‘Ten things: question, summary recital, and answer.’ That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Becoming completely disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding ten things, seeing their limits and fully comprehending their meaning, a mendicant makes an end of suffering in this very life. What ten? The ten ways of performing unskillful deeds. Becoming completely disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding these ten things, seeing their limits and fully comprehending their meaning, a mendicant makes an end of suffering in this very life. ‘Ten things: question, summary recital, and answer.’ That’s what I said, and this is why I said it.”
Numbered Discourses 10.28 3. The Great Chapter The Great Questions (2nd)
At one time the Buddha was staying near Kajaṅgalā in a bamboo grove. Then several lay followers of Kajaṅgalā went to the nun Kajaṅgalikā, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to her:
“Ma’am, this was said by the Buddha in ‘The Great Questions’: ‘One thing: question, summary recital, and answer. Two … Three … Four … Five … Six … Seven … Eight … Nine … Ten things: question, summary recital, and answer.’ How should we see the detailed meaning of the Buddha’s brief statement?”