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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 4.17

Prejudice (1st)

Paṭhamaagatisutta — Caravagga — the second chapter of the Fours

Setting
None stated; the Caravagga gives no location, and each discourse is addressed to the mendicants directly
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A bare list of four, and one verse
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
The four agati are widespread in the Chinese Āgamas and in the Pāli Vinaya; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the shortest kind of discourse in the collection, and one of the most useful

Why this discourse

Four ways a decision goes wrong: favoritism, hostility, stupidity, and cowardice. The list is old, it is short, and it has outlived its context entirely — the same four terms are still quoted in Theravāda countries as the standard test of an official acting badly. This is the first of four consecutive discourses that use it, and the bare list is worth learning by heart.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A decision can be corrupted in four ways: by who you like, who you dislike, what you have not understood, and what you are afraid of.

The four terms

Chanda, desire or preference, rendered here as favoritism — deciding for someone because they are yours. Dosa, hatred, as hostility — deciding against someone because of a grudge. Moha, delusion, as stupidity — deciding wrongly because you did not grasp the matter. Bhaya, fear, as cowardice — deciding to avoid a consequence to yourself.

The collective term is agati, literally ‘not-going’ or a wrong course. The image is of a path departed from: a decision has a proper route, and these are the four ways off it.

It is a well-built list. The first two are partiality in both directions, positive and negative. The third is failure of competence rather than of will. The fourth is self-interest of a particular kind — not gain but the avoidance of cost. Between them they cover corruption by affection, by grudge, by incapacity, and by pressure, and it is genuinely hard to name a fifth.

Stupidity is on the list

The inclusion of moha is the part most worth pausing on. Three of the four are faults of motive; one is a fault of understanding. The list makes no distinction between them in its consequences.

That is a demanding standard and a fair one. A decision made in good faith by someone who did not do the work of understanding the case is on this list alongside a bribed one. The person harmed is harmed either way, and the discourse declines to grade by intention.

It also connects this list to the rest of the collection. AN 4.3, thirteen discourses earlier, made exactly this point about praise and criticism: the fault is not the wrong verdict but the missing examination. Here the same principle is applied to office.

The moon

The verse says that one who acts against the teaching in these four ways has their fame fade like the moon in the waning fortnight.

The image is well chosen for the subject. A waning moon is not extinguished by an event; it diminishes on a schedule, visibly, a little each night, and everyone watching can see which way it is going. Reputation lost to partiality behaves the same way. Nobody announces it and everybody notices.

AN 4.18 supplies the waxing half, and the two verses are meant to be held together.

Why four discourses

AN 4.17 gives the negative list. AN 4.18 gives the positive. AN 4.19 gives both in one discourse with both verses. AN 4.20 applies the same four to a particular monastic officer.

This is not padding, and it is not accident. The Aṅguttara is arranged for recitation, and a set of short discourses in negative, positive, combined, and applied forms is a complete teaching unit for a reciter — four ways of holding one list. A modern reader who finds the repetition tedious is encountering a genuine feature of an oral collection rather than a defect in it.

Key terms

agati — “prejudice”, literally ‘not-going’ or a wrong course — a decision has a proper route, and these are the four ways off it.
chanda — “desire, preference”, here favoritism — deciding for someone because they are yours.
dosa — “hatred”, here hostility — deciding against someone because of a grudge.
moha — “delusion”, here stupidity — the one fault of competence rather than of motive, and graded no differently.
bhaya — “fear”, here cowardice — self-interest of a particular kind: not gain but the avoidance of cost.

The text

The discourse in full: the four, and the verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Four prejudiced decisions

§1“Mendicants, there are these four ways of making prejudiced decisions. What four? Making decisions prejudiced by favoritism, hostility, stupidity, and cowardice. These are the four ways of making prejudiced decisions.

The verse

§2If you act against the teaching out of favoritism, hostility, cowardice, or stupidity, your fame fades away, like the moon in the waning fortnight.”

· · ·

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 ways of making prejudiced decisions?
Correct: B. Chanda, dosa, moha, bhaya.
Question 2 of 10
What does agati literally mean?
Correct: B. A decision has a proper route, and these are the four ways off it.
Question 3 of 10
Which of the four is a fault of competence rather than motive?
Correct: B. And the list makes no distinction in its consequences.
Question 4 of 10
Why does the guide call that a fair standard?
Correct: B. A decision made without doing the work sits alongside a bribed one.
Question 5 of 10
What does cowardice mean on this list?
Correct: B. Which is what distinguishes it from ordinary self-dealing.
Question 6 of 10
What does the list cover between its four terms?
Correct: B. It is genuinely hard to name a fifth.
Question 7 of 10
Which earlier discourse of the Fours makes the same point about examination?
Correct: B. Here the same principle is applied to office.
Question 8 of 10
What is the image in the verse?
Correct: B. AN 4.18 supplies the waxing half.
Question 9 of 10
Why does the guide say the image is well chosen?
Correct: B. Reputation lost to partiality behaves the same way.
Question 10 of 10
Why are there four consecutive discourses on this list?
Correct: B. A genuine feature of an oral collection rather than a defect in it.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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