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Threefold Training

The Threefold Training (Sanskrit: triśikṣā; Pali: tisikkhā) is a core doctrinal framework in Buddhism that outlines three interdependent disciplines—ethical conduct (sīla), meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom or insight (prajñā or paññā)—designed to cultivate moral integrity, mental clarity, and profound understanding of reality as a path to liberation from suffering.^[1] This training, emphasized in the Buddha's teachings as part of the Fourth Noble Truth, provides a systematic approach for practitioners to eradicate the roots of dukkha (suffering) through progressive development of body, speech, and mind.^[2] At the foundation lies sīla, or ethical discipline, which involves refraining from harmful actions and fostering constructive behavior through precepts such as right speech, right action, and right livelihood, thereby creating a stable basis free from remorse and conducive to inner peace.^[3] Building upon this, samādhi focuses on training the mind in concentration and mindfulness, often through meditation practices that calm distractions and emotional turbulence (kleshas), enabling sustained focus and emotional stability essential for deeper insight.^[1] Culminating the triad is prajñā, the development of discriminative wisdom that penetrates the true nature of phenomena—such as impermanence, non-self, and emptiness—leading to disenchantment with attachments and ultimate freedom from the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra).^[4] The Threefold Training integrates seamlessly with the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha's prescribed method for awakening, by grouping its eight factors into these three categories: wisdom encompasses right view and right intention; ethics includes right speech, right action, and right livelihood; and concentration covers right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.^[2] This holistic structure, as articulated in early scriptures like the Dīgha Nikāya and elaborated by teachers such as Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu, underscores the interconnectedness of moral, mental, and intellectual cultivation, making it applicable across Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna traditions for both lay and monastic practitioners.^[4]^[3]

Introduction

Definition and Etymology

The threefold training, known in Sanskrit as triśikṣā and in Pali as tisikkhā, constitutes a foundational framework in Buddhist doctrine comprising three interconnected higher trainings: adhiśīla-sikkhā or adhiśīla-śikṣā (training in higher virtue or ethical conduct), adhicitta-sikkhā or adhicitta-śikṣā (training in higher mind or concentration), and adhiprajñā-sikkhā or adhiprajñā-śikṣā (training in higher wisdom or insight).^[5]^[6] This structured approach integrates moral discipline, mental cultivation, and intellectual discernment as essential elements for spiritual development. Etymologically, triśikṣā breaks down into tri- (meaning "three") and śikṣā, the latter derived from the Sanskrit verbal root śikṣ (to learn, study, or train), often in the sense of disciplined instruction or acquisition of skill.^[7] The root śikṣ appears in Vedic literature with connotations of teaching and phonetic accuracy, evolving in Buddhist contexts to emphasize comprehensive personal discipline beyond mere recitation.^[7] In Pali, tisikkhā mirrors this structure, with sikkhā as the direct cognate of śikṣā, retaining the core idea of systematic training.^[8] Standard English renderings include "threefold training" or "three higher trainings," reflecting the progressive and holistic nature of the practice, while variations such as "three learnings" or "threefold discipline" appear in scholarly translations. Across languages, equivalents include Tibetan bslab pa gsum (three trainings) and Chinese sanxue (three learnings), underscoring its pan-Buddhist applicability.^[9] This terminology emerged in early Buddhist texts as a concise schema organizing the path to liberation, adapting pre-Buddhist disciplinary concepts into a unified ethical-mental-wisdom paradigm.^[6]

Significance in Buddhist Practice

The threefold training serves as a systematic approach to purifying the mind and body in Buddhist practice, enabling practitioners to abandon the three poisons—greed, hatred, and delusion—that perpetuate suffering and the cycle of rebirth. By cultivating ethical conduct to restrain unwholesome actions, developing concentration to steady the mind against distractions, and fostering wisdom to discern the true nature of reality, this training addresses the root causes of affliction and paves the way toward enlightenment.^[10]^[11] Central to its significance is the interdependence of the three trainings, where virtue provides the foundational stability necessary for concentration, which in turn acts as a stabilizer for the emergence of wisdom, culminating in liberating insight. This progression ensures a balanced development, as ethical restraint curbs gross defilements, concentrated meditation refines mental faculties to penetrate deeper truths, and wisdom ultimately uproots ignorance at its core, leading from an ethical base to profound liberation. Without this integrated structure, individual aspects of practice risk imbalance, underscoring the training's role as a holistic framework for spiritual maturation.^[10]^[1] The threefold training holds universal applicability across Buddhist traditions, serving as a core element of the Buddha's teachings accessible to both monastics and lay practitioners, with adaptations based on one's life circumstances and level of renunciation. For monastics, it informs rigorous disciplinary codes and intensive meditation, while lay followers integrate it through daily ethical observance and mindfulness in worldly activities, making enlightenment attainable without complete withdrawal from society. This inclusivity emphasizes the training's practicality as a universal path to ethical living and mental clarity.^[10]^[12] Philosophically, the threefold training aligns closely with the Four Noble Truths, particularly embodying the fourth truth—the Noble Eightfold Path—as the practical method for the cessation of suffering by systematically eradicating its origins in craving and ignorance. Through this alignment, the training transforms theoretical understanding of suffering, its cause, cessation, and path into lived realization, reinforcing Buddhism's emphasis on direct experiential verification over mere doctrinal acceptance.^[10]^[11]

