7: The Book of the Sevens
VI. The Undeclared Points — AN 7.64: Irritable
- © Translated from the Pali by Bhante Sujato. (More copyright information)
1“Mendicants, these seven things that please and assist an enemy happen to an irritable woman or man. What seven?
Firstly, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only they’d become ugly!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have a beautiful enemy. An irritable person, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, is ugly, even though they’re nicely bathed and anointed, with hair and beard dressed, and wearing white clothes. This is the first thing that pleases and assists an enemy which happens to an irritable woman or man.
2Furthermore, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only they’d sleep badly!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have an enemy who sleeps well. An irritable person, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, sleeps badly, even though they sleep on a couch spread with woolen covers — shag-piled, pure white, or embroidered with flowers — and spread with a fine deer hide, with a canopy above and red pillows at both ends. This is the second thing …
3Furthermore, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only they don’t get all they need!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have an enemy who gets all they need. When an irritable person, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, gets what they don’t need they think ‘I’ve got what I need!’ When they get what they need they think ‘I’ve got what I don’t need.’ When an angry person gets these things that are the exact opposite of what they need, it’s for their lasting harm and suffering. This is the third thing …
4Furthermore, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only they weren’t wealthy!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have an enemy who is wealthy. When a person is irritable, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, the rulers seize the legitimate wealth they’ve earned by their efforts, built up with their own hands, gathered by the sweat of their brow. This is the fourth thing …
5Furthermore, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only they weren’t famous!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have a famous enemy. When a person is irritable, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, any fame they have acquired by diligence falls to dust. This is the fifth thing …
6Furthermore, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only they had no friends!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have an enemy with friends. When a person is irritable, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, their friends and colleagues, relatives and kin avoid them from afar. This is the sixth thing …
7Furthermore, an enemy wishes for an enemy: ‘If only, when their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell!’ Why is that? Because an enemy doesn’t like to have an enemy who goes to a good place. When a person is irritable, overcome and overwhelmed by anger, they do bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. This is the seventh thing that pleases and assists an enemy which happens to an irritable woman or man.
8These are the seven things that please and assist an enemy which happen to an irritable woman or man.
9An irritable person is ugly
and they sleep badly.
When they get what they need,
they take it to be what they don’t need.
10An angry person
kills with body or speech;
overcome with anger,
they lose their wealth.
11Mad with anger,
they fall into disgrace.
Relatives, friends, and loved ones
avoid an irritable person.
12Anger creates harm;
anger upsets the mind.
That person doesn’t recognize
the danger that arises within.
13An angry person doesn’t know the good.
An angry person doesn’t see the truth.
When a person is beset by anger,
only blind darkness is left.
14An angry person destroys with ease
what was hard to build.
Afterwards, when the anger is spent,
they’re tormented as if burnt by fire.
15Their look betrays their sulkiness
like a fire’s smoky plume.
And when their anger flares up,
they make others angry.
16They have no conscience or prudence,
nor any respectful speech.
One overcome by anger
has no island refuge anywhere.
17The deeds that torment a man
are far from those that are good.
I’ll explain them now;
listen to this, for it is the truth.
18An angry person slays their father;
their mother, too, they slay.
An angry person slays a saint;
a normal person, too, they slay.
19A man is raised by his mother,
who shows him the world.
But an angry ordinary person slays
even that good woman who gave him life.
20Like oneself, all sentient beings
hold themselves most dear.
But angry people kill themselves all kinds of ways,
distraught for many reasons.
21Some kill themselves with swords,
some, distraught, take poison.
Some hang themselves with rope,
or fling themselves down a mountain gorge.
22When they commit deeds of destroying life
and killing themselves,
they don’t realize what they do,
for anger leads them to ruin.
23The snare of death in the form of anger
lies hidden in the heart.
You should cut it out by self-control,
by wisdom, energy, and right ideas.
24An astute person should cut out
this unskillful thing.
And they’d train in the teaching in just the same way,
not yielding to sulkiness.
25Free of anger, free of despair,
free of greed, with no more longing,
tamed, having given up anger,
they become extinguished without defilements.”
1"Sattime, bhikkhave, dhammā sapattakantā sapattakaraṇā kodhanaṁ āgacchanti itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. Katame satta?
