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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 8.40

The Results of Misconduct

Duccaritavipākasutta — Dānavagga — the fourth chapter of the Eights

Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
Eight parallel structures, each pairing a form of misconduct with a bad-realm consequence and a distinct minimum human consequence
Length
~2 minutes to read
This chapter's reversal of AN 8.39
Where AN 8.39 named five precepts as great gifts of fearlessness, this discourse closing the chapter names eight forms of misconduct — the same five precepts broken, plus three further verbal faults — each with its own specific, pointed consequence
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a repeating structure across eight items, each with a distinct, specific human consequence worth reading individually

Why this discourse

AN 8.40 closes this chapter by naming eight kinds of misconduct — killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, backbiting, harsh speech, talking nonsense, and drinking alcohol — each leading at worst to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm, and at minimum to a specific, pointed human consequence distinct from all the others.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

Each of eight kinds of misconduct, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads at worst to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm, and at minimum — even for someone reborn human — to a specific consequence distinct to that particular misconduct.

Eight items, not the traditional ten

This list draws on the ten standard courses of unskillful action but reshapes them: it keeps seven bodily and verbal items — killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, backbiting, harsh speech, and talking nonsense — and replaces the traditional three purely mental items (covetousness, ill will, wrong view) entirely with a single eighth item, drinking alcohol.

A distinct minimum consequence for each

What distinguishes this discourse from a simple list is its specificity: killing's minimum human consequence is a short lifespan; stealing's is loss of wealth; sexual misconduct's is rivalry and enmity; lying's is false accusations; backbiting's is being divided against friends; harsh speech's is hearing disagreeable things; nonsense talk's is that no one takes what you say seriously; and drinking's is madness.

A precise, almost poetic justice

Each pairing has an internal logic that isn't arbitrary: harsh speech returns as disagreeable things heard, nonsense talk returns as being disbelieved, backbiting returns as division from one's own friends — the consequence in each case mirrors the shape of the original misconduct rather than being a generic punishment.

Key terms

pāṇātipāto — “killing living creatures” — the first misconduct named, whose minimum human consequence is a short lifespan.
pisuṇā vācā — “backbiting” — the fifth item, whose minimum consequence, being divided against friends, mirrors the divisive nature of the original speech.
pharusā vācā — “harsh speech” — the sixth item, whose minimum consequence is hearing disagreeable things oneself.
samphappalāpo — “talking nonsense” — the seventh item, whose minimum consequence is that no one takes what you say seriously.
surāmerayapānaṁ — “drinking beer and wine” — the eighth and closing item, replacing the traditional three mental unskillful actions, with madness as its minimum consequence.

The text

The discourse in full: eight kinds of misconduct, each with a distinct minimum human consequence. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct

§1“Mendicants, the killing of living creatures, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is a short lifespan. Stealing, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is loss of wealth. Sexual misconduct, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is rivalry and enmity.

Lying, backbiting, and harsh speech

§2Lying, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is false accusations. Backbiting, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is being divided against friends. Harsh speech, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is hearing disagreeable things.

Nonsense talk and drinking, closing this chapter

§3Talking nonsense, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is that no-one takes what you say seriously. Drinking beer and wine, when cultivated, developed, and practiced, leads to hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm. The minimum result it leads to for a human being is madness.”

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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
How does this discourse's list of eight relate to the traditional ten courses of unskillful action?
Correct: B. A reshaping that fits this book's eightfold theme rather than the traditional count of ten.
Question 2 of 6
What is the minimum human consequence of backbiting, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. A consequence that mirrors the shape of the original misconduct, not a generic punishment.
Question 3 of 6
What is the minimum human consequence of talking nonsense?
Correct: B. A fittingly ironic consequence for habitual nonsense talk.
Question 4 of 6
What does every one of the eight misconducts lead to at worst?
Correct: B. The severe end of the range, with the specific human consequence as the minimum, not the worst case.
Question 5 of 6
How does this discourse relate to AN 8.39, immediately preceding it in this chapter?
Correct: B. The same core precepts, viewed from their broken rather than kept side, closing this chapter.
Question 6 of 6
What is the minimum human consequence of drinking alcohol, the eighth item?
Correct: B. The consequence closing both this discourse and this chapter.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousAN 8.39 · Overflowing Merit