人無廉恥 鳥不棲止 如是醜陋 非淸淨行 垢中之垢 莫甚於癡 學當捨此 比丘無垢 生無惡行 死無惡道 行積善者 所生常安
rén wú lián chǐ niǎo bù qī zhǐ rú shì chǒu lòu fēi qīng jìng xíng gòu zhōng zhī gòu mò shèn yú chī xué dāng shě cǐ bǐ qiū wú gòu shēng wú è xíng sǐ wú è dào xíng jī shàn zhě suǒ shēng cháng ān
Key Message
Among all impurities, delusion is the most severe — abandoning it is the practitioner's primary task, and one who accumulates goodness in its place finds peace in every life.
▸The Malavagga (Chapter on Impurity) takes moral and psychological defilements as its central theme, calling the practitioner to examine and cleanse the 'taints' (malā) that obscure the mind.
The Malavagga (Chapter on Impurity) takes moral and psychological defilements as its central theme, calling the practitioner to examine and cleanse the 'taints' (malā) that obscure the mind. A person without moral conscience and shame (hirī-ottappa) is a place where no birds (auspicious and beneficial influences) come to rest; such a life is ugly and can in no way be called pure conduct. Among all impurities, none is greater than delusion (chī, Pali: moha) — the fundamental confusion about the nature of reality that underlies all other defilements. One who practices should therefore abandon this delusion above all else, that one may be 'without taint' (bǐ qiū wú gòu). One who lives without evil conduct in this life and faces no evil realm at death — such a person, who accumulates goodness, is at peace wherever they are reborn.