Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Most beings, blinded by ignorance, take up harmful practices thinking they are beneficial and avoid beneficial practices thinking they are harmful — only understanding the four types of practice (classified by present feeling and future result) enables wise choice.
The structure of the discourse
| Section | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. The diagnosis | The Buddha announces: most beings do not know what practices are for their welfare and what are for their harm. Because of this, they take up the harmful and avoid the beneficial. |
| 2. Four types defined | The same four types as MN 45, now stated as the framework for what follows. |
| 3. Type 1: Painful now, painful later | Extended description of misguided asceticism: going naked, refusing seats, eating only certain foods, practising self-mortification in various forms. Because of wrong view, this practice leads to a bad rebirth. |
| 4. Type 2: Pleasant now, painful later | Someone who delights in sensual pleasures and acts on the ten unwholesome courses of action. The pleasure is real but the karmic result is bad rebirth. |
| 5. Type 3: Painful now, pleasant later | Someone with strong underlying tendencies to lust, ill will, or ignorance who practises with difficulty — enduring painful feelings and distress — and through that difficult practice develops the path and attains liberation. |
| 6. Type 4: Pleasant now, pleasant later | Someone without strong underlying tendencies who practises with ease — entering the four jhānas naturally, experiencing deep happiness — and through that joyful practice attains liberation. |
| 7. Conclusion | The Buddha reaffirms the four types and calls on the monks to understand them. |
What MN 46 adds beyond MN 45
1. The opening diagnosis of ignorance. MN 45 simply presents the four types. MN 46 begins with the problem: beings do not know which practices are beneficial and which are harmful. This is not a moral failing but an epistemic one — ignorance (avijjā) is the root cause. The entire framework of four types is presented as a tool for overcoming this ignorance.
2. The extended description of misguided asceticism. Type 1 in MN 46 includes a long catalogue of ascetic practices: going naked, refusing to accept food in certain ways, sleeping on the ground, standing for long periods, eating dung, and many others. This list is found in several places in the canon (notably MN 12 and MN 51) and represents the Buddha’s systematic critique of the non-Buddhist ascetic traditions of his time. The point is not that all austerity is wrong, but that austerity practiced out of wrong view — without understanding why one is doing it — is doubly painful: painful now and painful in its karmic result.
3. The jhāna-based account of Types 3 and 4. In MN 45, Types 3 and 4 are described in terms of the ten courses of action. In MN 46, they are described in terms of meditation practice. Type 3 is someone who practises with difficulty — struggling against strong defilements, enduring painful feelings — but who perseveres and eventually attains the destruction of the taints. Type 4 is someone whose defilements are naturally weak, who enters the jhānas with ease, and who attains liberation through a smooth, joyful practice. Both reach the same goal; the difference is in the difficulty of the journey.
The two paths to the same goal
The distinction between Types 3 and 4 is psychologically important. The Buddha recognizes that practitioners differ in temperament. Some people struggle intensely with desire, anger, or confusion; their practice is hard. Others have a lighter touch; their practice flows naturally. Both can attain liberation. The discourse does not rank one above the other — it simply observes that the same goal can be reached by different routes, depending on the practitioner’s underlying tendencies.
This is a compassionate observation. It means that a person whose practice feels difficult and painful should not conclude that they are on the wrong path. They may be on Type 3 — a practice that is painful now but will ripen in the highest pleasure, the pleasure of liberation. The difficulty of the practice is not evidence of failure but a reflection of the strength of the defilements being overcome.
The critique of asceticism
MN 46’s long description of ascetic practices serves a specific purpose. It distinguishes the Buddha’s path from the self-mortification practices common in Indian religious life. The Buddha is not against effort, discipline, or renunciation — Type 3 involves all of these. He is against practices undertaken without understanding. The naked ascetic who refuses food, sleeps on thorns, and covers himself in ashes is not wrong because his practice is painful; he is wrong because his practice is grounded in wrong view. He does not understand why he is suffering or what his suffering will produce. Pain without purpose is not training; it is just pain.
Key terms
The text
The diagnosis of ignorance
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.
§2There the Buddha addressed the monks: “Monks, for the most part, beings do not know, as they really are, which practices are for their welfare and which are for their harm.”
“Because of this, beings take up practices that are for their harm, not for their welfare. They do not take up practices that are for their welfare, not for their harm. Because they take up practices that are for their harm and do not take up practices that are for their welfare, those who wish for their welfare come to harm, and those who wish to avoid harm come to harm.”
§3“But, monks, if beings knew, as they really are, which practices are for their welfare and which are for their harm, they would take up practices that are for their welfare and would not take up practices that are for their harm. Because of this, those who wish for their welfare would come to welfare, and those who wish to avoid harm would avoid harm.”
§4“Monks, there are these four ways of taking up practices. What four? There is a taking up of a practice that is painful now and ripens in pain. There is a taking up of a practice that is pleasant now but ripens in pain. There is a taking up of a practice that is painful now but ripens in pleasure. And there is a taking up of a practice that is pleasant now and ripens in pleasure.”
Type 1: Painful now, painful later
§5“And what, monks, is the taking up of a practice that is painful now and ripens in pain?”
“Here, someone goes naked, rejecting convention, licking their hands after eating, not coming when asked, not standing when asked. They do not accept food brought to them, food specially prepared, or an invitation to a meal.”
“They experience painful, sharp, severe, piercing feelings because of these practices. When the body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the lower world, hell. This is the taking up of a practice that is painful now and ripens in pain.”
Type 2: Pleasant now, painful later
§6“And what is the taking up of a practice that is pleasant now but ripens in pain?”
“Here, someone kills living beings and in doing so experiences pleasure and happiness. They take what is not given … commit sexual misconduct … speak falsely … speak divisively … speak harshly … engage in idle chatter … are covetous … have ill will … hold wrong view, and in doing so they experience pleasure and happiness.”
“When the body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the lower world, hell. This is the taking up of a practice that is pleasant now but ripens in pain.”
Type 3: Painful now, pleasant later
§7“And what is the taking up of a practice that is painful now but ripens in pleasure?”
“Here, someone has a strong underlying tendency to lust. They often experience the pain and sadness born of lust. They have a strong underlying tendency to ill will. They often experience the pain and sadness born of ill will. They have a strong underlying tendency to ignorance. They often experience the pain and sadness born of ignorance.”
“With tears streaming down their face, they live the full and purified spiritual life. When the body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. Or they might, in this very lifetime, with the destruction of the taints, realize for themselves with direct knowledge the taintless freedom of mind, freedom by wisdom. This is the taking up of a practice that is painful now but ripens in pleasure.”
Type 4: Pleasant now, pleasant later
§8“And what is the taking up of a practice that is pleasant now and ripens in pleasure?”
“Here, someone does not have a strong underlying tendency to lust. They do not often experience the pain and sadness born of lust. They do not have a strong underlying tendency to ill will. They do not often experience the pain and sadness born of ill will. They do not have a strong underlying tendency to ignorance. They do not often experience the pain and sadness born of ignorance.”
“Quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome qualities, they enter and dwell in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion.”
“When the body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. Or they might, in this very lifetime, with the destruction of the taints, realize for themselves with direct knowledge the taintless freedom of mind, freedom by wisdom. This is the taking up of a practice that is pleasant now and ripens in pleasure.”
§9“These, monks, are the four ways of taking up practices.”
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