English
(21) 1. The Chapter on Good People 1. The Discourse on the Precepts 201. “I will teach you, monks, about the bad person, and the one worse than the bad person; about the good person, and the one better than the good person. Listen to it, pay careful attention; I will speak.” “Yes, venerable sir,” those monks replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said this: “And who, monks, is the bad person? Here, monks, someone is a killer of living beings, takes what is not given, engages in sexual misconduct, speaks falsely, indulges in fermented and distilled intoxicants which are the basis of heedlessness. This, monks, is called the bad person. “And who, monks, is worse than the bad person? Here, monks, someone himself kills living beings, and encourages others to kill living beings; himself takes what is not given, and encourages others to take what is not given; himself engages in sexual misconduct, and encourages others in sexual misconduct; himself speaks falsely, and encourages others to speak falsely; himself indulges in fermented and distilled intoxicants which are the basis of heedlessness, and encourages others to indulge in fermented and distilled intoxicants which are the basis of heedlessness. This, monks, is called worse than the bad person. “And who, monks, is the good person? Here, monks, someone abstains from killing living beings, abstains from taking what is not given, abstains from sexual misconduct, abstains from false speech, abstains from fermented and distilled intoxicants which are the basis of heedlessness. This, monks, is called the good person. “And who, monks, is better than the good person? Here, monks, someone himself abstains from killing living beings, and encourages others to abstain from killing living beings; himself abstains from taking what is not given, and encourages others to abstain from taking what is not given; himself abstains from sexual misconduct, and encourages others to abstain from sexual misconduct; himself abstains from false speech, and encourages others to abstain from false [He] persuades to abstain from disputes; and he himself abstains from intoxicants, the basis of heedlessness; and he persuades others to abstain from intoxicants, the basis of heedlessness. This, monks, is called one who is even better than a good person. The First. 2. The Discourse on the Faithless 202. Monks, I will teach you about the bad person, and about one worse than a bad person; and about the good person, and about one better than a good person. Listen to that... (and so on)... And what, monks, is a bad person? Here, monks, some person is faithless, shameless, without moral dread, unlearned, lazy, muddle-minded, unwise. This, monks, is called a bad person. And what, monks, is one worse than a bad person? Here, monks, some person is himself faithless, and he persuades others to be faithless; he himself is shameless, and he persuades others to be shameless; he himself is without moral dread, and he persuades others to be without moral dread; he himself is unlearned, and he persuades others to be unlearned; he himself is lazy, and he persuades others to be lazy; he himself is muddle-minded, and he persuades others to be muddle-minded; he himself is unwise, and he persuades others to be unwise. This, monks, is called one worse than a bad person. And what, monks, is a good person? Here, monks, some person is faithful, conscientious, with moral dread, learned, energetic, mindful, wise. This, monks, is called a good person. And what, monks, is one better than a good person? Here, monks, some person is himself endowed with faith, and he persuades others to be endowed with faith; he himself is conscientious, and he persuades others to be conscientious; he himself is with moral dread... he himself is conscientious, and he encourages others in conscientiousness; he himself is learned, and he encourages others in learning; he himself has aroused energy, and he encourages others in arousing energy; he himself has established mindfulness, and he encourages others in establishing mindfulness; he himself is endowed with wisdom, and he encourages others in being endowed with wisdom. This, monks, is called 'a good person who is better than a good person'. The Second. 