• Numbered Discourses 4.210 Aį¹…guttara Nikāya 4.210
  • 21. A True Person 21. Sappurisavagga

Bad Character (4th) Catutthapāpadhammasutta

ā€œMendicants, I will teach you bad character and worse character, ā€œPāpadhammaƱca vo, bhikkhave, desessāmi, pāpadhammena pāpadhammataraƱca; good character and better character. kalyāṇadhammaƱca, kalyāṇadhammena kalyāṇadhammataraƱca. Taṁ suṇātha …pe….

And who has bad character? ā€œKatamo ca, bhikkhave, pāpadhammo? It’s someone who has wrong view, wrong thought, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong immersion, wrong knowledge, and wrong freedom. Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco micchādiį¹­į¹­hiko hoti …pe… micchāñāṇī hoti, micchāvimutti hoti. This is called bad character. Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, pāpadhammo.

And who has worse character? Katamo ca, bhikkhave, pāpadhammena pāpadhammataro? It’s someone who has wrong view, wrong thought, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong immersion, wrong knowledge, and wrong freedom. And they encourage others in these same qualities. Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco attanā ca micchādiį¹­į¹­hiko hoti, paraƱca micchādiį¹­į¹­hiyā samādapeti …pe… attanā ca micchāñāṇī hoti, paraƱca micchāñāṇe samādapeti; attanā ca micchāvimutti hoti, paraƱca micchāvimuttiyā samādapeti. This is called worse character. Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, pāpadhammena pāpadhammataro.

And who has good character? Katamo ca, bhikkhave, kalyāṇadhammo? It’s someone who has right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom. Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco sammādiį¹­į¹­hiko hoti …pe… sammāñāṇī hoti, sammāvimutti hoti. This is called good character. Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, kalyāṇadhammo.

And who has better character? Katamo ca, bhikkhave, kalyāṇadhammena kalyāṇadhammataro? It’s someone who has right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom. And they encourage others in these same qualities. Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco attanā ca sammādiį¹­į¹­hiko hoti, paraƱca sammādiį¹­į¹­hiyā samādapeti …pe… attanā ca sammāñāṇī hoti, paraƱca sammāñāṇe samādapeti; attanā ca sammāvimutti hoti, paraƱca sammāvimuttiyā samādapeti. This is called better character.ā€ Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, kalyāṇadhammena kalyāṇadhammataroā€ti.

Dasamaṁ.

Sappurisavaggo paį¹­hamo.

Tassuddānaṁ

SikkhāpadaƱca assaddhaṁ, Sattakammaṁ atho ca dasakammaṁ; Aį¹­į¹­haį¹…gikaƱca dasamaggaṁ, Dve pāpadhammā apare dveti.