Reading guide
A rare outward-facing instruction in this saṃyutta
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own instruction is NOT about the mendicant's own meditation — it is about encouraging OTHERS, marking a genuine shift in address compared to the great majority of discourses in this saṃyutta, which describe or instruct the mendicant's own practice directly.
Four named categories of people
The discourse's own list — “mittā vā amaccā vā ñātī vā sālohitā vā” (friends, colleagues, relatives, and family) — is confirmed by direct reading to name four DISTINCT categories of relationship, spanning from chosen friendship to blood kinship, rather than a single undifferentiated group.
Sympathy and willingness to listen -- two named conditions
Confirmed by direct reading, the discourse's own opening names TWO conditions for who should be encouraged: “those for whom you have sympathy” (anukampeyyātha) and “those worth listening to” (sotabbaṁ maññeyyuṁ) — both compassion toward the person and their own own receptivity to being taught.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, those for whom you have sympathy, and those worth listening to—friends and colleagues, relatives and family—should be encouraged, supported, and established by you in the development of the four kinds of mindfulness meditation. What four? It’s when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. They meditate observing an aspect of feelings … mind … principles—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. Those for whom you have sympathy, and those worth listening to—friends and colleagues, relatives and family—should be encouraged, supported, and established by you in the development of the four kinds of mindfulness meditation.”
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