Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Two kinds of fear keep a person honest, two kinds of work are worth doing, and two qualities are all that stand between a society and dissolution.
Two faults, and the passage most readers flinch at
AN 2.1 distinguishes the fault apparent in this life from the fault to do with lives to come. The first is illustrated at length, and the illustration is a catalogue of judicial torture: whipping and caning, amputation, and then fourteen named punishments — the “porridge pot,” the “garland of fire,” the “meat hook” — ending in impalement and beheading. It is the most graphic passage in the first two books of this collection and there is no version of it that is comfortable to read.
What the passage is doing is worth stating precisely, because it is easy to misread as approval. Nothing here recommends these punishments or says they are just. They appear as a description of what the listener would have seen in a Magadhan or Kosalan town, offered as the content of an ordinary person’s reasoning: if I did what that man did, that would happen to me. The Buddha is describing the crudest available motive for not stealing — fear of getting caught — and treating it as real, insufficient, and worth naming honestly.
The second fault is the same reasoning extended past the reach of the magistrate. And the closing training instruction moves past both: we will fear faults, seeing the danger in faults. The progression is from fear of consequence to fear of the fault itself, which is a different thing and the point of the discourse.
Two endeavors, ranked (AN 2.2)
The lay endeavor is to provide robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicine. The monastic endeavor is to let go of all attachments. Both are called challenging. And then, without hedging: the better of these two endeavors is the effort to let go of all attachments.
This series has argued elsewhere that the canon contains a genuine argument about the standing of lay practice, and this is one of the passages on the other side of it. It should not be softened. The chapter of foremost laypeople names householders unsurpassed at teaching the Dhamma and at verified confidence; this discourse ranks the two vocations and says which is better. Both are in the collection.
It is worth noticing what is actually being compared, though. The lay endeavor named here is specifically material support — not lay practice, lay ethics, or lay attainment, none of which appear in the sentence. The comparison is between provisioning and letting go, and read narrowly it is less sweeping than it sounds. Read broadly it is exactly as sweeping as it sounds. Honest teaching offers both readings and does not pretend the sentence is not there.
Let only skin, sinews, and bones remain (AN 2.5)
The two things the Buddha says he learned for himself are never to be content with skillful qualities and never to stop trying. Then comes the formula: gladly, let only skin, sinews, and bones remain, let the flesh and blood waste away in my body; I will not stop trying until I have achieved what is possible by human strength, energy, and vigor.
This is the Buddha describing his own striving, and it is worth pausing on the qualification at the end. What is vowed is not endurance without limit but effort to the limit of what is possible by human strength. The canon elsewhere records him abandoning genuine self-torture as useless before the awakening. The vow is severe and it is not the austerity he rejected; the difference is worth drawing for students who know the biography.
Note also that the discourse hands the formula straight to the listener and tells them to train in it. This is not presented as something only a Buddha does.
Conscience and prudence, and what they hold up
The last three discourses of the chapter concern one pair: hiri and ottappa, which Sujato renders conscience and prudence. Their absence is called dark; their presence bright. And then AN 2.9 makes the largest claim in the chapter: these two bright things protect the world.
The distinction between them is the useful part, and the Abhidharma tradition sharpened it considerably. Hiri is the recoil from doing something wrong that arises from considering oneself — self-respect, the sense that this is not something I do. Ottappa is the recoil that arises from considering others — the weight of how it would look, who would be hurt, what would be thought. Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa, linked below, gives exactly this analysis of their negatives, shamelessness and lack of conscience: the absence of shame when reflecting on oneself against the absence of shame when reflecting on others.
In Chinese the pair became 慚愧, a compound so ordinary that it now simply means “ashamed” in everyday speech. Most Chinese speakers use it without knowing they are using a translation of a Pāli pair, which is a good thing to point out in a bilingual classroom.
“The world would become dissolute” (AN 2.9)
The argument of AN 2.9 is one of the earliest social claims in the canon and it is stated bluntly: without conscience and prudence there would be no recognition of the status of mother, of aunts, or of the wives and partners of tutors and respected people, and the world would become dissolute like goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, hounds and jackals.
The examples are all about sexual restraint within a kinship structure, and the comparison to animals will read to some as unearned. But the structural claim is worth extracting from the examples. It is that the recognition of relationships as carrying obligations is not maintained by law — the discourse could have named kings and punishments, having just spent AN 2.1 on them, and it does not. It is maintained by two internal dispositions in ordinary people, and if those go, nothing external replaces them.
For a teacher, this pairs naturally with AN 2.1. The first discourse of the chapter shows what deterrence can do; the ninth shows what deterrence cannot do. That is a coherent chapter, and the order is not accidental.
