an.3.69 Aṅguttara Nikāya (Numbered Discourses)

Roots

“Monks, there are these three roots of what is unskillful. Which three? Greed is a root of what is unskillful, aversion is a root of what is unskillful, delusion is a root of what is unskillful.

“Greed itself is unskillful. Whatever a greedy person fabricates by means of body, speech, or intellect, that too is unskillful. Whatever suffering a greedy person—his mind overcome with greed, his mind consumed—wrongly inflicts on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power,’ that too is unskillful. Thus it is that many evil, unskillful qualities/events—born of greed, caused by greed, originated through greed, conditioned by greed—come into play.

“Aversion itself is unskillful. Whatever an aversive person fabricates by means of body, speech, or intellect, that too is unskillful. Whatever suffering an aversive person—his mind overcome with aversion, his mind consumed—wrongly inflicts on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power,’ that too is unskillful. Thus it is that many evil, unskillful qualities—born of aversion, caused by aversion, originated through aversion, conditioned by aversion—come into play.

“Delusion itself is unskillful. Whatever a deluded person fabricates by means of body, speech, or intellect, that too is unskillful. Whatever suffering a deluded person—his mind overcome with delusion, his mind consumed—wrongly inflicts on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power,’ that too is unskillful. Thus it is that many evil, unskillful qualities—born of delusion, caused by delusion, originated through delusion, conditioned by delusion—come into play.

“And a person like this is called one who speaks at the wrong time, speaks what is unfactual, speaks what is irrelevant, speaks contrary to the Dhamma, speaks contrary to the Vinaya. Why…? Because of having wrongly inflicted suffering on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power.’ When told what is factual, he denies it and doesn't acknowledge it. When told what is unfactual, he doesn't make an ardent effort to untangle it [to see], ‘This is unfactual. This is baseless.’ That's why a person like this is called one who speaks at the wrong time, speaks what is unfactual, speaks what is irrelevant, speaks contrary to the Dhamma, speaks contrary to the Vinaya.

“A person like this—his mind overcome with evil, unskillful qualities born of greed… born of aversion… born of delusion, his mind consumed—dwells in suffering right in the here-&-now—feeling threatened, turbulent, feverish—and at the break-up of the body, after death, can expect a bad destination.

“Just as a sal tree, a birch, or an aspen, when smothered & surrounded by three parasitic vines, falls into misfortune, falls into disaster, falls into misfortune & disaster, in the same way, a person like this—his mind overcome with evil, unskillful qualities born of greed… born of aversion… born of delusion, his mind consumed—dwells in suffering right in the here-&-now—feeling threatened, turbulent, feverish—and at the break-up of the body, after death, can expect a bad destination.

“These are the three roots of what is unskillful.

“Now, there are these three roots of what is skillful. Which three? Lack of greed is a root of what is skillful, lack of aversion is a root of what is skillful, lack of delusion is a root of what is skillful.

“Lack of greed itself is skillful. Whatever an ungreedy person fabricates by means of body, speech, or intellect, that too is skillful. Whatever suffering an ungreedy person—his mind not overcome with greed, his mind not consumed—does not wrongly inflict on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power,’ that too is skillful. Thus it is that many skillful qualities—born of lack of greed, caused by lack of greed, originated through lack of greed, conditioned by lack of greed—come into play.

“Lack of aversion itself is skillful…

“Lack of delusion itself is skillful. Whatever an undeluded person fabricates by means of body, speech, or intellect, that too is skillful. Whatever suffering an undeluded person—his mind not overcome with delusion, his mind not consumed—does not wrongly inflict on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power,’ that too is skillful. Thus it is that many skillful qualities—born of lack of delusion, caused by lack of delusion, originated through lack of delusion, conditioned by lack of delusion—come into play.

“And a person like this is called one who speaks at the right time, speaks what is factual, speaks what is relevant, speaks in line with the Dhamma, speaks in line with the Vinaya. Why…? Because of not having wrongly inflicted suffering on another person through beating or imprisonment or confiscation or placing blame or banishment, [with the thought,] ‘I have power. I want power.’ When told what is factual, he acknowledges it and does not deny it. When told what is unfactual, he makes an ardent effort to untangle it [to see], ‘This is unfactual. This is baseless.’ That's why a person like this is called one who speaks at the right time, speaks what is factual, speaks what is relevant, speaks in line with the Dhamma, speaks in line with the Vinaya.

“In a person like this, evil, unskillful qualities born of greed… born of aversion… born of delusion have been abandoned, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. He dwells in ease right in the here-&-now—feeling unthreatened, placid, unfeverish—and is unbound right in the here-&-now.

“Just as if there were a sal tree, a birch, or an aspen, smothered & surrounded by three parasitic vines. A man would come along, carrying a spade & a basket. He would cut the vines at the root and, having cut them at the root, would dig around them. Having dug around them, he would pull them out, even down to the rootlets. He would cut the stalks of the vines. Having cut them, he would slice them into splinters. Having sliced them into splinters, he would pound them into bits. Having pounded them into bits, he would dry them in the wind & sun. Having dried them in the wind & sun, he would burn them in a fire. Having burned them in a fire, he would reduce them to powdered ash. Having reduced them to powdered ash, he would winnow them before a high wind or let them be washed away in a swift-flowing stream. In that way the parasitic vines would have their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising.

