Mnd 15Exposition of the Discourse on Taking Up Arms
Pāli / Sanskrit:Attadaṇḍasuttaniddesa
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Exposition of the Attadaṇḍasuttaniddesa
Background
The Attadaṇḍasuttaniddesa (Exposition of the Discourse on the Self-Held Rod) belongs to the Khuddaka Nikāya, a collection of some of the most ancient texts of Theravāda Buddhism. This text is a detailed exposition (niddesa) of the Attadaṇḍasutta, a discourse of the Buddha found in the Saṃyutta Nikāya.
The historical context reveals that during the Buddha's time, ancient Indian society was divided into various strata, in which warriors (kṣatriya) commonly bore arms to protect their interests. This discourse was taught in order to guide the Buddha's followers toward a clear understanding of the true nature of self-protection — not through violence or aggression, but through the discipline of the mind: the rod of one's own self (attadaṇḍa).
The concept of the "rod" (daṇḍa) here is not a physical weapon, but rather a symbol for coarseness, greed, and hatred — mental forces capable of causing harm to oneself and to others.
Principal Content
This discourse teaches that the greatest danger does not come from without, but from within the mind of each individual. The Buddha points out that people habitually conceal their own "rod" — their unwholesome tendencies, their harmful intentions — beneath an outward appearance of propriety or pretense. Nevertheless, actions that genuinely arise from these unwholesome states (akusala dhammā) invariably leave their mark upon the mind-stream, giving rise to suffering.
The teaching emphasizes that liberation from external aggression is comparatively easier than liberation from the "self-held rod" — the rod of greed, hatred, and delusion. These forces follow one constantly and are ever capable of causing harm. Whereas a warrior may find shelter to escape the weapons of an enemy, a person cannot escape the rod of one's own making without recourse to the cultivation of virtue and meditation.
The discourse then proceeds to analyze, in turn, each aspect of the "self-held rod"
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.