Reading guide
Visible distress named before any diagnosis is offered
Unlike most discourses in this saṃyutta, which open with an action or a statement, this discourse opens with Tissa's physical and emotional state described directly — miserable, sad, in tears — before any explanation for it is given.
A complaint accepted as accurate but reframed as incomplete
The Buddha doesn't dispute that Tissa was mocked; he accepts the complaint as true while adding a further layer Tissa hadn't mentioned — that Tissa himself criticizes others while being unable to accept criticism in return, making him at least partly responsible for the dynamic he's now suffering from.
A specific double standard named precisely
The failing isn't described vaguely as bad temperament; it's named exactly as vattā no ca vacanakkhamo, “one who admonishes but doesn't accept admonition,” a precise asymmetry between what Tissa expects from others and what he's willing to receive himself.
A remedy stated as balanced practice, not simple restraint
The Buddha's proposed correction isn't that Tissa should stop admonishing others altogether; it's that he should be someone who both admonishes and accepts admonition, retaining the legitimate practice while adding the missing half.
A verse addressing anger directly, closing on removal of specific faults
The closing verse speaks to anger by name, not merely as background psychology, and states plainly that the spiritual life is lived specifically to remove anger, conceit, and denigration — naming Tissa's actual underlying faults rather than a general aspiration.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Tissa—the Buddha’s cousin on his father’s side—went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. He was miserable and sad, with tears flowing. Then the Buddha said to him: “Tissa, why are you sitting there so miserable and sad, with tears flowing?” “Sir, it’s because the mendicants beset me on all sides with sneering and jeering.” “That’s because you admonish others, but don’t accept admonition yourself. As a gentleman who has gone forth out of faith from the lay life to homelessness, it’s not appropriate for you to admonish others without accepting admonition yourself. It’s appropriate for you to admonish others and accept admonition yourself.”
§2That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:
§3“Why are you angry? Don’t be angry! It’s better to not be angry, Tissa. For this spiritual life is lived in order to remove anger, conceit, and denigration.”
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