3. The Discourse on Seven Actions Monks, I will teach you about the bad person, and about one worse than a bad person; and about the good person, and about one better than a good person. Listen to that... And what, monks, is a bad person? Here, monks, some individual is a killer of living beings, a taker of what is not given, one who engages in sexual misconduct, a speaker of falsehoods, a speaker of divisive speech, a speaker of harsh speech, a speaker of idle chatter. This, monks, is called a bad person. And what, monks, is one worse than a bad person? Here, monks, some individual himself kills living beings, and he encourages others in killing living beings; he himself takes what is not given, and he encourages others in taking what is not given; he himself engages in sexual misconduct, and he encourages others in sexual misconduct; he himself speaks falsehoods, and he encourages others in speaking falsehoods; he himself speaks divisive speech, and he encourages others in divisive speech; he himself speaks harsh speech, and he encourages others in harsh speech; he himself speaks idle chatter, and he encourages others in idle chatter. This, monks, is called 'one worse than a bad person'. And what, monks, is a good person? Here, monks, some individual abstains from killing living beings, abstains from taking what is not given, abstains from sexual misconduct, abstains from speaking falsehoods, abstains from divisive speech, abstains from harsh speech, abstains from idle chatter. (He) abstains (from frivolous talk). This, monks, is called a good person. And who, monks, is better than a good person? Here, monks, some person himself abstains from taking life, and encourages others to abstain from taking life; himself abstains from taking what is not given, and encourages others to abstain from taking what is not given; himself abstains from sexual misconduct, and encourages others to abstain from sexual misconduct; himself abstains from false speech, and encourages others to abstain from false speech; himself abstains from divisive speech, and encourages others to abstain from divisive speech; himself abstains from harsh speech, and encourages others to abstain from harsh speech; himself abstains from frivolous talk, and encourages others to abstain from frivolous talk. This, monks, is called one better than a good person. The Third. 4. The Discourse on Ten Actions 204. "Monks, I will teach you about the bad person, and one worse than a bad person; about the good person, and one better than a good person. Listen to that... (and so on)... And who, monks, is a bad person? Here, monks, some person takes life, takes what is not given, engages in sexual misconduct, speaks falsely, speaks divisively, speaks harshly, engages in frivolous talk, is covetous, has an ill will, has wrong view. This, monks, is called a bad person. And who, monks, is worse than a bad person? Here, monks, some person himself takes life, and encourages others to take life... (and so on, for the other items of misconduct)... himself is covetous, and encourages others to be covetous; himself has an ill will, and encourages others to have ill will; himself has wrong view, and encourages others to have wrong view. This, monks, is called one worse than a bad person. And what, monks, is a good person? Here, monks, some individual abstains from taking life, ... is not covetous, has a mind free from ill-will, has right view. This, monks, is called a good person. And what, monks, is one better than a good person? Here, monks, some individual himself abstains from taking life, and encourages others to abstain from taking life; ... himself is not covetous, and encourages others to be not covetous; himself has a mind free from ill-will, and encourages others to be free from ill-will; himself has right view, and encourages others to have right view. This, monks, is called one better than a good person. Monks, I will teach you about the bad person, and one worse than a bad person; and about the good person, and one better than a good person. Listen to that. And what, monks, is a bad person? Here, monks, some individual has wrong view, has wrong intention, has wrong speech, has wrong action, has wrong livelihood, has wrong effort, has wrong mindfulness, has wrong concentration. This, monks, is called a bad person. And what, monks, is one worse than a bad person? Here, monks, some individual himself has wrong view, and encourages others to have wrong view; himself has wrong intention, and encourages others to have wrong intention; himself has wrong speech, and encourages others to have wrong speech; himself has wrong action, and encourages others to have wrong action; himself has wrong livelihood, and encourages others to have wrong livelihood; himself has wrong effort, and encourages others to have wrong effort; himself has wrong mindfulness, and encourages others to have wrong mindfulness; himself has wrong concentration, and encourages others to have wrong concentration. This is called, monks, a bad person worse than a bad person. And what, monks, is a good person? Here, monks, someone has right view, has right intention, has right speech, has right action, has right livelihood, has right effort, has right mindfulness, has right concentration. This is called, monks, a good person. And what, monks, is a good person better than a good person? Here, monks, someone himself has right view, and he establishes others in right view; himself has right intention, and he establishes others in right intention; himself has right speech, and he establishes others in right speech; himself has right action, and he establishes others in right action;