Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 7.65

Conscience and Prudence

Hirīottappasutta — Mahāvagga — the seventh chapter of the Sevens

Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A six-link dependency chain, stated once destroyed and once fulfilled, each with its own tree simile
Length
~2 minutes to read
Wider canon
This compact six-link chain shares its underlying logic — each factor as the vital condition for the next — with the longer Upanisā Sutta (SN 12.23) outside this project's scope, which traces a similar dependency chain through more links
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — a chain of six abstract terms, easier to follow with the tree simile held in mind

Why this discourse

AN 7.65 traces a six-link chain from conscience and prudence up to knowledge and vision of freedom, showing that destroying any early link destroys every vital condition that would have depended on it, using a tree without branches or foliage as its governing image.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

Conscience and prudence are the vital condition for sense restraint, which is the vital condition for ethical conduct, which is the vital condition for right immersion, which is the vital condition for true knowledge and vision, which is the vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion, which is the vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom — a six-step chain where destroying any link destroys everything downstream of it.

A tree without branches or foliage

The negative half of the chain is illustrated by a tree lacking branches and foliage, whose shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood cannot grow to fullness — a single image for how the absence of an early-stage condition (branches and foliage, standing for conscience and prudence) prevents everything that structurally depends on it from developing, no matter how much later growth might otherwise be possible.

The identical chain, fulfilled rather than destroyed

The discourse then states the entire six-link chain again, this time as fulfillment rather than destruction: conscience and prudence fulfilled fulfills the condition for sense restraint, and so on up to knowledge and vision of freedom — paired with a tree complete with branches and foliage, whose shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood grow to fullness.

Why conscience and prudence anchor the whole chain

Placing conscience and prudence at the very base of a chain leading all the way to freedom makes a specific claim: the capacity to feel a check on wrongdoing, whether from internal conscience or concern for consequences, is not a minor virtue alongside immersion and wisdom but the foundation that everything else structurally depends on being present.

Key terms

hiri, ottappa — “conscience, prudence” — the chain's first link, and this discourse's own title.
indriyasaṁvara — “sense restraint” — the second link, whose vital condition is conscience and prudence.
sīla, sammāsamādhi — “ethical conduct, right immersion” — the third and fourth links in the chain.
yathābhūtañāṇadassana, nibbidāvirāga — “true knowledge and vision, disillusionment and dispassion” — the fifth and sixth links, leading toward the chain's final term.
vimuttiñāṇadassana — “knowledge and vision of freedom” — the chain's final link, the vital condition ultimately dependent on conscience and prudence at its base.

The text

The discourse in full, both halves of the chain with their tree similes. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

The chain of destroyed conditions

§1“Mendicants, when there is no conscience and prudence, one who lacks conscience and prudence has destroyed a vital condition for sense restraint. When there is no sense restraint, one who lacks sense restraint has destroyed a vital condition for ethical conduct. When there is no ethical conduct, one who lacks ethics has destroyed a vital condition for right immersion. When there is no right immersion, one who lacks right immersion has destroyed a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is no true knowledge and vision, one who lacks true knowledge and vision has destroyed a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is no disillusionment and dispassion, one who lacks disillusionment and dispassion has destroyed a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.

A tree without branches or foliage

§2Suppose there was a tree that lacked branches and foliage. Its shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood would not grow to fullness. In the same way, when there is no conscience and prudence, a person who lacks conscience and prudence has destroyed a vital condition for sense restraint. When there is no sense restraint, one who lacks sense restraint has destroyed a vital condition for ethical conduct. When there is no ethical conduct, one who lacks ethics has destroyed a vital condition for right immersion. When there is no right immersion, one who lacks right immersion has destroyed a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is no true knowledge and vision, one who lacks true knowledge and vision has destroyed a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is no disillusionment and dispassion, one who lacks disillusionment and dispassion has destroyed a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.

The chain fulfilled

§3When there is conscience and prudence, a person who has fulfilled conscience and prudence has fulfilled a vital condition for sense restraint. When there is sense restraint, one who has fulfilled sense restraint has fulfilled a vital condition for ethical conduct. When there is ethical conduct, one who has fulfilled ethical conduct has fulfilled a vital condition for right immersion. When there is right immersion, one who has fulfilled right immersion has fulfilled a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is true knowledge and vision, one who has fulfilled true knowledge and vision has fulfilled a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is disillusionment and dispassion, one who has fulfilled disillusionment and dispassion has fulfilled a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.

A tree complete with branches and foliage

§4Suppose there was a tree that was complete with branches and foliage. Its shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood would grow to fullness. In the same way, when there is conscience and prudence, one who has fulfilled conscience and prudence has fulfilled a vital condition for sense restraint. … One who has fulfilled disillusionment and dispassion has fulfilled a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

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

Question 1 of 6
What does this discourse name as the vital condition at the very base of its six-link chain?
Correct: B. The chain's first link, and this discourse's own title.
Question 2 of 6
What happens to the rest of the chain if an early link is destroyed, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. A strict dependency structure — destroying an early condition undermines everything built on it.
Question 3 of 6
What image illustrates the chain's negative, destroyed half?
Correct: B. A single governing image for how an early absence prevents everything downstream from developing.
Question 4 of 6
What is the chain's final link, reached only if every earlier condition is fulfilled?
Correct: B. The chain's culmination, dependent on every link before it.
Question 5 of 6
According to the guide, what claim does placing conscience and prudence at the chain's base make?
Correct: B. A foundational role for what might otherwise seem like a modest ethical quality.
Question 6 of 6
Where else does the guide point to a similar dependency-chain structure in the wider canon?
Correct: B. A cross-reference to a longer chain built on the same underlying logic.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousAN 7.64 · Irritable