​DN 34: Dasuttara Sutta: Expanding Decades 

Thus have i heard. 

Once the Lord was staying at Campa beside the Gaggara lotus-pond, with a large company of 500 monks. At that moment, Venerable Sariputta addressed the monks: 'Friends, monks!' In growing groups from one to ten I'll teach Dhamma for the gaining of Nibbana, that you may make an end of suffering and be free from all the ties that bind. 

There is friends, 10 sets of One thing :
(I) one thing that greatly helps (bahu- karo) : Tirelessness in whole some states (appamado kusalesu dhammesu). 
(2) one thing to be developed (bhavetabbo): Mindfulness with regard to the body, accompanied by pleasure (kaya-gata sati sata-sahagata). 
(3) one thing to be thoroughly known (parinneyyo): Contact as a condition of the corruptions and of grasping (phasso siiaavo upadaniyo). 
(4) one thing to be abandoned (pahatabbo):   Ego-conceit (asmi- mana)
(5) one thing that conduces to diminution (hana-bhagiyo): Unwise attention (ayoniso manasikaro)
(6) one thing that conduces to distinction (visesa-bhagiyo): Wise attention (yoniso manasikaro)
(7) one thing hard to penetrate (duppativijjho): Uninterrupted mental concentration (anantariko ceto-samadhi)
(8) one thing to be made to arise (uppadetabbo): Unshakeable knowledge (akuppam nanam)
(9) one thing to be thoroughly learnt (abhinneyyo): All beings are maintained by nutriment
(10) one thing to be realised (sacchikatabbo): Unshakeable deliverance of mind (akuppa ceto-vimutti).
That makes ten things that are real and true, so and not otherwise, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

 What are the "Two things greatly help, two things are to be developed ?"

(1) Two things that greatly help: Mindfulness and clear awareness
(2) Two things to be developed: Calm and insight
3) Two things to be thoroughly known: Mind and body
(4) Two things to be abandoned: Ignorance and craving for existence
(5) Two things conduce to diminution: Roughness and friendship with evil
(6) Two things conduce to distinction: Gentleness and friendship with good
(7) Two things that are hard to penetrate: That which is the root, the condition of the defilement of beings, and that which is the root, the condition of the purification of beings (yo ca hetu yo ca paccayo sattanam samkilesaya,. . .sattanam visuddhiya)
(8) Two things are to be made to arise: Knowledge of the destruction of the defilements & of their non-recurrence
​(9) Two things are to be thoroughly learnt: Two elements, the conditioned and the unconditioned (sankhata ca dhatu asankhata ca dhatu). 
(10) Two things are to be realized: Knowledge and liberation
That makes twenty things that are real and true, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

What are the Three things greatly help, three things are to be developed?

(1) Three things that greatly help: Association with good people, hearing the true Dhamma, practice of the Dhamma in its entirety
(2) Three things are to be developed: Three kinds of concentration
(3) Three things are to be thoroughly known: Three feelings
(4) Three things are to be abandoned: Three kinds of craving (existence, non-existence and sense pleasures)
(5) Three things conduce to diminution: Three unwholesome roots (greed, hatred and delusion).
(6) Three things conduce to distinction: Three wholesome roots (generosity, loving kindness and non-delusion)
(7) Three things that are hard to penetrate: Three elements making for deliverance (nissaraniya dhatuyo):
(a) deliverance from sensuality (kama), that is, renunciation (nekkhammam)
(b) deliverance from material forms (rupa), that is, the immaterial (aruppam)
(c) whatever has become, is compounded, is conditionally arisen - the deliverance from that is cessation (nirodho). (8) Three things to be made to arise: Three knowledges (nanani) of past, future, present.
(9) Three things are to be thoroughly learnt: Three elements
(10) Three things are to be realized: Three knowledges (as Sutta 33).
That makes thirty things that are real and true, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

What are the Four things greatly help, four things are to be developed

(1) Four things that greatly help: Four "wheels" (cakka- ni):
(a) a favorable place of residence (patirupa-desa-vaso)
(b) association with good people (sappurisupassayo)
(c) perfect development of one's personality (atta-samma-panidhi), past meritorious actions (pubbe-kata-punnata). (2) Four things are to be developed: Four foundations of mindfulness
(3) Four things are to be thoroughly known: Four nutriments
(4) Four things are to be abandoned: Four floods (as Sutta 33).
(5) Four things that conduce to diminution: Four yokes (as Sutta 33)
(6) Four things conduce to distinction: Four "unyo- kings" (as Sutta 33)
(7) Four things that are hard to penetrate: Four concentrations:
​(a) conducing to decline (hana-bhagiyo)
(b) conducing to stasis (thiti-bhagiyo)
(c) conducive to distinction (visesabhagiyo)
​(d) conducive to penetration (nibbedha-bhigiyo)
(8) Four things are to be made to arise: Four knowledges
(9) Four things are to be thoroughly learnt: Four Noble Truths
(10) Four things are to be realized: Four fruits of the ascetic life
That makes forty things that are real and true, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

What are the Five things that greatly help, five things are to be developed. . .

