Tikanipāta - The Book of the Threes

The Buddha lists the three roots of the unwholesome - greed, aversion, and delusion, and explain their effect on the mind with a simile.

The Buddha describes the three elements - 1.) form element, 2.) formless element, and 3.) element of cessation.

The Buddha describes the three experiences that are felt on contact through the sense doors: pleasant, painful, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant.

The Buddha describes how to see the three felt experiences that are experienced on contact through the sense doors - pleasant, painful, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant.

The Buddha describes the three quests of sensual pleasure, renewed existence, and spiritual life.

The Buddha describes the three quests of sensual pleasure, renewed existence, and spiritual life as the result of holding tight to the thought ‘This is the truth’ and the accumulation of bases for views.

The Buddha describes the three taints - the taint of sensual desire, the taint of becoming, and the taint of ignorance, and the way of practice leading to their cessation.

The Buddha describes the three taints - the taint of sensual desire, the taint of becoming, and the taint of ignorance, and the one who is free from them.

The Buddha describes the three kinds of craving - 1.) craving for sensual pleasures, 2.) craving for existence, and 3.) craving for non-becoming.

The Buddha describes the three qualities that a bhikkhu should be endowed with to transcend Māra’s domain and shine like the sun.

The Buddha shares the three bases for making merit through 1.) giving, 2.) ethical conduct, and 3.) cultivating a mind of loving-kindness.

The Buddha declares the three types of eyesight - 1.) the physical eye, 2.) the divine eye, and 3.) the eye of wisdom. The eye of wisdom is unsurpassed of the three.

The Buddha describes the three mental faculties - 1.) the faculty that senses ‘I will know the unknown,’ 2.) the faculty of awakening, and 3.) the faculty of one who is awakened.

The Buddha speaks on how beings cling to what can be expressed—concepts and designations, including the three time periods of past, future, and present. Not fully understanding these, they fall under the yoke of death.

The Buddha describes the three kinds of misconduct - by body, speech and mind.

The Buddha describes the three kinds of good conduct - by body, speech and mind.

The Buddha describes the three kinds of purity - by body, speech and mind.

The Buddha describes the three kinds of sagacity - by body, speech and mind.

Whoever has not let go of passion, aversion, and delusion is said to be bound by Māra, ensnared by Māra’s trap, and subject to the will of the Evil One.

Whoever has let go of passion, aversion, and delusion is called one who has crossed beyond the ocean—with its waves, currents, whirlpools, fierce beasts, and monsters.

The Buddha shares the consequences of holding on to wrong views and acting upon them based on his direct knowledge.

The Buddha shares the consequences of holding on to right views and acting upon them based on his direct knowledge.

The Buddha describes the three elements of escape - renunciation, formless element and cessation.

Cessation is more peaceful than the form or formless realms. Beings attached to these states face renewed existence.

Three kinds of children - 1.) one who surpasses their parents, 2.) one who follows in their footsteps, and 3.) one who falls below them.

Three kinds of persons are found in the world - 1.) One like a rainless cloud, 2.) one like a cloud that rains in a certain area, and 3.) one like a cloud that rains everywhere.

The Buddha teaches that a wise person aspiring for the three kinds of happiness - of 1.) praise, 2.) wealth, and 3.) good rebirth - should safeguard their virtue.

The body is fragile, consciousness is of a fading nature. All substrates of existence are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and subject to change.

Beings come together and associate with other beings according to their disposition. Therefore one should avoid associating with those that are lazy and keep company with the wise.

The Buddha describes three things that lead to the decline of a trainee bhikkhu and three things that lead to non-decline.

The Buddha shares the three unwholesome thoughts - 1) concerning one’s reputation, 2) concerning acquisitions, respect, and popularity, and 3) associated with inappropriate concern for others.

The Blessed One describes beings who are overcome by respect or by disrespect or by both, and their rebirth. The true person is one who is collected, detached, and delights in the wearing away of grasping.

The Buddha describes three occasions when divine sounds arise among the gods.

The Buddha describes the five signs that appear when a deity is about to pass away, and the three blessings that the gods give to the deity.

Three individuals arise for the world’s welfare: the Buddha, the Arahant, and the trainee disciple. Out of compassion, all three teach the pure Dhamma, opening the door to the deathless and helping diligent followers make an end of suffering.

The Buddha advises to 1.) dwell contemplating the unattractive nature of the body, 2.) establish mindfulness as the primary focal point while breathing in and out, and 3.) observe impermanence in all conditioned phenomena.

It is natural for a practitioner practicing in accordance with the Dhamma to speak and think only in terms of the Dhamma, not in terms of what is not the Dhamma.

The three unwholesome thoughts are blinding, produce lack of vision, cause ignorance, obstruct wisdom, and are troublesome and not conducive to Nibbāna. The three wholesome thoughts give sight, produce vision and create insight, grow wisdom, and are trouble-free and conducive to Nibbāna.

Greed, aversion, and delusion are internal impurities that act as one’s internal enemies. Though they obscure clarity and injure one from within, most people fail to recognize their true nature.

The Buddha explains how Devadatta, overcome by evil desires, bad friendship, and abandoning the training, arrived at a state of prolonged suffering. Though once esteemed, his envy led to ruin. The wise should associate with those whose path leads to the cessation of suffering.

The Buddha shares the three kinds of best confidence - 1.) in the Buddha, 2.) in the mental quality of fading of desire, and 3.) in the community of the Blessed One’s disciples.

The Buddha explains how the livelihood of subsisting on alms, although the lowest of livelihoods, is a sensible choice for those who hope to discern a complete end to this entire heap of suffering.

The Buddha teaches that one could be far from him despite being physically close, and one could be near to him despite being physically far. When one sees the Dhamma, one sees the Buddha.

The Buddha describes the fires of passion, hatred, and delusion which consume beings who cling to a self. The wise cool these flames with wisdom, loving-kindness, and perceiving unattractiveness.

The Buddha instructs that one should examine experience in such a way that consciousness does not become scattered among external sense objects, fixated internally, or entangled through grasping.

The Buddha describes three kinds of beings who partake in sensual pleasures - 1.) those who enjoy what is presently available, 2.) those who delight in their own creations, and 3.) those who wield power over the creations of others.

The Buddha classifies beings according to their attachment or detachment from sensual pleasures and conditioned existence. Those entangled in both are returners; those detached from sensual pleasures but still bound to existence are non-returners; and those freed from both are arahants who have ended the taints.

The Buddha defines the perfected person as one who is virtuous in conduct, devoted to the cultivation of the seven sets of qualities that lead to awakening, and possessing wisdom of the cessation of suffering—complete in training and free from the taints.

The Buddha declares that giving, sharing, and assisting with the Dhamma is vastly superior to material gifts. By diligently speaking and listening to the Accomplished One's instruction with a settled mind, practitioners realize the ultimate goal.

The Buddha describes a brahmin possessing the three true knowledges through the Dhamma, not through mere repetition of what is said. This includes the recollection of past lives, the divine eye seeing beings’ rebirths according to kamma, and the realization of liberation through the wearing away of the taints.