Which face do we bring to others when we meet them? What tone of voice do we use internally? It is likely that we are similarly friendly or unfriendly to others as we are to ourselves. Each of us has sufficient inner wisdom to know that we are constantly rubbing up against each other with either kindly or hostile (or defensive) intent. Understanding the importance of sila living in Harmony. The verses refer to the lasting effects of both good and bad deeds. Two guardians of the world - Hiri and Ottappa 64:42. No one else is charged with evaluating our behavior – it’s up to us to be our own monitors and teachers. It might be useful to consider whether either hiri or ottappa or both act as “guardians” of our actions. All of us have these qualities in some degree. We could say that hiri is our conscience, the internal snag we hit when we know we’ve done the wrong thing, and ottappa is our fear of others knowing and reacting to an immoral deed we’ve done. ![]() He saw that the path to deliverance is a struggle against the current, and that if we are to unfold the mind’s capacities for wisdom, purity and peace, then we need to keep the powderkeg of the defilements under the watchful eyes of diligent sentinels. Yet the Buddha’s stress on the importance of hiri and ottappa was based on a deep insight into the different potentialities of human nature. In the present-day world, with its secularization of all values, such notions as shame and fear of wrong are bound to appear antiquated, relics from a puritanical past when superstition and dogma manacled our rights to uninhibited self-expression. The Buddha calls these two states the bright guardians of the world (sukka lokapala). Hiri is an innate sense of shame over moral transgression ottappa is moral dread, fear of the results of wrongdoing. These two qualities are called in Pali hiri and ottappa. The Buddha points to two mental qualities as the underlying safeguards of morality, thus as the protectors of both the individual and society as a whole. So the self-reflective activity is highlighted. They also make explicit that the conscience of one who has “done evil” troubles her, and the knowledge that she has made merit brings delight. These verses are almost the same as verses 15 & 16, with the more intense “being tormented” rather than “grieving” and substituting “is delighted” for “rejoices”. Reborn in realms of bliss, she delights all the more. Here she is delighted, knowing, “I have made merit.” One who makes merit is delighted in this life, Reborn in realms of woe, he is tormented all the more. ![]() ![]() Here he is tormented, knowing, “I have done evil.” One who does evil is tormented in this life,
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