Scriptural Foundations

In the Pali Canon

The threefold training (Pali: tisikkhā), consisting of higher virtue (adhisīla), higher mind (adhicitta), and higher wisdom (adhipaññā), is prominently featured in the Pali Canon as a foundational framework for spiritual development attributed to the Buddha's direct teachings.^[13] In key discourses such as the Sikkhā Suttas (AN 3.88 and AN 3.89), the Buddha describes these trainings as encompassing all monastic rules and practices, leading to the destruction of the taints (āsava) and the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths.^[14]^[13] In AN 3.89, higher virtue is outlined as adherence to the Patimokkha precepts, including restraint according to the monastic code, proper conduct in livelihood such as almsgoing, and observance of minor rules that foster ethical purity.^[13] Higher mind involves cultivating the four jhānas—meditative absorptions characterized by seclusion from sensual pleasures and unskillful qualities, progressing through rapture, happiness, equanimity, and mindfulness.^[13] Higher wisdom entails insight into the Four Noble Truths, specifically understanding suffering (dukkha), its origin, cessation, and the path to cessation.^[13] This formulation appears as an early organizational structure in the Sutta Piṭaka, integrating with the Vinaya Piṭaka's emphasis on monastic discipline and lay ethics to guide practitioners sequentially from ethical foundation to meditative concentration and ultimately to liberating insight.^[14] In the historical context of the Buddha's discourses, the threefold training underscores a progressive practice where virtue supports concentration, and concentration enables wisdom, ensuring no aspect of the path is undertaken in isolation.^[13] This sequential approach aligns briefly with the division of the Noble Eightfold Path into moral, concentrative, and wisdom factors.

In Mahayana Sutras

In Mahayana sutras, the threefold training of higher virtue (śīla), higher mind (samādhi), and higher wisdom (prajñā) is adapted to the bodhisattva ideal, serving as a comprehensive framework for cultivating the qualities needed to attain buddhahood while benefiting all sentient beings through altruistic aspiration. Nāgārjuna's Letter to a Friend (Suhṛllekha), an influential Mahayana epistle, links the threefold training to bodhisattva vows in verse 53, advising, "Always train in higher ethical discipline, higher discriminating awareness, and higher mental [concentration]. The hundred plus [a hundred] and fifty plus [three] [monastic] trainings [constitute] the first [higher training], and the three [higher trainings] are fully gathered in it," thereby subsuming extensive precepts into these core practices essential for upholding bodhicitta and ethical commitments.^[15] The Bodhisattvabhūmi, a foundational section of Asaṅga's Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, presents the threefold training as integral to the six perfections (pāramitās), structuring the bodhisattva's development: higher virtue aligns with generosity and ethical discipline, higher mind with patience, diligence, and meditative stabilization, and higher wisdom with the perfection of insight, forming the ethical, meditative, and cognitive pillars of the path.^[16]^[17] Mahayana texts emphasize integrating the trainings with compassion (karuṇā) and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), expanding higher virtue into universal ethics that prioritize the welfare of all beings via bodhisattva precepts, higher mind into vast meditations fostering boundless empathy and adaptability in teaching, and higher wisdom into profound insight that dispels ignorance for collective liberation.^[18]^[19] Doctrinally, these trainings underpin the bodhisattva path's progression through the ten bhūmis (grounds), where initial stages emphasize ethical foundation and concentration, mid-stages refine meditative stability and compassion, and advanced stages culminate in wisdom's full realization, enabling irreversible advancement toward omniscience.^[20] In the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, higher wisdom training is exemplified through alignment with śūnyatā (emptiness), instructing bodhisattvas to "train in the perfection of wisdom" by contemplating the empty, signless, and aspirationless nature of phenomena, thereby transcending fixation and conceptual thought to embody nondual awareness.^[21]

