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AN 7.64 Kodhanasutta: Irritable

“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.

Furthermore, 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 at ease. 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 …

Furthermore, 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 …

Furthermore, 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 …

Furthermore, 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 …

Furthermore, 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 …

Furthermore, 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.

These are the seven things that please and assist an enemy which happen to an irritable woman or man.

An irritable person is ugly
and they sleep badly.
When they get what they need,
they take it to be what they don’t need.

An angry person
kills with body or speech;
overcome with anger,
they lose their wealth.

Mad with anger,
they fall into disgrace.
Family, friends, and loved ones
avoid an irritable person.

Anger creates harm;
anger upsets the mind.
That person doesn’t recognize
the danger that arises within.

An 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.

An angry person destroys with ease
what was hard to build.
Afterwards, when the anger is spent,
they’re tormented as if burnt by fire.

Their look betrays their sulkiness
like a fire’s smoky plume.
And when their anger flares up,
they make others angry.

They have no conscience or prudence,
nor any respectful speech.
One overcome by anger
has no island refuge anywhere.

The 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.

An angry person slays their father;
their mother, too, they slay.
An angry person slays a saint;
a normal person, too, they slay.

A 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.

Like oneself, all sentient beings
hold themselves most dear.
But angry people kill themselves all kinds of ways,
distraught for many reasons.

Some kill themselves with swords,
some, distraught, take poison.
Some hang themselves with rope,
or fling themselves down a mountain gorge.

When they commit deeds of destroying life
and killing themselves,
they don’t realize what they do,
for anger leads to their downfall.

The 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.

An astute person should cut out
this unskillful thing.
And they’d train in the teaching in just the same way,
not yielding to sulkiness.

Free of anger, free of despair,
free of greed, with no more longing,
tamed, having given up anger,
the undefiled become fully extinguished.


Read this translation of Aṅguttara Nikāya 7.64 Kodhanasutta: Irritable by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on DhammaTalks.org. Or listen on Voice.SuttaCentral.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.

Thag 2.11 The Verses of Arahant Mahācunda (141-142)

141. In one who desires to listen to the Dhamma,
knowledge of Dhamma increases.
His wisdom grows through that knowledge of Dhamma.
Reality can be understood through that wisdom.
Realizing the truth brings true happiness.

142. One should live in remote and solitary monasteries.
One should practice the Dhamma
with the intention of freeing oneself
from the bondage of saṁsāra.
But if one doesn’t like to live in a forest far away,
guarding his faculties well
and establishing mindfulness well,
one should live under respected senior monks.

These verses were said by Arahant Mahācunda.


Read Thag 2.11 The Verses of Arahant Mahācunda (141-142) by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnananda Thero on SuttaFriends.org. Or read a different translation on SuttaCentral.net or DhammaTalks.org. Or listen on Voice.SuttaCentral.net.

Thag 17.3 From Ānandattheragāthā: Ānanda

“82,000 from the Buddha,
and 2,000 more from the monks:
84,000 teachings I’ve learned,
and these are what I promulgate.”

“A person of little learning
ages like an ox—
their flesh grows,
but not their wisdom.

A learned person who, on account of their learning,
looks down on someone of little learning,
seems to me like
a blind man holding a lamp.

You should stay close to a learned person—
don’t lose what you’ve learned.
It is the root of the spiritual life,
which is why you should memorize the teaching.

Knowing the sequence and meaning of the teaching,
expert in the interpretation of terms,
they make sure it is well memorized,
and then examine the meaning.

Accepting the teachings, they become enthusiastic;
making an effort, they weigh up the teaching.
When it’s time, they strive
serene inside themselves.

If you want to understand the teaching,
you should befriend the sort of person
who is learned and has memorized the teachings,
a wise disciple of the Buddha.

One who is learned and has memorized the teaching,
a keeper of the great hermit’s treasury,
is a visionary for the whole world,
learned and honorable.

Delighting in the teaching, enjoying the teaching,
contemplating the teaching,
a mendicant who recollects the teaching
doesn’t decline in the true teaching.”


Read the entire translation of Theragāthā 17.3 Ānandattheragāthā: Ānanda 17.3. Ānandattheragāthā by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on SuttaFriends.org. Or listen on Voice.SuttaCentral.net.

Snp 2.8 Dhamma (nāvā) sutta: The Boat

Honor the person from whom you would learn the teaching,
as the gods honor Inda.
Then they will have confidence in you,
and being learned, they reveal the teaching.

Heeding well, a wise pupil
practicing in line with that teaching
grows intelligent, discerning, and subtle
through diligently sticking close to such a person.

But associating with a petty fool
who falls short of the goal, jealous,
then unable to discern the teaching in this life,
one proceeds to death still plagued by doubts.

It’s like a man who has plunged into a river,
a rushing torrent in spate.
As they are swept away downstream,
how could they help others across?

Just so, one unable to discern the teaching,
who hasn’t studied the meaning under the learned,
not knowing it oneself, still plagued by doubts,
how could they help others to contemplate?

But one who has embarked on a strong boat
equipped with rudder and oar,
would bring many others across there
with skill, care, and intelligence.

So too one who understands—a knowledge master,
evolved, learned, and unflappable—
can help others to contemplate,
so long as they are prepared to listen carefully.

That’s why you should spend time with a good person,
intelligent and learned.
Having understood the meaning, putting it into practice,
one who has realized the teaching may find happiness.


Read this translation of Snp 2.8 Dhamma (nāvā) sutta: The Boat by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on DhammaTalks.org. Or listen on Voice.SuttaCentral.net.