Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To make the food one has received on alms genuinely worthy of the gift, a mendicant continually checks their own heart for any trace of desire, greed, hatred, or delusion — before, during, and after the alms round — and either works to abandon what is found, or rests in the rapture of finding nothing there.
A question asked out of care
The setting is small and personal: late afternoon, Sāriputta emerging from meditative retreat, the Buddha simply remarking on how clear his faculties look and how bright his complexion is, then asking what kind of meditation he has been practicing. Sāriputta answers plainly — the meditation on emptiness — and the Buddha, delighted, calls this “the meditation of a great man.” But rather than leaving it there, the Buddha uses the opening to draw out from Sāriputta a fuller account of what that practice actually involves in the texture of an ordinary day.
The core move: checking, before eating
Sāriputta’s description centers on a single, repeatable act of reflection tied to the alms round itself: “Along the path that I went for alms, or in the place I wandered for alms, or along the path that I returned from alms, was there any desire or greed or hate or delusion or aversion in my heart for sights known by the eye?” — and then, depending on the honest answer, one of two responses. If such a state was present, the task is simply “to make an effort to give up those unskillful qualities.” If it was not, the response is not complacency but encouragement: “they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.” Either way, the check itself is what matters — not passing or failing it, but never letting a stretch of ordinary activity go by unexamined.
One question, six senses, then a widening list
The same check is immediately run across all six sense fields — sounds known by the ear, smells known by the nose, tastes known by the tongue, touches known by the body, and ideas known by the mind — using identical wording each time. Then, rather than stopping at sense experience, Sāriputta extends the same reflective structure outward to an entire graduated curriculum of practice: have I given up the five kinds of sensual stimulation? The five hindrances? Have I completely understood the five grasping aggregates? Have I developed the four kinds of mindfulness meditation… the four right efforts… the four bases of psychic power… the five faculties… the five powers… the seven awakening factors… the noble eightfold path? Have I developed serenity and discernment? Have I realized knowledge and freedom? Each question receives exactly the same treatment: an honest check, then either effort or continued training with joy.
Not becoming complacent about virtue itself
What makes this scheme distinctive is how far it reaches. It would be one thing to check only for gross unskillful states — obvious desire or ill will arising toward what one sees on the road. Sāriputta’s list keeps going all the way up through the highest attainments of the path: even having developed the awakening factors, even having attained serenity and discernment, even having realized knowledge and freedom are treated as things still worth checking honestly, rather than resting places where vigilance can finally stop. The structure of the practice does not change as the object gets more refined; only the object does.
Why alms, specifically
The choice of the alms round as the occasion for this practice is not incidental. A mendicant depends entirely on what lay people freely offer, walking silently from house to house with nothing guaranteed; it is, among the ordinary events of monastic life, one of the most exposed to unnoticed currents of desire, irritation, or complacency — toward generous donors, stingy ones, appetizing food, unappetizing food, a long walk in the heat. To “purify” the almsfood, in this discourse, does not mean any ritual act performed on the food itself; it means ensuring that the person eating it has, as far as possible, met the entire experience of receiving it without being secretly moved by greed, hatred, or delusion — so that what is eaten is genuinely earned by the quality of mind eating it, not merely received.
The Buddha’s endorsement
The Buddha’s response is unqualified: “Whether in the past, future, or present, all those who purify their almsfood do so by continually checking in this way,” and he generalizes Sāriputta’s personal practice into an instruction for the whole community — “you should all train like this: ‘We shall purify our almsfood by continually checking.’” A private habit of self-examination, offered almost incidentally in answer to a personal question, becomes, by the discourse’s end, a teaching for everyone.
Key terms
The text
A question asked out of care
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then in the late afternoon, Sāriputta came out of retreat and went to the Buddha. He bowed and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him,
The core move: checking, before eating
§2“Sāriputta, your faculties are so very clear, and your complexion is pure and bright. What kind of meditation are you usually practicing these days?” “Sir, these days I usually practice the meditation on emptiness.” “Good, good, Sāriputta! It seems you usually practice the meditation of a great man. For emptiness is the meditation of a great man.
§3Now, a mendicant might wish: ‘May I usually practice the meditation on emptiness.’ So they should reflect: ‘Along the path that I went for alms, or in the place I wandered for alms, or along the path that I returned from alms, was there any desire or greed or hate or delusion or aversion in my heart for sights known by the eye?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there was such desire or greed or hate or delusion or aversion in their heart, they should make an effort to give up those unskillful qualities. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there was no such desire or greed or hate or delusion or aversion in their heart, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
One question, six senses
§4–8Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Along the path that I went for alms, or in the place I wandered for alms, or along the path that I returned from alms, was there any desire or greed or hate or delusion or repulsion in my heart for sounds known by the ear… smells known by the nose… tastes known by the tongue… touches known by the body… ideas known by the mind?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there was such desire or greed or hate or delusion or aversion in their heart, they should make an effort to give up those unskillful qualities. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there was no such desire or greed or hate or delusion or aversion in their heart, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
A widening list
§9–12Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I given up the five kinds of sensual stimulation?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have not given them up, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have given them up, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I given up the five hindrances?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have not given them up, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have given them up, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I completely understood the five grasping aggregates?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have not completely understood them, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have completely understood them, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I developed the four kinds of mindfulness meditation?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they haven’t developed them, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have developed them, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
§13–18Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I developed the four right efforts… the four bases of psychic power… the five faculties… the five powers… the seven awakening factors… the noble eightfold path?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they haven’t developed it, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have developed it, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
§19–20Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I developed serenity and discernment?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they haven’t developed them, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have developed them, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
Furthermore, a mendicant should reflect: ‘Have I realized knowledge and freedom?’ Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they haven’t realized them, they should make an effort to do so. But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that they have realized them, they should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities.
The Buddha’s endorsement
§21Whether in the past, future, or present, all those who purify their almsfood do so by continually checking in this way. So, Sāriputta, you should all train like this: ‘We shall purify our almsfood by continually checking.’”
That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, Venerable Sāriputta approved what the Buddha said.
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.