サキャ族のマハーナーマに説かれた経典で、捨てられていない心の状態が貪・瞋・痴をどう生むかを説明し、悟り以前の自らの苦闘と、苦行によって苦しみが終わると信じる裸形行者との対話を語る。

A discourse to the Sakyan Mahānāma in which the Buddha explains how unabandoned states of mind give rise to greed, hatred and delusion, recounting his own pre-Enlightenment struggles and a conversation with ascetics who believed suffering ends through austerities.