views, the desert of views, the twist of views, the dodge of views, the fetter of views. An unlearned ordinary person who is fettered by views is not freed from rebirth, old age, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. They're not freed from suffering, I say.
§9But take a learned noble disciple who has seen the noble ones, and is skilled and trained in the teaching of the noble ones. They've seen true persons, and are skilled and trained in the teaching of the true persons. They understand to which things they should apply the mind and to which things they should not apply the mind. So they apply the mind to things they should and don't apply the mind to things they shouldn't.
§10And what are the things to which they don't apply the mind and should not? They are the things that, when the mind is applied to them, give rise to unarisen defilements and make arisen defilements grow: the defilements of sensual desire, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. These are the things to which they don't apply the mind and should not. And what are the things to which they do apply the mind and should? They are the things that, when the mind is applied to them, do not give rise to unarisen defilements and give up arisen defilements: the defilements of sensual desire, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. These are the things to which they do apply the mind and should. Because of not applying the mind to what they should not and applying the mind to what they should, unarisen defilements don't arise and arisen defilements are given up.
§11They rationally apply the mind: 'This is suffering' … 'This is the origin of suffering' … 'This is the cessation of suffering' … 'This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering'. And as they do so, they give up three fetters: substantialist view, doubt, and misapprehension of precepts and observances. These are called the defilements that should be given up by seeing.
2. Defilements given up by restraint
§12And what are the defilements that should be given up by restraint? Take a mendicant who, reflecting rationally, lives restraining the faculty of the eye. For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without restraint of the eye faculty do not arise when there is such restraint. Reflecting rationally, they live restraining the faculty of the ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind. For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without restraint of the mind faculty do not arise when there is such restraint. These are called the defilements that should be given up by restraint.
3. Defilements given up by using
§13And what are the defilements that should be given up by using? Take a mendicant who, reflecting rationally, makes use of robes: 'Only for the sake of warding off cold and heat; for warding off the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and reptiles; and for covering up the private parts.'
§14Reflecting rationally, they make use of almsfood: 'Not for fun, indulgence, adornment, or decoration, but only to sustain this body, to avoid harm, and to support spiritual practice. In this way, I shall put an end to old discomfort and not give rise to new discomfort, and I will have the means to keep going, blamelessness, and a comfortable abiding.'
§15Reflecting rationally, they make use of lodgings: 'Only for the sake of warding off cold and heat; for warding off the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and reptiles; to shelter from harsh weather and to enjoy retreat.'
§16Reflecting rationally, they make use of medicines and supplies for the sick: 'Only for the sake of warding off the pains of illness and to promote good health.'
§17For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without using these things do not arise when they are used. These are called the defilements that should be given up by using.
4. Defilements given up by enduring
§18And what are the defilements that should be given up by enduring? Take a mendicant who, reflecting rationally, endures cold, heat, hunger, and thirst. They endure the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and reptiles. They endure rude and unwelcome criticism. And they put up with physical pain — sharp, severe, acute, unpleasant, disagreeable, and life-threatening. For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without enduring these things do not arise when they are endured. These are called the defilements that should be given up by enduring.
5. Defilements given up by avoiding
§19And what are the defilements that should be given up by avoiding? Take a mendicant who, reflecting rationally, avoids a wild elephant, a wild horse, a wild ox, a wild dog, a snake, a stump, thorny ground, a pit, a cliff, a swamp, and a sewer. Reflecting rationally, they avoid sitting on inappropriate seats, walking in inappropriate neighborhoods, and mixing with bad friends — whatever sensible spiritual companions would believe to be a bad setting. For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without avoiding these things do not arise when they are avoided. These are called the defilements that should be given up by avoiding.
6. Defilements given up by dispelling
§20And what are the defilements that should be given up by dispelling? Take a mendicant who, reflecting rationally, doesn't tolerate a sensual, malicious, or cruel thought that has arisen, but gives it up, gets rid of it, eliminates it, and obliterates it. They don't tolerate any bad, unskillful qualities that have arisen, but give them up, get rid of them, eliminate them, and obliterate them. For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without dispelling these things do not arise when they are dispelled. These are called the defilements that should be given up by dispelling.
7. Defilements given up by developing
§21And what are the defilements that should be given up by developing? It's when a mendicant, reflecting rationally, develops the awakening factors of mindfulness, investigation of principles, energy, rapture, tranquility, immersion, and equanimity, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. For the distressing and feverish defilements that might arise in someone who lives without developing these things do not arise when they are developed. These are called the defilements that should be given up by developing.
The mendicant who has used all seven
§22Now, take a mendicant who, by seeing, has given up the defilements that should be given up by seeing. By restraint, they've given up the defilements that should be given up by restraint. By using, they've given up the defilements that should be given up by using. By enduring, they've given up the defilements that should be given up by enduring. By avoiding, they've given up the defilements that should be given up by avoiding. By dispelling, they've given up the defilements that should be given up by dispelling. By developing, they've given up the defilements that should be given up by developing. They're called a mendicant who lives having restrained all defilements, who has cut off craving, cast off the fetters, and by rightly comprehending conceit has made an end of suffering."
That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.
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