(1) Five things that greatly help: Five factors of endeavor
(2) Five things to be developed: Five-fold perfect concentration:
a) suffusion with delight (piti)
​(b) suffusion with happiness (sukha)
(c) suffusion with will (ceto)
(d) suffusion with light (aloka)
(e) the "reviewing" sign (paccavekkhana-nimitta)
​(3)Five things are to be thoroughly known: Five aggregates of grasping 
​(4) Five things are to be abandoned: Five hindrances
(5) Five things conduce to diminution: Five mental blockages 
​(6) Five things conduce to distinction: Five faculties
(7) Five things that are hard to penetrate: Five elements making for deliverance
(8) Five things that are to be made to arise: The fivefold knowledge of right concentration (pancananiko samma samadhi) the knowledge that arises within one that:
(a) This concentration is both present happiness and productive of future resultant happiness (ayatin ca sukha-vipako)
(b) This concentration is Ariyan and free from worldliness (niramiso)
(c) This concentration is not practiced by the unworth (akapurisa- sevito)
(d) This concentration is calm and perfect, has attained tranquilization, has attained unification, and is not instigated, it cannot be denied or prevented
(e) I, myself attain this concentration with mindfulness, and emerge from it with mindfulness.
(9) Five things are to be thoroughly learnt: Five bases of deliverance
(10) Five things are to be realized: Five branches of Dhamma plus knowledge and vision of liberation (vimutti-nana-dassana-kkhandho).
That makes fifty things that are real and true, and not otherwise, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathgata. 

 What are  the Six things that greatly help, six things are to be developed. . .

(I) Six things that greatly help: Six things to be remembered (as Sutta 33).
(2) Six things that are to be developed: Six subjects of recollection (as Sutta 33)
(3) Six things to be thoroughly known: Six internal sense-spheres
(4) Six things to be abandoned: Six groups of craving
(5) Six things conduce to diminution: Six kinds of disrespect 
(6) Six things conduce to distinction: Six kinds of respect 
(7) Six things that are hard to penetrate: Six elements making for deliverance 
(8) Six things to be made to arise: Six stable states
(9) Six things are to be thoroughly known: Six unsurpassed things 
(10) Six things are to be realized: Six super-knowledges (abhinna): Here, a monk applies and bends his mind to, and enjoys, different super-normal powers (iddhi) (as sutta 2):
(a) Being one, he becomes many
(b) with the divine ear he hears sounds both divine and human
(c) he knows and distinguishes the minds of other beings
(d) he remembers past existences
(e) with the divine eye.. .he sees beings passing away and arising
(f) he abides, in this life, by his own super-knowledge and realization, in the attainment of the corruption-less liberation of heart and liberation through wisdom.
That makes sixty things that are real and true, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

What are the Seven things that help greatly, seven things are to be developed ?

(1) Seven things greatly help: Seven treasures
(2) Seven things are to be developed: Seven factors of enlightenment
(3) Seven things are to be thoroughly known: Seven stations of consciousness
4) Seven things are to be abandoned: Seven latent proclivities
(5) Seven things conduce to diminution: Seven wrong practices
(6) Seven things conduce to distinction: Seven right practices
(7) Seven things that are hard to penetrate: Seven qualities of the true man
(8) Seven things to be made to arise: Seven perceptions 
(9) Seven things are to be thoroughly learnt: Seven grounds for commendation
(10) Seven things are to be leamt:  Seven powers of an Arahant (khinasava-balani). Here, for a monk who has destroyed the corruptions
(a) the impermanence nature of all compounded things is well seen by perfect insight. This is one way whereby he recognizes that for him the corruptions are destroyed
(b) . . . sense-desires are well seen as being like a pit of glowing embers. .
c). . .his heart (cittam) is bent on and inclined towards detachment (viveka), rejoicing in renunciation (nekkhammabhiratam), his heart is totally un-receptive to all things pertaining to the corruptions. . .
(d) . . . the four foundations of mindfulness have been well and truly developed. . .
(e) . . .the five faculties have been well developed. . . 
(f) . . .the seven factors of enlightenment have been been well developed. . .
(g) the Noble Eightfold Path has been well and truly developed. . .This is one of the powers whereby he recognises that for him the corruptions are destroyed.