In Vajrayana Texts

In Vajrayana Buddhism, the threefold training of higher virtue (sīla), higher mind (samādhi), and higher wisdom (prajñā) forms the foundational framework for tantric practice, transmitted from Indian mahāsiddhas such as Saraha, Tilopa, and Naropa to Tibetan lineages beginning in the 8th century CE, particularly through figures like Marpa and Padmasambhava. This transmission integrated the trainings into esoteric systems, emphasizing their role as preliminaries to advanced tantric methods like deity yoga, where ethical discipline, meditative concentration, and insight prepare practitioners for realizing the non-dual nature of reality.^[22]^[23] Key Vajrayana texts, such as the Guhyasamāja Tantra—a foundational Highest Yoga Tantra composed around the 8th century—and commentaries by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), position the threefold training as essential preliminaries to deity yoga practices. In the Guhyasamāja Tantra, these trainings underpin the generation and completion stages of meditation, with higher virtue manifesting as adherence to samaya vows, which extend beyond conventional ethics to include commitments to the guru, yidam deity, and dharma protectors, prohibiting actions that sever the vajra bond of awakening. Tsongkhapa, in works like The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, elaborates that the trainings must be cultivated sequentially, with samaya vows purifying obscurations to enable tantric empowerment (abhiṣeka), ensuring practitioners avoid the fourteen root downfalls that violate the integrity of tantric initiation.^[24]^[25] Vajrayana adaptations transform the training in higher mind through tantric techniques like visualization of oneself as the deity and recitation of seed syllables or mantras, fostering single-pointed concentration that dissolves dualistic perceptions. For instance, in deity yoga, practitioners visualize the mandala and recite mantras to generate blissful samādhi, aligning the subtle winds (prāṇa) and channels (nāḍī) for profound meditative absorption, as detailed in tantric sadhanas derived from texts like the Guhyasamāja. The training in higher wisdom culminates in non-dual realizations, such as the direct perception of mind's empty luminosity in mahāmudrā—emphasized in Kagyu lineages—or the innate awareness of rigpa in Dzogchen, Nyingma traditions, where prajñā transcends conceptual analysis to reveal the ground of being.^[26]^[27] These trainings integrate seamlessly with ngöndro, the preliminary practices common across Tibetan schools, where ethical training begins with taking refuge in the Three Jewels and cultivating bodhicitta through prostrations and vows, purifying karma to access advanced tantric paths. Ngöndro's structure—encompassing refuge, Vajrasattva purification, mandala offerings, and guru yoga—mirrors the threefold training, with refuge and bodhicitta establishing sīla, guru yoga enhancing samādhi, and the overall accumulation of merit ripening prajñā for esoteric realizations. This preparatory regimen, as outlined in texts like Patrul Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacher, ensures that tantric methods lead to swift enlightenment without deviation.^[28]^[29]

Components of the Threefold Training

Training in Higher Virtue (Sīla)

Training in higher virtue, known as sīla in Pali, constitutes the foundational component of the threefold training in Buddhism, emphasizing the purification of conduct through abstention from unwholesome actions of body, speech, and mind.^[30] This ethical discipline serves as a universal principle rooted in the law of cause and effect, applicable to all individuals irrespective of social or religious background, and forms the initial stage leading toward mental composure and insight.^[31] By cultivating restraint, sīla fosters a harmonious life free from remorse, enabling practitioners to progress in spiritual development.^[30] For lay practitioners, sīla is primarily embodied in the five precepts (pañca-sīla), which involve abstaining from (1) taking life, (2) taking what is not given (stealing), (3) sexual misconduct, (4) false speech, and (5) intoxicants that cloud the mind.^[30] Monastics in the Theravada tradition observe a more extensive code, comprising 227 training rules outlined in the Pātimokkha, the core disciplinary text of the Vinaya Piṭaka, categorized into sections such as expulsion offenses (pārājika), formal meetings (saṅghādisesa), and minor etiquette guidelines (sekhiya).^[32] These precepts are undertaken voluntarily as a means of ethical transformation, not as rigid commandments, to preserve one's innate purity and prevent negative forces from dominating behavior.^[30] Central practices of sīla align with the ethical factors of the Noble Eightfold Path—right speech, right action, and right livelihood—which promote truthful and harmonious communication, non-harmful deeds, and occupations free from exploitation or violence.^[30] Practitioners develop compassion (karuṇā) and non-harming (ahiṃsā) by approaching ethical observance with sympathetic concern for all beings, such as refraining from killing not merely as prohibition but with active empathy to minimize suffering.^[30] This cultivation extends to verbal restraint, avoiding slander, harsh words, and idle chatter, thereby fostering social harmony and personal integrity.^[31] In terms of stages, sīla progresses from basic ethical observance in early Buddhism—such as the five precepts for laity and extended monastic codes—to the advanced perfection of morality (śīla-pāramitā) in Mahayana traditions, where it integrates with wisdom to embody selfless conduct for the benefit of all beings.^[33] The benefits include mental clarity, reduced karmic obstacles, and prevention of rebirth in lower realms, as purified conduct generates wholesome karma conducive to higher spiritual realms and eventual liberation.^[33] As the bedrock of ethical practice, sīla provides the stability necessary for developing concentration in subsequent trainings.^[31] Specific examples of sīla implementation include the fortnightly Pātimokkha recitation in monastic communities, held on Uposatha days, where monks assemble to publicly affirm purity or confess offenses, promoting communal accountability and expiation through formal acknowledgment.^[32] Confession rituals, such as laypeople ritually undertaking the five precepts on full-moon days or monks disclosing violations during recitation, allow for purification and removal of guilt, as unconfessed offenses hinder progress.^[30] Ethical dilemmas addressed in early discourses highlight the need for flexible application, such as warnings against rigid attachment to precepts that could lead to self-righteousness, urging practitioners to view sīla as a supportive tool rather than an absolute end.^[30]

