The Buddha outlines a ten-step causal chain revealing how foundational vices like shamelessness lead to suffering, and how cultivating moral prudence and diligence systematically eliminates the root defilements to achieve final liberation.

While a first point of ignorance is not discerned, it can be discerned that ignorance has a supporting condition. The Buddha explains the nutriments for ignorance and the nutriments for true knowledge and liberation, along with how they are fulfilled.

The Buddha explains the cause for the restraint of all the taints and how there is abandoning of all the taints through the seven methods of seeing, restraint, proper use, enduring, avoiding, dispelling, and cultivation.

The Buddha explains how the notion of a personal existence emerges from the process of perception. A wide range of phenomena are considered, embracing naturalistic, cosmological and sense experiences. An uninstructed ordinary person interprets experience in terms of a self, while those who have understood the Dhamma have the same experiences without attachment.

With superficial attention arises thoughts of sensuality, ill will, and harm. By turning his mind toward the Triple Gem and his own virtue, the practitioner can discover the uplifting joy needed to make an end of suffering.

The Buddha explains the importance of rousing of energy and the consequences of having many desires, few desires, dissatisfaction, contentment, (careless) attention, radical attention, clear comprehension and lack of it, and bad friendship.

The Buddha explains the importance of good friendship, the consequences of habitual engagement in unwholesome and wholesome qualities, wise and superficial attention, the loss or increase of relatives, wealth, and reputation contrasted with the loss or increase of wisdom.

The Buddha explains the consequences of negligence and diligence, idleness and arousing of energy, having many desires and having few wishes, discontentment and contentment, unwise and radical attention, clear awareness and lack of it, bad and good friendships, and good and bad habits.

The Buddha lists the mental qualities that form the internal factors leading to harm or benefit, the qualities that lead to the decline or continuity of the true Dhamma, and the actions that lead to the harm of many people.

The Buddha describes how wrong view leads to unwholesome qualities and suffering, while right view leads to wholesome qualities and happiness and what kind of attention fuels what kind of view.

The Buddha teaches on two hopes that are difficult to abandon, two kinds of people who are rare in the world, two kinds of people who are difficult to satisfy, two causes for the arising of passion, aversion, wrong view, and right view, and two kinds of offenses.