Akusala mūla Sutta: Discourse on unwholesome roots
By Dr. Ari Ubeysekara
Introduction
All of the discourses delivered by the Lord Gautama Buddha, who lived and preached in India during the 6th and 5th century BC, were grouped into five collections at the first Buddhist council that was held three months after the passing away of the Buddha in 483 BC.
- Collection of long discourses (dīgha nikāya)
- Collection of middle length discourses (majjhima nikāya)
- Collection of connected discourses (samyutta nikāya)
- Collection of numerical discourses (anguttara nikāya)
- Collection of minor discourses (khuddaka nikāya)
Collection of numerical discourses (anguttara nikāya) contain the discourses in eleven groups (nipātas), grouped numerically from one to eleven, based on the number of facts discussed by the Buddha in each discourse. Akusala mūla sutta is included in the Mahā vagga of the third group of the discourses in the Anguttara Nikāya. (1)
Content of Akusala mūla sutta
“Monks, there are these three unwholesome roots.”
“What three?”
“Greed is an unwholesome root; hatred is an unwholesome root; delusion is an unwholesome root.”
[There is no back ground story to this discourse to indicate where the Buddha delivered this discourse to the monks or the circumstances that led the Buddha to deliver it.]
“Monks, greed is unwholesome. Whatever a greedy person carries out by means of the body, speech or the mind, that is also unwholesome. When a greedy person, with his mind overcome by greed, consumed by greed, wrongly inflicts suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’, that is also unwholesome. Thus, these many evil, unwholesome states, born of greed, caused by greed, originated through greed, conditioned by greed, are produced in them.”
“Monks, hatred is unwholesome. Whatever a hateful person carries out by means of the body, speech or the mind, that is also unwholesome. When a hateful person, with his mind overcome by hatred, consumed by hatred, wrongly inflicts suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’, that is also unwholesome. Thus, these many evil, unwholesome states, born of hatred, caused by hatred, originated through hatred, conditioned by hatred, are produced in them.”
“Monks, delusion is unwholesome. Whatever a deluded person carries out by means of the body, speech or the mind, that is also unwholesome. When a deluded person, with his mind overcome by delusion, consumed by delusion, wrongly inflicts suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’, that is also unwholesome. Thus, these many evil, unwholesome states, born of delusion, caused by delusion, originated through delusion, conditioned by delusion, are produced in them.”
[In the Buddhist teaching, the Buddha has described three unwholesome roots (akusala mūla) which are responsible for all the unwholesome actions. They are:
- Greed (lobha)
- Hatred (dosa)
- Delusion (moha)
Unwholesome actions are harmful to oneself, others or to both oneself and others. Based on the path or channel through which a volitional action takes place, unwholesome actions can be divided into three types:
- Bodily action (kāya-kamma)
- Verbal action (vacī-kamma)
- Mental action (mano-kamma)]
“And, monks, such a person is called one who speaks at the wrong time, speaks what is false, speaks what is irrelevant, speaks against the teaching, speaks against the moral discipline. And, monks, why is such a person called one who speaks at the wrong time, speaks what is false, speaks what is irrelevant, speaks against the teaching, speaks against the moral discipline? Because, monks, this person wrongly inflicts suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’. But when he is told the truth, he denies it and does not acknowledge it. When told a lie, he does not make an effort to reject it by saying: ‘This is untrue, this is baseless’. And, monks, that is why a person like this is called one who speaks at the wrong time, speaks what is false, speaks what is irrelevant, speaks against the teaching, speaks against the moral discipline.”
“Such a person, monks, with his mind overcome and consumed by evil, unwholesome states born of greed, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, with anguish, with distress, with feverish pains, when the body breaks up, after death, can expect to be reborn in a bad destination.”
“Such a person, monks, with his mind overcome and consumed by evil, unwholesome states born of hatred, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, with anguish, with distress, with feverish pains, when the body breaks up, after death, can expect to be reborn in a bad destination.”
“Such a person, monks, with his mind overcome and consumed by evil, unwholesome states born of delusion, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, with anguish, with distress, with feverish pains, when the body breaks up, after death, can expect to be reborn in a bad destination.”
“Just as a sal tree, a birch tree, or an aspen tree, is enveloped and smothered by three creeper vines, meets with ruin and disaster, in the same way, monks, such a person, monks, with his mind overcome and consumed by evil, unwholesome states born of delusion, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, with anguish, with distress, with feverish pains, when the body breaks up, after death, can expect to be reborn in a bad destination; such a person, monks, with his mind overcome and consumed by evil, unwholesome states born of hatred, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, with anguish, with distress, with feverish pains, when the body breaks up, after death, can expect to be reborn in a bad destination; such a person, monks, with his mind overcome and consumed by evil, unwholesome states born of delusion, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, with anguish, with distress, with feverish pains, when the body breaks up, after death, can expect to be reborn in a bad destination.”
“Monks, these are the three unwholesome roots.”
“Monks, there are these three wholesome roots.”
“What three?”
“Non-greed is a wholesome root; non-hatred is a wholesome root; non-delusion is a wholesome root.”