Training in Higher Mind (Samādhi)

Training in higher mind, or samādhi, refers to the cultivation of mental concentration and tranquility through meditative practices that unify the mind on a single object, fostering a state of deep absorption free from distraction. In the Pali Canon, samādhi is defined as a concentrated, self-collected, and intent state of mind that arises in conjunction with ethical conduct, serving as a foundational element for spiritual development. This training encompasses two progressive levels: access concentration (upacāra-samādhi), where the mind approaches stability but remains susceptible to subtle distractions, and absorption concentration (appana-samādhi), characterized by complete immersion in the meditative object without interruption.^[34] Central to samādhi training are practices aimed at calming the mind and achieving the four jhānas, or meditative absorptions, as described in the Pali texts. The first jhāna involves directed thought, sustained evaluation, rapture, and pleasure born of seclusion, withdrawing the mind from sensory hindrances. Progressing to the second jhāna, the mind abandons discursive thinking and dwells in unified concentration with confidence and happiness; the third jhāna refines this into equanimity and mindfulness with subtle pleasure; and the fourth jhāna attains pure equanimity and mindfulness, indifferent to pleasure or pain, providing a stable base for further cultivation. Breath meditation (ānāpānasati), focusing on the in-and-out breath to settle the mind, is a primary method for entering these absorptions, as taught in the Ānāpānasati Sutta. Similarly, loving-kindness meditation (mettā bhāvanā) develops concentration by radiating boundless goodwill toward oneself and others, gradually expanding to all beings, which helps unify the mind and counter aversion.^[34]^[35] The benefits of samādhi training include the temporary suppression of the five hindrances—sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt—which obscure mental clarity and prevent deep focus. By overcoming these, the practice induces tranquility and one-pointedness, effectively preparing the mind for sustained attention without the turbulence of unwholesome states. This stabilization not only enhances immediate calm but also creates a receptive foundation for advanced meditative development.^[36] Variations in samādhi training span from basic calming practices (samatha) in foundational Buddhism, which emphasize repetitive focus on objects like the breath to achieve tranquility, to more elaborate methods in Vajrayana traditions. In Vajrayana, tantric visualizations, such as deity yoga in sādhana practices, integrate samādhi by generating vivid mental images of enlightened figures and mandalas, blending concentration with transformative symbolism to realize non-dual awareness. These approaches build upon an ethical foundation to ensure the mind's purity during cultivation.^[37]^[38]

Training in Higher Wisdom (Prajñā)

Training in higher wisdom, known as prajñā in Sanskrit or paññā in Pali, refers to the discernment of reality through direct insight into the true nature of phenomena, which eradicates the fundamental delusions binding beings to cyclic existence. This wisdom specifically involves understanding the three marks of existence—impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and non-self (anattā)—which reveal that all conditioned things are transient, unsatisfactory, and devoid of inherent essence. Through this penetrative insight, prajñā destroys the āsavas (taints or outflows), such as sensual desire, becoming, and ignorance, thereby uprooting the roots of suffering and paving the way for liberation. The primary practices for cultivating prajñā center on meditative insight development, particularly vipassanā (insight meditation) in the Theravada tradition, where practitioners systematically investigate the three marks by observing the arising and passing of mental and physical phenomena in real time. Contemplation of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), the causal chain explaining how ignorance leads to suffering and how its cessation leads to freedom, further sharpens this discernment by illuminating the conditioned nature of experience.^[39] In the Mahayana tradition, prajñā emphasizes the realization of emptiness (śūnyatā), the profound understanding that all phenomena lack independent existence and arise interdependently, as articulated in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras and systematized by philosophers like Nāgārjuna.^[40] In the Theravāda tradition, the development of paññā unfolds in three progressive stages: pariyatti (learning or theoretical study), where one acquires knowledge of the teachings through hearing or reading scriptures; paṭipatti (practice), involving the application of that knowledge in meditation and ethical reflection to cultivate experiential familiarity; and paṭivedha (penetration or realization), the direct, transformative insight that integrates wisdom into one's being.^[41] These stages build sequentially, with intellectual understanding providing the foundation for practical engagement and ultimate realization. The culmination of prajñā training is the direct realization of nirvana, the unconditioned state beyond suffering, which in Theravada leads to arahantship—the full enlightenment of a liberated being free from rebirth—while in Mahayana it supports the bodhisattva path toward buddhahood, the complete awakening that benefits all sentient beings. This wisdom, supported by prior trainings in virtue and concentration, marks the decisive factor in transcending samsara.