That makes seventy things that are real and true, so and not otherwise, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata. 

What are the Eight things that greatly help and eight things are to be developed ?

(1) Eight things that greatly help: Eight causes, eight conditions conduce to wisdom in the fundamentals of the holy life, to gaining what has not been gained and to increase, expand and develop what has been gained. Here
(a) one lives close to the Teacher or to a fellow-monk with the standing of a teacher, being thus strongly established in moral shame and moral dread, in love and veneration. . .
He who is so placed (b) from time to time goes to his teacher and asks him: "How is that, Lord? What does this mean?" Thus his venerable teachers can reveal what is hidden and clarify obscurities, in this way helping him to solve his problems.
(c) Then having heard Dhamma from them, he achieves withdrawal (vupakasa) of body and mind.
(d) Further, a monk is moral, he lives restrained according to the restraint of the discipline persisting in right behaviour, seeing danger in the slightest fault and keeping to the rules of training.
(e) a monk having learnt much, remembers and bears in mind what he has learnt, and those things that are beautiful in the beginning, in the middle and in the ending, which in spirit and letter proclaim the absolutely perfected and purified holy life, he remembers and reflects on, and penetrates them with vision.
(f) a monk having stirred up energy, continues to dispel unwholesome states, striving strongly and firmly and not casting off the yoke of the wholesome.
(g) a monk is mindful, with the highest mindfulness and discrimination, remembering and bearing in mind what has been done or said in the past.
(h) a monk continually contemplates the rise and fall of the five aggregates of grasping, thinking: "Such is material form, its arising and passing; such are feelings, such are perceptions, such are the mental formations, such is consciousness, its arising and passing."

(2) Eight things are to be developed: The Noble Eightfold Path
(3) Eight things are to be thoroughly known: Eight worldly conditions 
(4) Eight things are to be abandoned: Eight wrong factors
(5) Eight things that conduce to diminution: Eight occasions of indolence
(6) Eight things conduce to distinction: Eight occasions for making an effort
(7) Eight things that are hard to penetrate: Eight unfortunate, inopportune times for leading the holy life
(8)Eight things that are to be made to arise: Eight thoughts of a Great Man (Mahapurisa-vitakka): "This Dhamma is
(a) for one of few wants, not one of many wants
(b) for the contented, not for the discontented
(c) for the withdrawn, not for those delighting in company
(d) for the energetic, not for the lazy
(e) for one of established mindfulness, not for one of lax mindfulness
(f) for one of concentrated mind, not for one who is not concentrated
(g) for one who has wisdom, not for one lacking wisdom
(h) for one who delights in non-proliferation (nippa- pancaramassa), not for one who delights in proliferation."
​(9) Eight things to be thoroughly learnt: Eight states of mastery (as Sutta 33).
(10) Eight things to be realized: Eight liberations
That makes eighty things that are real and true, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

What are the Nine things that greatly help and the nine things are to be developed

(1) Nine things that greatly help: Nine conditions rooted in wise consideration (yoniso manasikara mulaka dhamma): When a monk practices wise consideration
(a) joy (pamojja) arises in him
(b) from his being joyful, delight (piti) arises
(c) from his feeling delight, his senses are calmed
(d) as a result of this calming he feels happiness (sukha)
(e) from his feeling happy, his mind becomes concentrated
(f) with his mind thus concentrated, he knows and sees things as they really are
(g) with his thus knowing and seeing things as they really are, he becomes disenchanted (nibbindati)
(h) with disenchantment he becomes dispassionate (virajjati)
(i) by dispassion he is liberated

(2) Nine things to be developed: Nine factors of the effort for perfect (parisuddhi-padhaniyangani):
(a) the factor of effort for purity of moralit
(b) for purity of mind
(c) for purity of view
(d) of purification by overcoming doubt (kankha-vitarana-visuddhi)
(e)of purification by knowledge and vision of path and not-path (magga- magga-nana-dassana-visuddhi)
(f) of purification by knowledge and vision of progress (patipad-nana-dassana-visuddhi)
(g) of purification by knowledge and vision (nana-dassana- visuddhi)
(h) of purity of wisdom (panna-visuddhi)
(i) of purity of deliverance (vimutti-visuddhi)
(3) Nine things to be thoroughly known: Nine abodes of beings 
(4) Nine things to be abandoned: Nine things rooted in craving: Craving conditions searching,. . . acquisition,. . . decision-making, . . .lustful desire,. . .attachment,. . . appropriation,. . .avarice,. . . guarding of possessions and because of the guarding of possessions there arise the taking up ​of stick and sword, quarrels,lying and other evil unskilled states (as Sutta 15)