“Monks, non-greed is wholesome. Whatever a non-greedy person carries out by means of the body, speech or the mind, that is also wholesome. A non-greedy person, with his mind not overcome by greed, not consumed by greed, does not wrongly inflict suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’, that is also wholesome. Thus, these many good, wholesome states, born of non-greed, caused by non-greed, originated through non-greed, conditioned by non-greed, are produced in them.”
“Monks, non-hatred is wholesome. Whatever a non-hateful person carries out by means of the body, speech or the mind, that is also wholesome. A non-hateful person, with his mind not overcome by hatred, not consumed by hatred, does not wrongly inflict suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’, that is also wholesome. Thus, these many good, wholesome states, born of non-hatred, caused by non-hatred, originated through non-hatred, conditioned by non-hatred, are produced in them.”
“Monks, non-delusion is wholesome. Whatever a non-deluded person carries out by means of the body, speech or the mind, that is also wholesome. A non-deluded person, with his mind not overcome by delusion, not consumed by delusion, does not wrongly inflict suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’, that is also wholesome. Thus, these many good, wholesome states, born of non-delusion, caused by non-delusion, originated through non-delusion, conditioned by non-delusion, are produced in them.”
[The Buddha has described the following three wholesome roots (kusala mūla):
- Non-greed (alobha)
- Non-hatred (adosa)
- Non-delusion (amoha)
Wholesome actions based on the three wholesome roots will bring benefit to oneself, benefit to others or benefit to both oneself and others.]
“And, monks, such a person is called one who speaks at the right time, speaks what is true, speaks what is relevant, speaks in line with the teaching, speaks in line with the moral discipline. And, monks, why is such a person called one who speaks at the right time, speaks what is true, speaks what is relevant, speaks in line with the teaching, speaks in line with the moral discipline? Because, monks, this person does not wrongly inflict suffering on another person by beating, imprisoning, confiscating, blaming or banishing thinking: ‘I am powerful, I want power’. When he is told the truth, he accepts it and acknowledges it. When told a lie, he makes an effort to reject it by saying: ‘This is untrue, this is baseless’. And, monks, that is why a person like this is called one who speaks at the right time, speaks what is true, speaks what is relevant, speaks in line with the teaching, speaks in line with the moral discipline.”
“Such a person, monks, who has abandoned evil, unwholesome states born of greed, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, not destined to arise again, dwells happily right in the here and now, with no anguish, with no distress, with no feverish pains, and right here and now, he attains Nibbāna.”
“Such a person, monks, who has abandoned evil, unwholesome states born of hatred, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, not destined to arise again, dwells happily right in the here and now, with no anguish, with no distress, with no feverish pains, and right here and now, he attains Nibbāna.”
“Such a person, monks, who has abandoned evil, unwholesome states born of delusion, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, not destined to arise again, dwells happily right in the here and now, with no anguish, with no distress, with no feverish pains, and right here and now, he attains Nibbāna.”
“Just as a sal tree, a birch tree, or an aspen tree, is enveloped and smothered by three creeper vines, and a person comes along carrying a spade and a basket. He would cut the vines at their roots. Having cut them at their roots, he would dig around them. Having dug around them, he would pull out the roots even down to the rootlets. He would then cut the vines into small pieces. Having cut them into small pieces, he would slice them into splinters. Having sliced them into splinters, he would he would pound them into small bits. Having pounded them into small bits, he would dry them in the wind and sun. Having dried them in the wind and sun he would he would burn them in a fire. Having burned them in a fire, he would reduce them to ashes. Having reduced them to ashes, he would winnow them in a strong wind or let them be washed away in a swift flowing stream. In that way the vines would have their roots destroyed, made like a palmyra stump not destined to arise again.”
“In the same way, such a person, monks, who has abandoned evil, unwholesome states born of greed, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, not destined to arise again, dwells happily right in the here and now, with no anguish, with no distress, with no feverish pains, and right here and now, he attains Nibbāna.”
“Such a person, monks, who has abandoned evil, unwholesome states born of hatred, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, not destined to arise again, dwells happily right in the here and now, with no anguish, with no distress, with no feverish pains, and right here and now, he attains Nibbāna.”
“Such a person, monks, who has abandoned evil, unwholesome states born of delusion, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, not destined to arise again, dwells happily right in the here and now, with no anguish, with no distress, with no feverish pains, and right here and now, he attains Nibbāna.”
“Monks, these are the three wholesome roots.”
In the Akusala mūla sutta, the Buddha has described the three unwholesome roots of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), delusion (moha), and the three wholesome roots of non-greed (alobha), non-hatred (adosa), non-delusion (amoha), and how they lead to unwholesome and wholesome actions with negative and positive consequences respectively. Unwholesome physical, verbal and mental actions based on the three unwholesome roots are detrimental to the person performing them as well as well to others. They can adversely affect one’s present life with painful results, lead to rebirth in the lower worlds of suffering and hinder the spiritual journey towards liberation from suffering. The Buddha has compared the three unwholesome roots to three creeper vines which envelop and smother a tree causing it’s eventual destruction. Wholesome actions based on the three wholesome roots, can bring happiness in the present life, lead to rebirth in the worlds of happiness and enable a person to successfully cultivate the path of liberation from suffering.
References
- Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Akusala mūla sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikāya, Wisdom Publications.
End.
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