AN 10.199–210Should Not Associate, Etc.
Pāli / Sanskrit:Aparapuggalavagga
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– Numbered Discourses 10.199–210
– 20. Another Chapter on Individuals
Should Not Associate, Etc.
“Mendicants, you should not associate with an individual who has ten qualities. What ten? They kill living creatures, steal, and commit sexual misconduct. They use speech that’s false, backbiting, harsh, or nonsensical. And they’re covetous, malicious, with wrong view. You should not associate with an individual who has these ten qualities.
You should associate with an individual who has ten qualities. What ten? They don’t kill living creatures, steal, or commit sexual misconduct. They don’t use speech that’s false, backbiting, harsh, or nonsensical. They’re contented, kind-hearted, with right view. You should associate with an individual who has these ten qualities.”
“Mendicants, you should not frequent an individual who has ten qualities … You should frequent …” “You should not pay homage … You should pay homage …” “You should not venerate … You should venerate …” “You should not praise … You should praise …” “You should not revere … You should revere …” “You should not defer to … You should defer to …” “Someone is not a success … Someone is a success …” “Someone is not pure … Someone is pure …” “Someone does not win over conceit … Someone wins over conceit …” “Someone does not grow in wisdom … Someone grows in wisdom …”
“An individual who possesses these ten qualities brims with much wickedness. … An individual who possesses these ten qualities brims with much merit. What ten? They don’t kill living creatures, steal, or commit sexual misconduct. They don’t use speech that’s false, backbiting, harsh, or nonsensical. They’re contented, kind-hearted, with right view. An individual who has these ten qualities creates much merit.”
The “…” is an abbreviation carried over from the Pāli original itself, called peyyāla. The early canon was memorized and recited, so passages repeated verbatim from a preceding discourse were commonly contracted to an elision mark rather than written out in full. Venerable Thích Minh Châu's translation preserves this convention. Some texts therefore look short — but that is the canonical form, not missing content or a truncated translation. The elided passages can be read in full in the preceding discourses of the same chapter.
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