Threefold Training


identified the threefold training as training in:
According to Theravada canonical texts, pursuing this training leads to the abandonment of lust, hatred, and delusion. One who is fully accomplished in this training attains Nirvana.
In the Anguttara Nikaya, training in "higher virtue" includes following the Patimokkha, training in "higher mind" includes entering and dwelling in the four jhanas, and training in "higher wisdom" includes directly perceiving the Four Noble Truths or knowledge of destruction of the taints.
In several canonical discourses, a more "gradual" instruction is provided to receptive lay people. This latter instruction culminates in the teaching of the Four Noble Truths which in itself concludes with the Noble Eightfold Path, the constituents of which can be mapped to this threefold training.

Similarity to threefold partition of the Noble Eightfold Path

The Buddha's threefold training is similar to the threefold grouping of the Noble Eightfold Path articulated by Bhikkhuni Dhammadinna in Culavedalla Sutta : virtue, concentration, wisdom. These three-part schemes simplify and organize the Eightfold Path as follows:
Threefold PartitionEightfold PathMethod of Practice
VIRTUERight SpeechFive Precepts
VIRTUERight ActionFive Precepts
VIRTUERight LivelihoodFive Precepts
MINDRight EffortDwelling in the four jhanas
MINDRight MindfulnessDwelling in the four jhanas
MINDRight ConcentrationDwelling in the four jhanas
WISDOMRight ViewKnowing Four Noble Truths
WISDOMRight IntentionKnowing Four Noble Truths

Mahayana

The threefold training is also part of the bodhisattva path of the Mahayana. Nagarjuna refers to it in his Letter to a Friend, verse 53:
"One should always train in superior disciple
Superior wisdom and superior mind "