Integration with Core Buddhist Teachings

Relation to the Noble Eightfold Path

The threefold training provides a structured framework for understanding and practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, by partitioning its eight factors into three interconnected categories: higher virtue (sīla), higher mind (samādhi), and higher wisdom (prajñā). Specifically, sīla corresponds to right speech, right action, and right livelihood, which emphasize ethical conduct to restrain unwholesome bodily and verbal behaviors and foster harmonious living. Samādhi aligns with right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration, focusing on mental discipline to cultivate calm, focused awareness, and the jhānas as supports for insight. Prajñā encompasses right view and right intention, centering on the development of understanding into the nature of reality, particularly the Four Noble Truths, to uproot ignorance and craving. This mapping integrates the path's elements into a progressive sequence where ethical foundations enable concentration, which in turn sharpens wisdom.^[10] The canonical basis for this threefold grouping appears in discourses such as the Sikkha Sutta (AN 3.89), where the Buddha outlines the three trainings as essential for monastic and lay practitioners, describing them as heightened virtue through adherence to precepts, heightened mind via immersion in meditative absorption, and heightened discernment by eliminating mental fermentations to achieve liberation. Although AN 3.89 does not explicitly enumerate the Eightfold Path factors, it establishes the trainings as the practical core of the path, grouping ethical, mental, and intellectual disciplines for systematic instruction. This approach reflects the Buddha's method of teaching the path in varying levels of detail, with the threefold division serving as a foundational schema in the Pali Canon to guide aspirants toward self-awakening.^[42] Functionally, the Noble Eightfold Path represents a detailed implementation of the threefold training, expanding each category into specific practices while maintaining their interdependence; for instance, right view under prajñā informs and is refined by the ethical restraints of sīla and the stability of samādhi. This overlap ensures the path's wholeness, as the factors mutually reinforce one another rather than operating in isolation, allowing practitioners to engage the entire system holistically.^[10] Pedagogically, the threefold training simplifies the Noble Eightfold Path for beginners by distilling its complexity into three broad yet comprehensive areas, making the doctrine accessible without diluting its depth or requiring immediate mastery of all eight factors. This instructional strategy, evident in early discourses, preserves the path's integrity while encouraging gradual progression from ethical grounding to meditative focus and ultimately to transformative insight.^[10]

Role in the Path to Enlightenment

The threefold training—comprising higher virtue (sīla), higher mind (samādhi), and higher wisdom (prajñā)—functions as a progressive framework in the Buddhist path to enlightenment, where ethical discipline first calms the body and speech, enabling mental concentration that steadies the mind, and culminating in wisdom that uproots defilements (kilesas) for liberation.^[4]^[43] This sequential model, outlined in early texts like the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, begins with sīla to establish moral restraint and inner peace, progresses to samādhi through meditative absorption to cultivate clarity, and advances to prajñā via insight meditation that discerns impermanence, suffering, and non-self, thereby eradicating attachments. In advanced stages, the training becomes cyclical, with wisdom refining ethics and concentration through repeated insight, fostering ongoing purification.^[4] The interdependent nature of the training ensures that each component supports the others: sīla provides the stable foundation for samādhi, which in turn sharpens the mind for prajñā, while wisdom illuminates ethical conduct and meditative depth, creating a holistic progression toward enlightenment.^[43] Outcomes include the gradual eradication of defilements, leading to full enlightenment that realizes unconditioned nibbāna as supreme peace beyond suffering. The threefold training interrelates with other core practices, such as the 37 Aids to Enlightenment—encompassing faith, mindfulness, and the jhānas—which align with its components to support defilement removal.^[43] Collectively, these elements direct practitioners toward the ultimate goal of realizing nibbāna, the unconditioned state of liberation from cyclic existence (saṃsāra), marked by complete freedom from greed, hatred, and delusion.^[4]

