In this discourse, the Buddha advises cultivating the qualities of patience, loving-kindness and compassion. For true character is revealed only when tested by disagreeable words and deeds. Using vivid similes culminating with the simile of the saw, the Buddha instructs to not give rise to a mind of hate, even if bandits were to seize and carve one up limb by limb.

The Buddha uses a simile of dust on the tip of the fingernail to illustrate the extent of suffering that is exhausted and overcome by a disciple of the Noble Ones who has attained right view.

The Buddha uses a simile of seven lumps of clay placed on the great earth to illustrate the extent of suffering that is exhausted and overcome by a disciple of the Noble Ones who has attained right view.

The Buddha uses a simile of the earth that has been exhausted and depleted to illustrate the extent of suffering that is exhausted and overcome by a disciple of the Noble Ones who has attained right view.