Malasutta — Mahāvagga — the second chapter of the Eights
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A bare eight-item prose list, immediately restated in verse with minor rephrasing
Length
under 1 minute to read
A domestic, everyday register
Unlike this chapter's grander similes and narratives, this discourse draws its seven ordinary stains from daily life — hymns, houses, beauty, guards, women, givers — before naming ignorance as worse than all of them combined
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and aphoristic, easy to read but each pairing rewards a second look
Why this discourse
AN 8.15 names eight stains — failing to rehearse spoils hymns, neglect spoils houses, laziness spoils beauty, negligence spoils a guard, misconduct spoils a woman, stinginess spoils a giver, and bad unskillful qualities are a stain on this world and the next — then names a stain worse than all seven combined: ignorance.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Seven everyday things each have their own particular stain — unrehearsed hymns, neglected houses, lazy beauty, a negligent guard, a misbehaving woman, a stingy giver, and bad qualities staining this world and the next — but ignorance is worse than all of them, the worst stain of all.
Seven domestic stains, each specific to its object
Each of the first seven pairings names a stain that belongs specifically to one thing: a hymn is stained by not being rehearsed, a house by neglect, beauty by laziness, a guard's post by negligence, a woman's standing by misconduct, and a giver's generosity by stinginess — each stain the specific failure that spoils that specific thing's own purpose.
The seventh item widens the frame
Where the first six stains are narrow and domestic, the seventh breaks the pattern's scale: bad, unskillful qualities generally are named as a stain not on any one object but on this world and the next world both — a bridge from small household failures to something with consequences beyond a single lifetime.
Ignorance, worse than the rest combined
The list's climax names an eighth stain that isn't simply another item alongside the first seven, but is explicitly ranked above them: worse than any of these, ignorance is called the worst stain of all — the discourse's own verse repeats this ranking word for word.
Key terms
malaṁ — “stain” — this discourse's own title term, applied to seven specific objects and then, worst of all, to ignorance itself.
asajjhāyamalā mantā — “not rehearsing is the stain of hymns” — the first pairing, a specific failure of practice spoiling a specific skill.
anuṭṭhānamalā gharā — “neglect is the stain of houses” — the second pairing, extending the same logic from spoken skill to physical upkeep.
pāpo dhammo ubhayattha malaṁ — “bad, unskillful qualities are a stain in this world and the next” — the seventh item, widening the list's scale from domestic objects to consequences beyond a single life.
tato malā malataraṁ avijjā paramaṁ malaṁ — “worse than any of these is ignorance, the worst stain of all” — the discourse's own climactic ranking, repeated word for word in both the prose list and the closing verse.
The text
The discourse in full: eight stains in prose, then restated in verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Eight stains, in prose
§1“Mendicants, there are these eight stains. What eight? Not rehearsing is the stain of hymns. Neglect is the stain of houses. Laziness is the stain of beauty. Negligence is a guard’s stain. Misconduct is a woman’s stain. Stinginess is a giver’s stain. Bad, unskillful qualities are a stain in this world and the next. Worse than any of these is ignorance, the worst stain of all. These are the eight stains.
The same eight, in verse
§2Not rehearsing is the stain of hymns. The stain of houses is neglect. Laziness is the stain of beauty. A guard’s stain is negligence.
§3Misconduct is a woman’s stain. A giver’s stain is stinginess. Bad qualities are a stain in this world and the next. But a worse stain than these is ignorance, the worst stain of all.”
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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 stains a hymn, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. The first of seven specific, domestic stains.
Question 2 of 6
How does the guide describe the seventh item in this list, compared to the first six?
Correct: B. A bridge from small domestic failures to consequences beyond one lifetime.
Question 3 of 6
What is named as worse than all seven other stains combined?
Correct: B. The discourse's climactic ranking, repeated word for word in the closing verse.
Question 4 of 6
What stains a giver, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. The sixth of seven specific pairings, each naming a particular failure.
Question 5 of 6
How is the eight-item list structured?
Correct: B. Brief and aphoristic, prose followed by verse.
Question 6 of 6
Is a setting given for this discourse?
Correct: C. A bare formula, matching several other discourses in this chapter.