Developments Across Traditions

Theravada Perspectives

In Theravada Buddhism, the threefold training is interpreted conservatively as a foundational framework for achieving individual liberation through the arahant ideal, where practitioners eradicate defilements to attain full enlightenment and escape the cycle of rebirth. This approach emphasizes personal effort in moral discipline, mental cultivation, and insight, aligning with the sravaka path described in the early texts, without expansions toward universal salvation. The training progresses linearly from ethical foundation to concentrated mind and culminating wisdom, serving as the core of monastic and lay practice aimed at realizing nibbana.^[44] Central to sīla, or higher virtue, is strict adherence to the Vinaya, the monastic code that outlines precepts such as abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants, extended through the Pātimokkha rules for fully ordained bhikkhus. For monastics, this involves daily observance of 227 rules, fostering an untorn and unspotted moral conduct that prevents hindrances to meditation and insight. Lay supporters complement this by observing the five precepts regularly and the eight precepts during uposatha days—lunar observance periods that include celibacy and noble silence—to build merit and support the sangha. Retreats, such as the three-month vassa rainy season residence, reinforce these observances, allowing intensified precept-keeping and preliminary meditation in monastic settings.^[44]^[45]^[46] Samādhi, or higher mind, is developed through jhāna practice, where the mind achieves unification by cultivating absorption states, beginning with the first jhāna's five factors of directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, and one-pointedness. This concentration, pursued via meditation objects like mindfulness of breathing or the earth kasiṇa, suppresses the five hindrances and prepares the mind for deeper insight, though it is viewed as a supportive tool rather than an end in itself. In the Theravada tradition, prolonged immersion in jhāna is not the ultimate goal; instead, it facilitates the transition to wisdom without reliance on esoteric or tantric methods.^[44] Paññā, or higher wisdom, is realized through vipassanā, insight meditation that discerns the three marks of existence—impermanence, suffering, and non-self—via contemplation of phenomena like the aggregates and dependent origination. This culminates in the knowledge of the path, leading to the arahant's destruction of latent tendencies and attainment of liberation. The prioritization of insight over extended concentration underscores that jhāna serves vipassanā, enabling the direct penetration of reality essential for enlightenment.^[44] Buddhaghosa's fifth-century Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) systematizes the threefold training within the seven stages of purification, mapping sīla to the purification of virtue, samādhi to the purification of consciousness, and paññā to the purifications of view, knowledge and vision of what is the path, and knowledge and vision of the way. This schema integrates the trainings into a progressive path, drawing from the Pali Canon—such as the Buddha's instructions to Rahula on reflecting on actions for ethical, concentrated, and wise development—to provide a comprehensive manual for Theravada practitioners seeking arahantship.^[44]^[47]

Mahayana and Vajrayana Adaptations

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the threefold training of śīla (higher virtue or ethical conduct), samādhi (higher mind or concentration), and prajñā (higher wisdom) is reoriented toward the bodhisattva path, which prioritizes the alleviation of suffering for all sentient beings over individual liberation. Śīla expands beyond personal precepts to encompass altruistic actions guided by compassion (karuṇā), incorporating the perfection of morality (śīla-pāramitā) as one of the six or ten bodhisattva perfections (pāramitās). This ethical training emphasizes upāya-kauśalya (skillful means), allowing advanced bodhisattvas—particularly from the seventh bhūmi (stage) onward—to flexibly interpret or even transgress conventional precepts if motivated by profound wisdom and compassion to benefit others, such as lying to prevent harm.^[48] Samādhi in the Mahāyāna context supports the development of meditative stability essential for realizing emptiness (śūnyatā), often aligned with the perfection of meditative absorption (dhyāna-pāramitā). It serves as a foundation for generating bodhicitta (the awakening mind) and sustaining practices like the recollection of the Buddha or loving-kindness meditation, enabling the bodhisattva to remain undistracted amid worldly engagements. Prajñā, elevated as the perfection of wisdom (prajñā-pāramitā), becomes paramount, involving direct insight into the non-dual nature of phenomena and the absence of inherent existence; it fuses with śīla such that ethical actions arise spontaneously from this wisdom, free from dualistic attachment. Key texts like Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra illustrate this integration, portraying the threefold training as a unified process for cultivating the bodhisattva's vow to achieve buddhahood for the sake of all beings.^[48] Vajrayāna, or tantric Buddhism, builds upon Mahāyāna foundations by accelerating the threefold training through esoteric methods, viewing it as a swift path to enlightenment in one lifetime. Śīla manifests as samaya vows, including the 14 root downfalls (such as abandoning the guru or disparaging women), which extend bodhisattva ethics into ritual purity and commitment to tantric lineage; violations are seen as severely obstructive, potentially leading to rebirth in Vajra Hell, thus demanding rigorous observance alongside conventional precepts. Samādhi is advanced via deity yoga (devatā-yoga), where practitioners visualize and embody meditational deities (yidams) like Tārā, merging their ordinary body, speech, and mind with the deity's enlightened qualities through detailed imaginative absorption, often preceded by ngöndro preliminaries like 100,000 prostrations to purify obstacles.^[49] Prajñā in Vajrayāna emphasizes innate awareness and the union of bliss and emptiness, cultivated through practices that transform afflictions (kleśas) into wisdom—such as channeling desire into the clear light of mahāmudrā. This insight recognizes all phenomena, including visualized deities, as empty of inherent existence (śūnyatā), grounded in Mahāyāna philosophy like tathāgatagarbha (buddha-nature). The threefold training thus operates within the generation (utpattikrama) and completion (sampannakrama) stages of tantra, where ethical vows support concentrated ritual, yielding wisdom that manifests as non-dual realization; for instance, embodying a female yidam aids detachment from egoic identities, fostering gender-neutral compassion. This adaptation underscores Vajrayāna's philosophical ontology of enlightened archetypes as tools for embodying the three kāyas (bodies of buddhahood).^[49]