“In the same way, in a person like this, evil, unskillful qualities born of greed… born of aversion… born of delusion have been abandoned, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. He dwells in ease right in the here-&-now—feeling unthreatened, placid, unfeverish—and is unbound right in the here-&-now.

“These are the three roots of what is skillful.”

- Translator: Thanissaro Bhikkhu

- Editor: Blake Walsh

Unskillful Roots

“Mendicants, there are these three unskillful roots.
What three?
Greed, hate, and delusion.
Greed is a root of the unskillful.
When a greedy person chooses to act by way of body, speech, or mind, that too is unskillful.
When a greedy person, overcome by greed, causes another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’, that too is unskillful.
And so these many bad, unskillful things are produced in them, born, sourced, originated, and conditioned by greed.
Hate is a root of the unskillful.
When a hateful person chooses to act by way of body, speech, or mind, that too is unskillful.
When a hateful person, overcome by hate, causes another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’, that too is unskillful.
And so these many bad, unskillful things are produced in them, born, sourced, originated, and conditioned by hate.
Delusion is a root of the unskillful.
When a deluded person chooses to act by way of body, speech, or mind, that too is unskillful.
When a deluded person, overcome by delusion, causes another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’, that too is unskillful.
And so these many bad, unskillful things are produced in them, born, sourced, originated, and conditioned by delusion.
Such a person is said to have speech that’s ill-timed, false, meaningless, not in line with the teaching and training.
Why is this?
This person causes another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’.
So when someone makes a valid criticism, they’re scornful and admit nothing.
When someone makes a baseless criticism, they make no effort to explain, ‘This is why that’s untrue, this is why that’s false.’
That’s why such a person is said to have speech that’s ill-timed, false, meaningless, not in line with the teaching and training.
Such a person—overcome with bad, unskillful qualities born of greed, hate, and delusion—suffers in the present life, with anguish, distress, and fever.
And when the body breaks up, after death, they can expect to be reborn in a bad place.

Suppose a sal, axlewood, or boxwood tree was choked and engulfed by three camel’s foot creepers. It would fall to ruin and disaster.
In the same way, such a person—overcome with bad, unskillful qualities born of greed, hate, and delusion—suffers in the present life, with anguish, distress, and fever.
And when the body breaks up, after death, they can expect to be reborn in a bad place.

These are the three unskillful roots.
There are these three skillful roots.
What three?
Contentment, love, and understanding.
Contentment is a root of the skillful.
When a contented person chooses to act by way of body, speech, or mind, that too is skillful.
When a contented person, not overcome by greed, doesn’t cause another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’, that too is skillful.
And so these many skillful things are produced in them, born, sourced, originated, and conditioned by contentment.
Love is a root of the skillful.
When a loving person chooses to act by way of body, speech, or mind, that too is skillful.
When a loving person, not overcome by hate, doesn’t cause another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’, that too is skillful.
And so these many skillful things are produced in them, born, sourced, originated, and conditioned by love.
Understanding is a root of the skillful.
When an understanding person chooses to act by way of body, speech, or mind, that too is skillful.
When an understanding person, not overcome by delusion, doesn’t cause another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’, that too is skillful.
And so these many skillful things are produced in them, born, sourced, originated, and conditioned by understanding.
Such a person is said to have speech that’s well-timed, true, meaningful, in line with the teaching and training.
Why is this?
This person doesn’t cause another to suffer under a false pretext—by execution or imprisonment or confiscation or condemnation or banishment—thinking ‘I’m powerful, I want power’.
So when someone makes a valid criticism, they admit it and aren’t scornful.
When someone makes a baseless criticism, they make an effort to explain,
‘This is why that’s untrue, this is why that’s false.’
That’s why such a person is said to have speech that’s well-timed, true, meaningful, in line with the teaching and training.
For such a person, bad unskillful qualities born of greed, hate, and delusion are cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future.
In the present life they’re happy, free of anguish, distress, and fever,
and they’re also extinguished in the present life.

Suppose a sal, axlewood, or boxwood tree was choked and engulfed by three camel’s foot creepers.
Then along comes a person with a spade and basket.
They’d cut the creeper out by the roots, dig them up, and pull them out, down to the fibers and stems.
Then they’d split the creeper apart, cut up the parts, and chop it into splinters. They’d dry the splinters in the wind and sun, burn them with fire, and reduce them to ashes. Then they’d sweep away the ashes in a strong wind, or float them away down a swift stream.
In the same way, for such a person, bad unskillful qualities born of greed, hate, and delusion are cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future.

In the present life they’re happy, free of anguish, distress, and fever,
and they’re also extinguished in the present life.

These are the three skillful roots.”