Bad Character (4th)Catutthapāpadhammasutta

“Mendicants, I will teach you bad character and worse character,“Pāpadhammañca vo, bhikkhave, desessāmi, pāpadhammena pāpadhammatarañca; good character and better character.kalyāṇadhammañca, kalyāṇadhammena kalyāṇadhammatarañca. Taṁ suṇātha …pe….

And who has bad character?“Katamo ca, bhikkhave, pāpadhammo? It’s someone who has wrong view, wrong purpose, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong immersion, wrong knowledge, and wrong freedom.Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco micchādiṭṭhiko 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 purpose, 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 micchādiṭṭhiko hoti, parañca micchādiṭṭhiyā samādapeti …pe… attanā ca micchāñāṇī hoti, parañca micchāñāṇe 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 purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom.Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco sammādiṭṭhiko 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 purpose, 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 sammādiṭṭhiko hoti, parañca sammādiṭṭhiyā samādapeti …pe… attanā ca sammāñāṇī hoti, parañca sammāñāṇe samādapeti; This is called better character.”Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, kalyāṇadhammena kalyāṇadhammataro”ti.