The Book of the Fours

The Buddha explains how misunderstanding and not penetrating four principles - 1) ethical conduct, 2) collectedness, 3) wisdom, and 4) liberation - has led to wandering on in cyclic existence for a long time.

The Buddha describes the four kinds of persons found existing in the world - those who go with the current, those who go against the current, those who are steady, and those who have crossed over, standing on the firm ground, arahants.

The Buddha describes the four kinds of persons found existing in the world - those with little learning who are not accomplished by that learning, those with little learning who are accomplished by that learning, those with much learning who are not accomplished by that learning, and those with much learning who are accomplished by that learning.

The Buddha describes the four assurances possessed by the Tathāgata.

The Buddha describes two types of bhikkhus based on how they deal with thoughts of sensuality, ill will, and harming while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and which one is capable of reaching the highest awakening.

The Buddha describes the four right strivings concisely and precisely.

The Buddha outlines the four right strivings: striving for restraint, striving to abandon, striving to cultivate, and striving to protect.

The Buddha reflects on who he should honor and respect after his full awakening. Brahmā Sahampati encourages him to honor and respect the Dhamma.

The Buddha explains why he is called the Tathāgata, the one who has fully comprehended the world, its arising, cessation, and the way of practice leading to its cessation.

The Buddha does not cling to anything so when he sees, hears, senses, or cognizes, he does not formulate the seen, the unseen, what can be seen, or one who sees. He does not formulate the heard, the unheard, what can be heard, or one who hears. He does not formulate the sensed, the unsensed, what can be sensed, or one who senses. He does not formulate the cognized, the uncognized, what can be cognized, or one who cognizes.

The spiritual life is not lived for the purpose of deceiving people, nor for the purpose of winning favor with people, nor for the sake of acquisitions, respect and popularity, nor for the thought ‘Let people know me thus.’

The Buddha explains the four Dhamma principles that are foremost, ancient, rooted in tradition, timeless, and pure.

The Buddha explains the four bases of a supportive relationship.

The Buddha shares the four training guidelines of: 1) accomplishment in virtue, 2) guarding the doors of the sense faculties, 3) observing moderation in eating, and 4) practicing wakefulness, that when undertaken with diligence and cultivated as qualities, lead to non-decline and brings one near to Nibbāna.

The Buddha explains four developments of collectedness that, when cultivated and frequently practiced, lead to 1) a pleasant abiding in the here and now, 2) the attainment of knowledge and vision, 3) radical comprehension, and 4) the wearing away of the taints.

The Buddha outlines the four ways to answer questions and what makes someone skilled in responding.

The Buddha shares the four kinds of persons found existing in the world - those who value anger, contempt, gain, and honor, and those who value the good Dhamma instead.

The Buddha shares the four unwholesome practices of valuing anger, contempt, gain, and honor, and the four wholesome practices of valuing the good Dhamma instead.

Can one reach the world’s end by traveling? Recalling a past life spent speeding across space, the deity Rohitassa learns from the Buddha that suffering ends not by traversing the physical cosmos, but by awakening within this conscious fathom-long body.

The Buddha describes these four inversions of perception, thought, and view, and the four non-inversions. An uninstructed ordinary person perceives permanence in the impermanent, pleasure in the unsatisfactory, a self in what is impersonal, and beauty in the unattractive.

If both husband and wife wish to see one another in this very life and also to meet one another again in the next life, both should be alike in faith, ethical conduct, giving, and wisdom.

If both husband and wife wish to see one another in this very life and also to meet one another again in the next life, both should be alike in faith, ethical conduct, giving, and wisdom.

The Buddha teaches the laywoman Suppavāsā that giving food bestows life, beauty, happiness, and strength upon the recipient and, in turn, upon the giver. Such generosity, especially toward those accomplished in conduct is very fruitful.

The Buddha explains the four kinds of happiness that are attainable by a lay person who enjoys sensual pleasures.

The Buddha describes the four qualities that distinguish a person of integrity from one lacking in integrity.

The domain of wisdom of the Buddhas, on one in jhānas, the result of kamma, and speculation about the world are inconceivable and shouldn’t be speculated over or thought about.

The Buddha describes the cause and condition for why a trade, once undertaken, leads to loss, fails to meet its intended aim, succeeds as intended, or surpasses even its intended aim.

The Buddha describes the cause and condition for why a woman neither sits in public assemblies, nor pursues occupations, nor journeys to Kamboja.

The Buddha outlines four kinds of persons based on whether they possess internal tranquility of mind, the penetrative vision of the Dhammas through higher wisdom, neither, or both of these attainments.

The Buddha categorizes four kinds of persons based on their meditative attainments. He emphasizes urgent exertion to develop internal tranquility of mind and the penetrative vision of the Dhammas

The Buddha advises four kinds of persons on seeking spiritual guidance. Depending on their attainments, practitioners should approach accomplished individuals to learn how to steady the mind or distinctly see intentional constructs, aiming to wear away the taints.

The Buddha ranks four kinds of persons: those practicing neither for their own benefit nor for others’, those practicing only for others, those practicing only for themselves, and those practicing for both. He likens the first to a charred log and the last to the cream of ghee.

The Buddha explains the four kinds of persons found existing in the world.

