AN 2.62 AN 2.62

Text

AN 2.62
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato
Source: https://suttacentral.net/an2.62/en/sujato
License: CC0-1.0

62
“Mendicants, I will teach you about living with bad people and living with good people. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:
“What is it like living with bad people? How do bad people live together?
It’s when a senior mendicant thinks: ‘No mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior, should admonish me; and I shouldn’t admonish any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a mendicant—whether senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me, they wouldn’t be sympathetic, and I’d bother them by saying “No!” And anyway I wouldn’t deal with it even if I saw what I did wrong.’
And a middle or a junior mendicant also thinks: ‘No mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior, should admonish me; and I shouldn’t admonish any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a mendicant—whether senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me, they wouldn’t be sympathetic, and I’d bother them by saying “No!” And anyway I wouldn’t deal with it even if I saw what I did wrong.’
That’s what it’s like living with bad people; that’s how bad people live together.
What is it like living with good people? How do good people live together? It’s when a senior mendicant thinks:
‘Any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior, should admonish me; and I should admonish any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a mendicant—whether senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me, they’d be sympathetic, so I wouldn’t bother them, but say “Thank you!” And I’d deal with it when I saw what I did wrong.’
And a middle or a junior mendicant also thinks: ‘Any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior, may admonish me; and I’ll admonish any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a mendicant—whether senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me, they’d be sympathetic, so I wouldn’t bother them, but say “Thank you!” And I’d deal with it when I saw what I did wrong.’
That’s what it’s like living with good people; that’s how good people live together.”