Key terms
The text
Two faults (AN 2.1)
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!” “Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “There are, mendicants, these two faults. What two? The fault apparent in this life, and the fault to do with lives to come. What is the fault apparent in this life? It’s when someone sees that kings have arrested a bandit, a criminal, and subjected them to various punishments—whipping, caning, and clubbing; cutting off hands or feet, or both; cutting off ears or nose, or both; the ‘porridge pot’, the ‘shell-shave’, the ‘Rāhu’s mouth’, the ‘garland of fire’, the ‘burning hand’, the ‘bulrush twist’, the ‘bark dress’, the ‘antelope’, the ‘meat hook’, the ‘coins’, the ‘caustic pickle’, the ‘twisting bar’, the ‘straw mat’; being splashed with hot oil, being fed to the hounds, being impaled alive, and being beheaded. It occurs to them: ‘If I were to commit the kinds of bad deeds for which the kings arrested that bandit, that criminal, the rulers would arrest me and subject me to the same punishments. Afraid of the fault apparent in this life, they do not steal the belongings of others. This is called the fault apparent in this life. What is the fault to do with lives to come? It’s when someone reflects: ‘Bad conduct of body, speech, or mind has a bad, painful result in the next life. If I conduct myself badly, then, when my body breaks up, after death, won’t I be reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell?’ Afraid of the fault to do with lives to come, they give up bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, and develop good conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, keeping themselves pure. This is called the fault to do with lives to come. These are the two faults. So you should train like this: ‘We will fear the fault apparent in this life, and we will fear the fault to do with lives to come. We will fear faults, seeing the danger in faults.’ That’s how you should train. If you fear faults, seeing the danger in faults, you can expect to be freed from all faults.”
Two endeavors, and two kinds of self-reckoning (AN 2.2–4)
§2“These two endeavors are challenging in the world. What two? The endeavor of laypeople staying in a home to provide robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick. And the endeavor of those gone forth from the lay life to homelessness to let go of all attachments. These are the two endeavors that are challenging in the world. The better of these two endeavors is the effort to let go of all attachments. So you should train like this: ‘We shall endeavor to let go of all attachments.’ That’s how you should train.”
§3“These two things, mendicants, are mortifying. What two? It’s when someone has done bad things and not done good things, by way of body, speech, and mind. Thinking, ‘I’ve done bad things by way of body, speech, and mind’, they’re mortified. Thinking, ‘I haven’t done good things by way of body, speech, and mind’, they’re mortified. These are the two things that are mortifying.”
§4“These two things, mendicants, are not mortifying. What two? It’s when someone has done good things and not done bad things, by way of body, speech, and mind. Thinking, ‘I’ve done good things by way of body, speech, and mind’, they’re not mortified. Thinking, ‘I haven’t done bad things by way of body, speech, and mind’, they’re not mortified. These are the two things that are not mortifying.”
What the Buddha learned for himself (AN 2.5–6)
§5“Mendicants, I have learned these two things for myself—to never be content with skillful qualities, and to never stop trying. I never stopped trying, thinking: ‘Gladly, let only skin, sinews, and bones remain! Let the flesh and blood waste away in my body! I will not stop trying until I have achieved what is possible by human strength, energy, and vigor.’ It was by diligence that I achieved awakening, and by diligence that I achieved the supreme sanctuary from the yoke. If you too never stop trying, thinking: ‘Gladly, let only skin, sinews, and bones remain! Let the flesh and blood waste away in my body! I will not stop trying until I have achieved what is possible by human strength, energy, and vigor.’ You will soon realize the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. You will live having achieved with your own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness. So you should train like this: ‘We will never stop trying, thinking: “Gladly, let only skin, sinews, and bones remain! Let the flesh and blood waste away in my body! I will not stop trying until I have achieved what is possible by human strength, energy, and vigor.”’ That’s how you should train.”
§6“There are, mendicants, these two things. What two? Seeing things that tighten the fetters as gratifying, and seeing things that tighten the fetters as boring. When you keep seeing things that tighten the fetters as gratifying, you don’t give up greed, hate, and delusion. When these are not given up, you’re not freed from rebirth, old age, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. You’re not freed from suffering, I say. When you keep seeing things that tighten the fetters as boring, you give up greed, hate, and delusion. When these are given up, you’re freed from rebirth, old age, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. You’re freed from suffering, I say. These are the two things.”
Dark and bright (AN 2.7–9)
§7“These two things, mendicants, are dark. What two? Lack of conscience and prudence. These are the two things that are dark.”
§8“These two things, mendicants, are bright. What two? Conscience and prudence. These are the two things that are bright.”
§9“These two bright things, mendicants, protect the world. What two? Conscience and prudence. If these two bright things did not protect the world, there would be no recognition of the status of mother, aunts, or wives and partners of tutors and respected people. The world would become dissolute, like goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, and hounds and jackals. But because the two bright things protect the world, there is recognition of the status of mother, aunts, and wives and partners of tutors and respected people.”
Entering the rains (AN 2.10)
§10“There are, mendicants, these two entries to the rainy season. What two? Earlier and later. These are the two entries to the rainy season.”
Self-check quiz
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