The Buddha shares with Potaliya, the wanderer, the four kinds of persons found existing in the world - 1) one who criticizes the blameworthy, 2) who praises the praiseworthy, 3) who neither criticizes nor praises, and 4) who criticizes the blameworthy and praises the praiseworthy.

The Buddha describes four kinds of people based on their ethical conduct and the qualities of their associates, comparing them to trees made of softwood or heartwood and surrounded by softwood or heartwood trees.

The Buddha describes four noble thoroughbred horses, each stirred and driven to urgency by progressively stronger stimuli. He draws a parallel to four noble thoroughbred persons, who likewise respond to increasingly intense circumstances with urgency and determination, leading them to the highest truth.

The Buddha describes four cases of deeds, and how an immature person and a wise person are to be understood by their responses to deeds that are disagreeable but lead to benefit and deeds that are agreeable but lead to harm.

Diligence should be practiced in four areas - in abandoning bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct, and wrong view.

By actively protecting the mind from enticing, irritating, deceptive, and intoxicating phenomena, a practitioner attains freedom from fear, wavering, and they do not go by the mere word of an ascetic.

The Buddha describes four perils that can be encountered by those who have gone forth into homelessness, drawing an analogy to the dangers faced when entering water. These perils are anger and |irritation::waves|, |gluttony::crocodiles|, sensual |pleasures::whirlpools|, and |lust::carnivorous fish|.

The Buddha shares the four kinds of persons — those who cultivate the first jhāna, the second jhāna, the third jhāna, and the fourth jhāna while perceiving gratification — and the difference in their rebirths.

The Buddha shares the four kinds of persons — those who cultivate the first jhāna, the second jhāna, the third jhāna, and the fourth jhāna while perceiving drawbacks — and the difference in their rebirths.

The Buddha shares the four kinds of persons — those who cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity while perceiving gratification — and the difference in their rebirths.

The Buddha shares the four kinds of persons — those who cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity while perceiving drawbacks — and the difference in their rebirths.

The four types of people found in the world based on the presence or absence of rational and spontaneous eloquence.

The Buddha outlines the four lights: the light of the moon, the light of the sun, the light of fire, and the light of wisdom.

The Buddha shares in brief the four kinds of verbal misconduct - 1) lying, 2) divisive speech, 3) harsh speech, and 4) frivolous chatter.

The Buddha shares in brief the four kinds of good verabl conduct - 1) truthful speech, 2) non-divisive speech, 3) gentle speech, and 4) wise counsel.

While bodily health may last for years or even decades, it is very rare to find beings who can enjoy freedom from mental illness even for a moment. The Buddha goes on to describe four illnesses that afflict one gone forth.

The Buddha describes four ways to attain final Nibbāna with or without exertion.

The Venerable Ānanda explains the four paths to arahantship.

Venerable Sāriputta describes the four analytical knowledges he realized a half-month after his full ordination.

The Buddha teaches the four great references that should be kept in mind to determine the authenticity of the Dhamma, Vinaya, and the teacher’s instruction.

A bhikkhu asks the Buddha about the nature of the world, the mind, and wisdom.

The eight liberations are to be realized with the body, past lives are to be realized through mindfulness, the passing away and reappearance of beings is to be realized through the eye, and the wearing away of the taints is to be realized through wisdom.

The Buddha describes four benefits of deeply internalizing the Dhamma. Even if one dies muddle-minded, they are reborn among the deities, where hearing the Dhamma again and recollecting their past spiritual practice enables them to swiftly reach distinction.

How can true character be known? The Buddha explains that a person's deeper traits are only revealed over time to an attentive, wise observer: virtue through dwelling together, integrity through frequent interactions, resilience during adversity, and wisdom through deep conversation.

The Buddha describes craving as a pervasive net that entangles the mind. He analyzes thirty-six modes of mental stirring—eighteen internal ways of conceiving the self and eighteen external ways of identifying with the world. Expanded across time, these 108 cravings form the “tangled ball of thread” that binds beings to the cycle of rebirth.

The Buddha explains how four modes of social partiality—affection and aversion arising in relation to others—bind beings to the world. He shows how a bhikkhu transcends these entanglements by means of the jhānas and attains final liberation through uprooting the deep-seated conceits of self-making.

The Buddha explains how ungratefulness, along with misconduct in body, speech, and mind, leads one to be cast into hell, while gratefulness and ethical conduct lead one to be cast into heaven.

The four verbal misconducts and the four good verbal conducts.

The four kinds of kamma in brief.

The Buddha explains four kinds of kamma: afflictive, non-afflictive, mixed, and the intention to abandon these deeds.

Refuting a claim that he teaches the annihilation of the world, the Buddha explains the four kinds of kamma to the brahmin Sikhāmoggallāna.

The Buddha explains four kinds of kamma: dark deeds (breaking precepts), bright deeds (keeping precepts), mixed deeds, and neither dark nor bright deeds. The fourth category uniquely leads to the wearing away of all deeds.

The four qualities that lead to the growth of wisdom: associating with persons of integrity, listening to the good Dhamma, radical attention, and practicing in accordance with the Dhamma.

The four things that should be fully comprehended, abandoned, developed, and personally realized by directly knowing.

The four bases of psychic powers that should be developed for the full understanding of passion, desire, and attachment.