Section outline
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Lesson 3.4.6 Cundasuttaṃ, Part One – About Speech That Should Be Avoided and Performed
This sutta was delivered near Pāvā at the Mango Grove of Cunda Kammāraputta, the silversmith. Cunda, who would later prepare the Buddha's final meal, was asked by the Buddha about his practice of purifying rites. Cunda explained that he followed the Brāhmins' instructions precisely, providing examples such as touching the ground from his bed, or if not, touching fresh cow dung, stroking green grass, and worshipping fire, etc. The Buddha, however, informed Cunda that regardless of the purification rites performed for the Noble Ones, there were ten unwholesome ways of action that lead to negative karmic results. True purification, he explained, came from avoiding these actions and instead performing their wholesome counterparts. "Exploring the Path" divides the Cundasuttaṃ and these ten courses of wrong and right action into three parts: threefold of impure bodily action, fourfold of impure speech, and threefold of impure action of mind.