“When a foolish, incompetent bad person acts wrongly toward two people they keep themselves broken and damaged. They deserve to be blamed and criticized by sensible people, and they make much bad karma. What two? The Realized One and a disciple of the Realized One. When a foolish, incompetent bad person acts wrongly toward these people they keep themselves broken and damaged. They deserve to be blamed and criticized by sensible people, and they make much bad karma.
When an astute, competent good person acts rightly toward two people they keep themselves healthy and whole. They don’t deserve to be blamed and criticized by sensible people, and they make much merit. What two? The Realized One and a disciple of the Realized One. When an astute, competent good person acts rightly toward these two people they keep themselves healthy and whole. They don’t deserve to be blamed and criticized by sensible people, and they make much merit.”
Note: “Realized One” is a translation of the Pali Tathāgata. It refers to the Buddha or Buddhas in general.
Read this translation of Aṅguttara Nikāya 2.137: 137137 by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or listen on PaliAudio.com or SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.
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