Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 3.2

A Person

Purisasutta

Setting
At Sāvatthī; no further narrative detail given
Speakers
The Buddha and King Pasenadi of Kosala
Form
A direct question in prose, a threefold answer, and a single closing simile-verse
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a short, direct discourse naming a foundational teaching

Why this discourse

Pasenadi asks a foundational question: how many things arise inside a person for their harm, suffering, and discomfort? The Buddha answers with three — greed, hate, and delusion — the root causes named across this entire tradition's ethical teaching, here compressed into a single brief exchange and closed by a single vivid simile: these three destroy a person of wicked heart just as a bamboo plant is destroyed by its own fruit.

Reading guide

A direct question, seeking a count

Unlike SN 3.1's more elaborate exchange, this discourse opens with Pasenadi asking a plain, countable question — how many things arise inside a person for harm — setting up an answer that can be stated in a single breath.

The three roots, named directly

Greed, hate, and delusion (lobha, dosa, moha) are this tradition's most fundamental naming of what generates unwholesome action; this discourse states them without further elaboration, trusting the terms themselves to carry their full weight.

Arising inside, not imposed from outside

The question and answer both specify that these three ‘arise inside a person’, locating the source of harm within rather than attributing suffering to external circumstance — a framing this discourse shares with SN 3.4 and SN 3.5's later distinction between interior and exterior sources of harm and protection.

A bamboo destroyed by its own fruit

The closing simile draws on a specific botanical fact: certain bamboo species die after fruiting, their own reproductive act becoming the cause of their destruction — mapped directly onto how greed, hate, and delusion destroy the very person in whom they arise.

A pattern this saṃyutta will repeat

The shape of this exchange — a direct question, a confirmed answer, a closing verse — recurs across several of King Pasenadi's discourses with the Buddha, establishing early in this saṃyutta a conversational rhythm distinct from the godling exchanges of this book's earlier saṃyuttas.

Key terms

lobha — “greed” — the first of the three things named as arising inside a person for their harm.
dosa — “hate” — the second of the three.
moha — “delusion” — the third and final of the three, completing this tradition's most fundamental naming of unwholesome roots.
veḷu — “bamboo” — the plant whose self-destructive fruiting supplies the closing verse's central image.
pāpacitta — “wicked heart” — the verse's description of the person these three things are said to harm.

The text

The discourse in full: Pasenadi's question, the Buddha's threefold answer, and the closing bamboo simile. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. Then King Pasenadi of Kosala went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to the Buddha, “Sir, how many things arise inside a person for their harm, suffering, and discomfort?”

§2“Great king, three things arise inside a person for their harm, suffering, and discomfort. What three? Greed, hate, and delusion. These three things arise inside a person for their harm, suffering, and discomfort.” That is what the Buddha said. …

§3“When greed, hate, and delusion, originate inside oneself, they harm a person of wicked heart, as a bamboo is destroyed by its own fruit.”

· · ·

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 does King Pasenadi ask the Buddha in this discourse?
Correct: A. A direct, countable question distinct from SN 3.1's more elaborate exchange.
Question 2 of 10
What three things does the Buddha name?
Correct: A. This tradition's most fundamental naming of the roots of unwholesome action.
Question 3 of 10
Where does the discourse locate the source of these three things?
Correct: A. A framing shared with SN 3.4 and SN 3.5's later interior/exterior distinction.
Question 4 of 10
What simile closes this discourse?
Correct: A. Drawing on the botanical fact that certain bamboo species die after fruiting.
Question 5 of 10
How does the simile map onto greed, hate, and delusion?
Correct: A. A direct mapping of self-destruction onto the three roots' effect on their possessor.
Question 6 of 10
How does this discourse's structure compare to SN 3.1's?
Correct: A. A more compressed exchange than SN 3.1's fuller dialogue and conversion narrative.
Question 7 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. A bare setting note, consistent with several discourses in this collection.
Question 8 of 10
What conversational pattern does this discourse help establish for this saṃyutta?
Correct: A. A rhythm distinct from the godling exchanges of this book's earlier saṃyuttas.
Question 9 of 10
What does “moha” mean?
Correct: A. The third of the three roots named in this discourse.
Question 10 of 10
What kind of person does the closing verse say these three things harm?
Correct: A. The verse's own description of who is destroyed by greed, hate, and delusion.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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