References

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Threefold Training | Lion's Roar
Buddhist training falls into three categories: sila (discipline or ethical living), samadhi (concentration), and prajna (insight or wisdom).
[2]
The Three Trainings - Study Buddhism
An incredible way of living our lives is within the context of the three trainings in ethics, concentration , and discriminating awareness . They work together ...
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### Summary of Threefold Learning in Relation to the Noble Eightfold Path
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Buddhadasa Bhikkhu - THE THREEFOLD TRAINING - BuddhaNet
The method is based on three practical steps, namely Morality, Concentration, and Insight, known collectively as the Threefold Training.
[5]
Threefold Training: 1 definition - Wisdom Library
Oct 24, 2024 · Training in the higher mind (adhicitta-śikṣā), Training in the higher virtue (adhiśīla-śikṣā), Training in the higher wisdom (adhiprajñā-śikṣā).
[6]
Definitions for: sikkhā - SuttaCentral
sikkhanta: prp. learning; training (in); practicing [√sikkh + a + nta] · sikkhā 1: fem. training (in); practice (in) [√sikkh + ā] · sikkhā 2: fem. precept; ...
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Shiksha, Śikṣā, Śīkṣā: 30 definitions - Wisdom Library
Jun 8, 2025 · Śikṣā (शिक्षा, “phonetics”) refers to the “science of speech-sounds” and represents one of the six vedāṅgas: disciplines developed in order to articulate and ...In Hinduism · In Buddhism · In Jainism
[8]
sikkhā - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology. From Vedic Sanskrit शिक्षा (śikṣā) ... References. Pali Text Society (1921–1925), “sikkhā”, in Pali-English Dictionary‎ , London: Chipstead.
[9]
Threefold training - Encyclopedia of Buddhism
Threefold training · śīla - ethical conduct, moral conduct, discipline, etc. · samadhi - concentration, meditation, etc. · prajna - wisdom, insight, etc.Overview · Threefold trainings and the... · Videos
[10]
The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering
This view inspires us to take up the practice, to embark on the threefold training in moral discipline, concentration, and wisdom.
[11]
Fundamentals of Buddhism: Four Lectures - Access to Insight
Mental training is indicated by right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration of mind. And wisdom is indicated by right understanding and right ...
[12]
The Buddhist Layman - Access to Insight
The methods employed are threefold: economic planning, a suitable fiscal policy, and a comprehensive network of social services assuring to every member of the ...
[13]
https://suttacentral.net/an3.89/en/sujato
[14]
https://suttacentral.net/an3.88/en/sujato
[15]
Letter to a Friend - Study Buddhism
(53) Always train in higher ethical discipline, higher discriminating awareness, and higher mental (concentration). The hundred plus (a hundred) and fifty plus ...Missing: bodhisattva vows
[16]
Part 3.4 - Linguistic features of the Dasabhumika Sutra
Jan 20, 2025 · The Bodhisattvabhumi appear to treat the Bodhisattva career according to the threefold training of adhi-sila, adhicitta and adhi-prajna ...
[17]
The Six Perfections and the Three Trainings, His Holiness the 17th ...
Mar 5, 2020 · From one point of view, it explains the three types of discipline: not harming, developing positive qualities, and benefitting others. From ...Missing: Bodhisattvabhumi threefold
[18]
What is skillful means (upaya)? - Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Skillful means (upaya-kausalya) refers to an enlightened person's ability to tailor their message to a specific audience.
[19]
Ideas on Universal Ethics in Mahāyāna Buddhism | Diogenes
Jan 1, 2024 · The Mahāyāna prefers to emphasise the ideal of the bodhisatva, the Buddha in spe, who has promised to provide happiness for everybody at any ...
[20]
Ten Bhūmis - Samye Pathways
Jan 23, 2023 · The ten bhūmis literally mean the “grounds” or levels of bodhisattvas in which the qualities of their training unfold.
[21]
The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines
How should they train with regard to emptiness and conceptual thought, signlessness and signs, wishlessness and false aspirations, nonvirtuous phenomena ...
[22]
Mahasiddha Technical Glossary - Himalayan Art Resources
Incarnation Lineages of Tibetan Teachers: many Buddhist teachers trace their incarnation history back to the great mahasiddha of India. The Panchen Lama ...
[23]
The Empowerment of the Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas - Karmapa
May 30, 2014 · This empowerment of the eighty-four mahasiddhas is the first one the Karmapa will give in Europe. The siddha, or accomplished masters' tradition ...
[24]
Mandala of Guhyasamaja - Namgyal Tantric College
The Guhyasamja Tantra is a highest Yoga Tantra, and is often called the King of Tantras. All Buddhist teachings can be traced back to the historical Buddha.
[25]
Vajrayana practices – The tantric samaya vows - Mandalas Life