(5) Nine things conduce to diminution: Nine causes of malice
(6) Nine things that conduce to distinction: Nine ways of overcoming malice
(7) Nine things that are hard to penetrate: Nine differences (nanatti): Owing to difference of element (dhatu), there is difference of contact (phassa);  owing to difference of contact there is difference of feeling; owing to difference of feeling there is difference of perception; owing to difference of perception there is difference of thought (sankappa); owing to difference of thought there is difference of intention (chanda); owing to difference of intention there is difference of obsession (parilaha); owing to difference of obsession there is difference of quest (pariyesana); owing to difference of quest there is difference of what is gained (labha).

(8) Nine things that are to be made to arise: Nine perceptions (sanna): of the foul (asubha), of death, of the loathsomeness of food (ahare patikkula sanna), of distaste for the whole world (sabba-loke anabhirati-sanna), of impermanence, of the suffering in impermanence, of impersonality in suffering, of relinquishment (pahana), of dispassion (viraga).
(9) Nine things to be thoroughly learnt: Nine successive abiding
(10) Nine things to be realized: Nine successive cessations
That makes ninety things that are real and true so and not otherwise, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tathagata.

What are the Ten things that (1) greatly help, (2) are to be developed, (3) are to be thoroughly known, (4) are to be abandoned, (5) conduce to diminution, (6) conduce to distinction, (7) are hard to penetrate, (8) are to be made to arise, (9) are to be thoroughly learnt, (10) are to be realized.

(1) Ten things that greatly help: Ten things that give protection
(2) Ten things to be developed: Ten objects for the attainment of absorption
(3) Ten things to be thoroughly known: Ten sense-spheres (ayatanani): eye and sight-object, ear and sound, nose and smell, tongue and taste, body and tactile object.
(4) Ten things to be abandoned: Ten wrong courses plus wrong knowledge (miccha-nana) and wrong liberation (miccha-vimutti).
(5) Ten things conduce to diminution: Ten unwhole some courses of action
(6) Ten things conduce to distinction: Ten wholesome courses of action
(7) Ten things that are hard to penetrate: Ten Ariyan dispositions
(8) Ten things to be made to arise: Ten perceptions and the perception of cessation (nirodha- sanna).
(9)Ten things to be thoroughly learnt: Ten causes of wearing-away (nijjara-vatthuni): By right view wrong view is worn away, and whatever evil and unwholesome states arise on the basis of wrong view are worn away too. By right view many wholesome states are developed and perfected. By right thought wrong thought is worn away.. .By right speech wrong speech is worn away.. .By right action wrong action is worn away. . .By right livelihood wrong livelihood is worn away. . .By right effort wrong effort is worn away. . .By right mindfulness wrong mindfulness is worn away. . .By right concentration wrong concentration is worn away.. .By right knowledge wrong knowledge is worn away.. .By right liberation wrong liberation is worn away, and whatever evil and unwholesome states arise on the basis of wrong liberation are worn away too. By right liberation many wholesome states are developed and perfected.
(10)  Ten things are to be realized: Ten qualities of the non-learner
That makes a hundred things that are real and true, so and not otherwise, unerringly and perfectly realized by the Tatha gata.
 
The monks were delighted and rejoiced at Venerable Sariputta's words. 

In summary, Venerable Sariputta spoke to the monks and from growing groups from one to ten, he taught them the Dhamma for the gaining of Nibbana, that make an end of suffering and be free from all the ties that bind. The organization of the ten sets of things follows a consistent logic covering main topics on wisdom (panna), morality (sila) and meditation (samadhi): 
​
Wisdom

1. Which things greatly help?
2. Which things are to be developed?
3. Which things are to be thoroughly known?

Morality

1. Which things are to be abandoned?
2. Which things conduce to diminution?

Meditation

1. Which things conduce to distinction?
2. Which things are hard to penetrate?
3. Which things are to be made to arise?
4. Which things are to be thoroughly learnt?
5. Which things are to be realized?

References: 
1. www.accesstoinsight.org
2. https://suttacentral.net/
3. The long discourses of the Buddha (Bhikkhu Bodhi)