AN 4.148 — Bad Conduct | Ru-Yi Meditation Center

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

Speech goes wrong in four ways, and they are these.

The four

Musāvāda: false speech. Saying what is not so, knowing it is not so. This is the one covered by the fourth of the five precepts, and the only one of the four that appears in that list.

Pisuṇā vācā: divisive speech. The Pāli word means malicious or slanderous, and the standard definition elsewhere is specific — repeating what was heard here to people there, so as to break them apart. Sujato’s ‘backbiting’ catches the mechanism.

Pharusā vācā: harsh speech. Rough, cutting, the kind that wounds. The same adjective was used in AN 4.111 for the harsh method of training, where it meant describing unwelcome consequences — which is worth noting, since it shows the word is about the effect on the hearer rather than about anger in the speaker.

Samphappalāpa: nonsensical or frivolous talk. Literally something like idle chatter; the standard gloss is speech that is untimely, untrue, without benefit, not about the teaching or the training.

The order runs from the most obviously wrong to the least, and the fourth is the one most readers would not have thought to include.

The fourth item, and why it is there

Lying, slander, and cruelty are moral failures that any tradition would name. Idle talk is not, and its presence in the list is the thing to notice.

Nothing about samphappalāpa requires malice, dishonesty, or a victim. It is simply talk that is not doing anything, and the collection classes it as bad conduct by way of speech alongside the other three.

The obvious objection is that this makes ordinary human company an offense, and the objection has force. The standard definitions elsewhere sharpen the term — the concern is speech that is untimely and without benefit, not conversation as such — but this discourse gives no definition at all and cannot be cited either way.

What can be said is that the list treats attention as a resource. The first three damage other people; the fourth spends something. Whether it belongs in the same list is a fair question, and the tradition’s answer has consistently been yes.

Bare where everything else is full

This set is normally met with a great deal attached. In the description of right speech on the path each of the four gets a full definition and its positive counterpart. In the discourses on kamma each is assigned consequences. In the account of a person of integrity, what someone says about the faults of others is used as a test of character.

Here there is nothing. Four compound words and the closing formula.

That is not a defect and it is worth explaining to students who find these Aṅguttara entries disappointing. A collection organized by number is where a set is kept; it is not where the set is explained. The explanations live in the long discourses, and the numbered collection preserves the countable skeleton so that the set can be found, recited, and checked.

AN 4.148 is that skeleton for one of the most-used lists the tradition has.

Read with AN 4.149

The next discourse is this one inverted: true, harmonious, gentle, and thoughtful speech, in the same order and with the same absence of comment.

The pair is the chapter’s third matched set, after AN 4.141 to AN 4.145 and AN 4.146 with AN 4.147, and it is the most symmetrical of the three. Each of the four positive terms is the exact negation or opposite of its counterpart.

It is worth reading them together for one specific reason. A list of things not to do leaves a person with silence as the only guaranteed compliance. The positive list closes that gap, and it is the reason the tradition never gives one of these two lists without the other being available.

Where it sits

Eighth of the chapter’s ten. The chapter has now given five discourses on light, two on the four times, and turns here to speech for two.

AN 4.149 completes the pair. AN 4.150 then closes the Ābhāvagga with four essentials — ethics, immersion, wisdom, and freedom — which is the same set the Fours opened with at AN 4.1.

After that comes the Indriyavagga, the chapter of faculties.

Key terms

vacīduccarita — “bad conduct by way of speech” — one of the three doors of action, here given four subdivisions.

musāvāda — “false speech” — the only one of the four covered by the five precepts.

pisuṇā vācā — “divisive speech” — malicious talk; the standard definition is repeating what was heard here to people there, so as to break them apart.

pharusā vācā — “harsh speech” — rough, cutting; the same adjective used of the harsh method of training in AN 4.111.

samphappalāpa — “nonsense”, idle chatter — the item that requires no malice, no dishonesty, and no victim.

The text

The discourse in full: four kinds of bad verbal conduct, named. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Four kinds of bad conduct by way of speech

§1“Mendicants, there are these four kinds of bad conduct by way of speech. What four? Speech that’s false, backbiting, harsh, or nonsensical. These are the four kinds of bad conduct by way of speech.”

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Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10

What are the four?

Correct: B. Given here in the barest possible form: four words and nothing else.

Question 2 of 10

Which of the four is covered by the five precepts?

Correct: B. The only one of the four in that list.

Question 3 of 10

What is the standard definition of divisive speech?

Correct: B. Sujato’s ‘backbiting’ catches the mechanism.

Question 4 of 10

Where else in the Fours does the word for harsh appear?

Correct: B. Which shows the word is about the effect on the hearer, not anger in the speaker.

Question 5 of 10

What is notable about the fourth item?

Correct: B. Lying, slander, and cruelty are failures any tradition would name; idle talk is not.

Question 6 of 10

How does the guide handle the objection that this condemns ordinary company?

Correct: B. The list treats attention as a resource: three items damage others, the fourth spends something.

Question 7 of 10

How is this set normally met?

Correct: B. Here there is nothing but four compound words and the closing formula.

Question 8 of 10

How does the guide explain that bareness?

Correct: B. The numbered collection preserves the countable skeleton.

Question 9 of 10

Why does the guide say the two lists are never given apart?

Correct: B. The positive list closes that gap.

Question 10 of 10

What closes this chapter?

Correct: B. The same four as AN 4.1.

Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Bad Conduct

Why this discourse