Aug 31, 2022 · Practitioners of Vajrayāna need to abide by various tantric vows or pledges called samaya. These are extensions of the rules of the Prātimokṣa and Bodhisattva ...
[26]
Vajrasattva Meditation and Recitation | Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
Vajrasattva meditation and recitation is a technique for purifying negative actions, such as the infraction of vows.
[27]
Dzogchen and Mahamudra, Two Great Paths - Lion's Roar
Dzogchen and Mahamudra, the Great Perfection and the Great Seal, are powerful meditative systems for revealing the nature of mind.
[28]
Essential Instruction on Refuge and Bodhichitta - Lotsawa House
The training in bodhicitta has three elements: training in the cause by meditating on the four immeasurables,; the actual training, which is to practise ...
[29]
Ngondro Training - Buddhist Studies Institute
The ngondro series presents all the core practices that permeate Vajrayana, the path of esoteric Buddhism, including refuge, bodhichitta, mandala offering, ...Missing: bodhicitta | Show results with:bodhicitta
[30]
None
### Summary of the Concept of Sīla in Theravada Buddhist Ethics
[31]
BUDDHIST ETHICS (SĪLA) IN THERAVĀDA BUDDHISM
Nov 15, 2022 · The present study argues that Buddhist ethical precepts (sīla) are the Universal law of cause and effect and fundamental principle of all ...
[32]
[PDF] Analysis of the Bhikkhu Pātimokkha - Buddhist Publication Society
Introduction xxxi. 1. The Pātimokkha and its Meaning ............................................ xxxi. 2. The Purpose of the Pātimokkha Recitation .
[33]
The Origin and Development of the Concept śīla-pāramitā (Part 1)
Apr 7, 2025 · sīla) is śīl, meaning “to act, do, practice, make”, and śīla explained as a derivative of the śīl in Buddhist context denotes “moral conduct, ...Missing: Theravada | Show results with:Theravada
[34]
The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation - Access to Insight
[4] In the Pali commentaries these come to be called the four immaterial jhanas (arupajhana), the four preceding states being renamed for the sake of ...
[35]
Anapana Sati: Meditation on Breathing - Access to Insight
Anapana sati, the meditation on in-and-out breathing, is the first subject of meditation expounded by the Buddha in the Maha-satipatthana Sutta.
[36]
The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest - Access to Insight
There are five impediments and hindrances, overgrowths of the mind that stultify insight. What five? Sensual desire is an impediment and hindrance, an ...The Five Hindrances · Ii. The Hindrances... · I. The Sutta (digha Nikaya...
[37]
How to Practice Shamatha Meditation | Lion's Roar
Over time, practicing shamatha meditation calms our thoughts and emotions. We experience tranquility of mind and calmly abide with our thoughts as they are.
[38]
What Is a Sadhana? - Study Buddhism
An overview of the structure of a “sadhana,” a visualization method used in tantra for generating and actualizing ourselves as a Buddha-figure.
[39]
Dependent Origination - Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
Dependent origination (paṭicca-samuppāda) is a process where everything is interconnected, and when one arises, another arises. It shows how suffering arises ...Missing: training | Show results with:training
[40]
Nagarjuna | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Nagarjuna, called "the second Buddha," criticized substantialist philosophy and introduced the concept of emptiness (sunyata), meaning lack of autonomous ...Missing: shunyata | Show results with:shunyata
[41]
Sikkha Sutta: Trainings (2)
### Summary of Sikkha Sutta (AN 3.89)
[42]
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.089.than.html
[43]
[PDF] Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) - Access to Insight
Nyanamoli Himi tr. 1. Buddhism. 2. Theravada Buddhism. The sponsor of this edition of the Path of Purification devoutly offers the merit to ...
[44]
Uposatha Observance Days - Dhamma - Access to Insight
Lay people observe the Eight Precepts on Uposatha days, as a support for meditation practice and as a way to re-energize commitment to the Dhamma.
[45]
The Eight Precepts: attha-sila - Access to Insight
These training rules are observed by laypeople during periods of intensive meditation practice and during uposatha (lunar observance) days.Missing: retreats | Show results with:retreats
[46]
Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta: Instructions to Rahula at Mango Stone
### Summary of Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta on Sīla, Samādhi, Paññā as Threefold Training
[47]
[PDF] Mahāyāna Ethics and American Buddhism - Dickinson Blogs
The relationship between śīla and prajñā in Mahāyāna is thus parallel to that noted above with respect to nikāya Buddhism in which it is re- marked that “the ...
[48]
[PDF] Icons and Ideology in Vajrayāna Imagining Enlightenment
Sep 10, 2018 · Mahāyāna Buddhism especially has numerous Bmeditational deities^ (yidam) who ... (śīla), meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā).