Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

The title of this sutta is Tiracchānakathāsuttaṃ. The literal meaning of tiracchānakathā is: - ‛talk that is not upright, animal talk’ - which the commentary explains as ‛horizontal talk’ - talk which, because it does not lead to emancipation and runs horizontal if compared to the upward leading paths towards heaven and liberation.¹

Whenever the Buddha found his disciples engaged in tiracchānakathā he emphasized to them that this sort of talk was not suitable for anyone who had gone forth out of faith; having left the householders life they should not get involved in various kinds of useless talk: - ……“bhikkhave, tumhākaṃ patirūpaṃ kulaputtānaṃ saddhāya agārasmā anagāriyaṃ pabbajitānaṃ, yaṃ tumhe anekavihitaṃ² tiracchānakathaṃ anuyuttā vihareyyātha, seyyathidaṃ”..…

One should avoid exchanging any talk of topics such as³: - ……”seyyathidaṃ – rājakathaṃ corakathaṃ mahāmattakathaṃ senākathaṃ bhayakathaṃ yuddhakathaṃ⁴ annakathaṃ pānakathaṃ vatthakathaṃ sayanakathaṃ mālākathaṃ gandhakathaṃ ñātikathaṃ yānakathaṃ gāmakathaṃ nigamakathaṃ nagarakathaṃ janapadakathaṃ itthikathaṃ sūrakathaṃ visikhākathaṃ kumbhaṭṭhānakathaṃ⁵ pubbapetakathaṃ⁶ nānattakathaṃ⁷ lokakkhāyikaṃ⁸ samuddakkhāyikaṃ itibhavābhavakathaṃ⁹ iti vāti vatthakathaṃ” - ……”talk about kings, robbers, ministers of state; conversation engaging in armies, dangers, wars; talk about food or drink, clothing or beds; talk about garlands and fragrances; about relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities or countries; telling stories about women and heroes; engaging in gossip of the street and the well; tales of the departed and ghosts; distracting talk of all kinds, speculating about world and ocean; talk about becoming or not becoming thus or suchlike.”

Intention to speak falsehood was the precondition of musāvādo. Likewise the commentary details that the respective volition to while away the time of others with something that has no purpose needs to precede samphappalāpo and is accompanied by the effort to put it into effect:

Yena samphaṃ palapati niratthakaṃ¹⁰, so samphappalāpo. - That by which one chatters idly and meaningless, is gossip. Gossip is the unwholesome volition causing efforts by body or by speech to communicate what is purposeless. - Anatthaviññāpakakāyavacīpayogasamuṭṭhāpikā¹¹ akusalacetanā samphappalāpo. – It is less blameworthy when indulged in less, more blameworthy when indulged in a lot. - So āsevanamandatāya appasāvajjo, āsevanamahantatāya mahāsāvajjo. Tassa dve sambhārā bhāratayuddhasītāharaṇādiniratthakakathāpurekkhāratā¹², tathārūpīkathākathananti. – There are two constituents: having preverence to purposeless stories such as the Bharata war or the abduction of Sita, etc., and the telling of such stories.¹³

The Buddha further instructed the Bhikkhus that next to avoiding all kinds of samphappalāpo it was the wholesome practice to engage in the following ten topics of conversation: - “……imesaṃ ce tumhe, bhikkhave, dasannaṃ kathāvatthūnaṃ upādāyupādāya¹⁴ kathaṃ katheyyātha……. Katamāni dasa? Appicchakathā, santuṭṭhikathā, pavivekakathā¹⁵, asaṃsaggakathā, vīriyārambhakathā, sīlakathā, samādhikathā, paññākathā, vimuttikathā, vimuttiñāṇadassanakathāti – imāni kho, bhikkhave, dasa kathāvatthūni.” – “Talk on humbleness, on contentment, on solitude, on disassociation, on arousing vīriyā, on sīla, on samādhi, on paññā, on liberation and on the knowledge and vision of liberation. These are the ten topics of conversation!”