Idha, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ dubbaṇṇo assā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa vaṇṇavatāya nandati. Kodhanoyaṁ, bhikkhave, purisapuggalo kodhābhibhūto kodhapareto, kiñcāpi so hoti sunhāto suvilitto kappitakesamassu odātavatthavasano; atha kho so dubbaṇṇova hoti kodhābhibhūto. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, paṭhamo dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (1)
2Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ dukkhaṁ sayeyyā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa sukhaseyyāya nandati. Kodhanoyaṁ, bhikkhave, purisapuggalo kodhābhibhūto kodhapareto, kiñcāpi so pallaṅke seti gonakatthate paṭalikatthate kadalimigapavarapaccattharaṇe sauttaracchade ubhatolohitakūpadhāne; atha kho so dukkhaññeva seti kodhābhibhūto. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, dutiyo dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (2)
3Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ na pacurattho assā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa pacuratthatāya nandati. Kodhanoyaṁ, bhikkhave, purisapuggalo kodhābhibhūto kodhapareto, anatthampi gahetvā ‘attho me gahito’ti maññati, atthampi gahetvā ‘anattho me gahito’ti maññati. Tassime dhammā aññamaññaṁ vipaccanīkā gahitā dīgharattaṁ ahitāya dukkhāya saṁvattanti kodhābhibhūtassa. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, tatiyo dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (3)
4Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ na bhogavā assā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa bhogavatāya nandati. Kodhanassa, bhikkhave, purisapuggalassa kodhābhibhūtassa kodhaparetassa, yepissa te honti bhogā uṭṭhānavīriyādhigatā bāhābalaparicitā sedāvakkhittā dhammikā dhammaladdhā, tepi rājāno rājakosaṁ pavesenti kodhābhibhūtassa. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, catuttho dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (4)
5Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ na yasavā assā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa yasavatāya nandati. Kodhanoyaṁ, bhikkhave, purisapuggalo kodhābhibhūto kodhapareto, yopissa so hoti yaso appamādādhigato, tamhāpi dhaṁsati kodhābhibhūto. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, pañcamo dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (5)
6Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ na mittavā assā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa mittavatāya nandati. Kodhanaṁ, bhikkhave, purisapuggalaṁ kodhābhibhūtaṁ kodhaparetaṁ, yepissa te honti mittāmaccā ñātisālohitā, tepi ārakā parivajjanti kodhābhibhūtaṁ. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, chaṭṭho dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (6)
7Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa evaṁ icchati: ‘aho vatāyaṁ kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ nirayaṁ upapajjeyyā’ti. Taṁ kissa hetu? Na, bhikkhave, sapatto sapattassa sugatigamane nandati. Kodhanoyaṁ, bhikkhave, purisapuggalo kodhābhibhūto kodhapareto kāyena duccaritaṁ carati, vācāya duccaritaṁ carati, manasā duccaritaṁ carati. So kāyena duccaritaṁ caritvā vācāya … pe … kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ nirayaṁ upapajjati kodhābhibhūto. Ayaṁ, bhikkhave, sattamo dhammo sapattakanto sapattakaraṇo kodhanaṁ āgacchati itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vā. (7)
8Ime kho, bhikkhave, satta dhammā sapattakantā sapattakaraṇā kodhanaṁ āgacchanti itthiṁ vā purisaṁ vāti.
9Kodhano dubbaṇṇo hoti,
atho dukkhampi seti so;
Atho atthaṁ gahetvāna,
anatthaṁ adhipajjati.
10Tato kāyena vācāya,
vadhaṁ katvāna kodhano;
Kodhābhibhūto puriso,
dhanajāniṁ nigacchati.
11Kodhasammadasammatto,
āyasakyaṁ nigacchati;
Ñātimittā suhajjā ca,
parivajjanti kodhanaṁ.
12Anatthajanano kodho,
kodho cittappakopano;
Bhayamantarato jātaṁ,
taṁ jano nāvabujjhati.
13Kuddho atthaṁ na jānāti,
kuddho dhammaṁ na passati;
Andhatamaṁ tadā hoti,
yaṁ kodho sahate naraṁ.
14Yaṁ kuddho uparodheti,
sukaraṁ viya dukkaraṁ;
Pacchā so vigate kodhe,
aggidaḍḍhova tappati.
15Dummaṅkuyaṁ padasseti,
dhūmaṁ dhūmīva pāvako;
Yato patāyati kodho,
yena kujjhanti mānavā.
16Nāssa hirī na ottappaṁ,
na vāco hoti gāravo;
Kodhena abhibhūtassa,
na dīpaṁ hoti kiñcanaṁ.
17Tapanīyāni kammāni,
yāni dhammehi ārakā;
Tāni ārocayissāmi,
taṁ suṇātha yathā tathaṁ.
18Kuddho hi pitaraṁ hanti,
hanti kuddho samātaraṁ;
Kuddho hi brāhmaṇaṁ hanti,
hanti kuddho puthujjanaṁ.
19Yāya mātu bhato poso,
imaṁ lokaṁ avekkhati;
Tampi pāṇadadiṁ santiṁ,
hanti kuddho puthujjano.
20Attūpamā hi te sattā,
attā hi paramo piyo;
Hanti kuddho puthuttānaṁ,
nānārūpesu mucchito.
21Asinā hanti attānaṁ,
visaṁ khādanti mucchitā;
Rajjuyā bajjha mīyanti,
pabbatāmapi kandare.
22Bhūnahaccāni kammāni,
attamāraṇiyāni ca;
Karontā nāvabujjhanti,
kodhajāto parābhavo.
23Itāyaṁ kodharūpena,
maccupāso guhāsayo;
Taṁ damena samucchinde,
paññāvīriyena diṭṭhiyā.
24Yathā metaṁ akusalaṁ,
samucchindetha paṇḍito;
Tatheva dhamme sikkhetha,
mā no dummaṅkuyaṁ ahu.
25Vītakodhā anāyāsā,
Vītalobhā anussukā;
Dantā kodhaṁ pahantvāna,
Parinibbanti anāsavā"ti.
Ekādasamaṁ.
Abyākatavaggo chaṭṭho.
26Abyākato purisagati,
Tissa sīha arakkhiyaṁ;
Kimilaṁ satta pacalā,
Mettā bhariyā kodhekādasāti.