Conscience and prudence (hiri-otappa)
Skillful qualities / Seven Treasures / Conscience and prudence
Alternative translations: Moral shame and moral dread, Conscience and concern
16 excerpts, 1:20:49 total duration

All excerpts (16) Most relevant (7) Questions about (6) Answers involving (8) Readings (2) Texts (1)


Remembering Ajahn Chah Weekend, Session 9 – Apr. 28, 2001

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4. Reading from the draft biography: Chah decides to enter the village monastery at age nine. Read by Ajahn Amaro. [Types of monks] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Ajahn Chah] // [Conditionality] [Conscience and prudence] [Truth] [Generosity] [Kamma] [Work]

Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 25


Metta Retreat, Session 1 – Sep. 9, 2008

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4. “As a guilt-ridden American, how do you respond to personal mistakes without guilt?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Culture/West] [Great disciples] // [Saṅgha] [Conscience and prudence] [Pāli] [Skillful qualities] [Self-identity view] [Respect] [Perception] [Virtue] [Buddha]

Story: A monk falsely accuses Sāriputta (AN 9.11). [Forgiveness]


Recollections of Ajahn Chah, Session 1 – Sep. 19, 2010

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13. Reading from the draft biography: Ajahn Chah visits Ajahn Mun. Read by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Mun] [Tudong] [Ajahn Chah ] // [Relics] [Cleanliness] [Perception of a samaṇa] [Personal presence] [Vinaya] [Conscience and prudence] [Teaching Dhamma] [Knowing itself] [Nature of mind] [Conventions] [Unconditioned] [Faith]

Reference: Stillness Flowing by Ajahn Jayasaro, p. 54


Tudong Stories at Spirit Rock, Session 2 – Jun. 2, 2011

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3. Comment: Living on faith increases your potential anxiety level. I came to Buddhism thinking this would settle my life, but I realize that being open, aware, and sensitive to the world keeps bringing me new challenges. [Faith] [Restlessness and worry] [Everyday life] [Conscience and prudence] [Tudong]

Sutta: Dhp 244-245: Life is easy for for one without shame. [Conscience and prudence] [Conceit] [Virtue]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno: “You get more than what you bargained for.” [Happiness] [Culture/West] [Communal harmony] [Trust] [Concentration] [Ardency] [Energy] [Discernment] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Right Effort]

Sutta: AN 11.1: Virtue leads to non-remorse and samādhi.


The Whole of the Path, Session 2 – Jun. 22, 2013

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3. “Could you give the Pāli words for dispassion, cessation, and maturing? Also the word you used with otappa?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Dispassion] [Cessation] [Release] [Conscience and prudence] // [Seclusion]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 24 – Feb. 6, 2014

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8. “I was reading that Reverend Heng Sure found that his meditation object was particularly bright and clear when he was around his teacher Master Hua. I wondered if you experienced anything like that when you paid respects to various Ajahns?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Master Hsuan Hua] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Meditation] // [Conscience and prudence] [Respect for elders]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 31 – Feb. 17, 2014

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13. “Is that where when one isn’t meditating per se but where virtue would come in to inform whether we have slipped or not?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Virtue] // [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Ajahn Chah] [Conscience and prudence] [Similes] [Spiritual friendship]

Quote: “The defilements have their wisdom also.” — Ajahn Chah. [Unwholesome Roots] [Discernment] [Delusion]


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14. “She talks about virtue being the other hand of discernment in the meditation experience, and whenever discernment discerns stress, virtue is what lets go of the cause of stress, that virtue does the disbanding of it. Is virtue an unusual word to use there?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Upasikā Kee Nanayon] [Virtue] [Discernment] [Cessation of Suffering] [Dispassion] // [Pāli] [Conscience and prudence] [Ajahn Chah]

Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 14: Many levels of sīla. [Commentaries] [Eightfold Path]


Buddhist Identity in the Modern World – Aug. 15, 2015

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15. “Can you say more about how living up to cultural expectations can be skillful?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conscience and prudence] [Skillful qualities] [Buddhist identity] // [Killing] [Sense restraint] [Clear comprehension] [Compassion] [Malicious speech] [Right Speech]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 1 – Nov. 21, 2015

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9. “What is the best approach to deal with guilt?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Guilt/shame/inadequacy ] // [Culture/West] [Conscience and prudence] [Learning] [Faith] [Discernment] [Self-identity view] [Not-self] [Aggregates]

Sutta: MN 22.58: “Whatever is not yours, abandon it.”


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4 – Nov. 24, 2015

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1. “What are the consequences of breaking a precept?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Precepts ] // [Pāli] [Learning] [Volition] [Ajahn Chah]

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The root of hiri and otappa. [Conscience and prudence ] [Translation] [Truth] [Kamma] [Respect]


Suttas You've Never Heard Of, Session 2 – Jun. 25, 2016

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4. Comment: When I hear the word “shame,” it’s.a cousin of guilt. But in this context (AN 7.6), it seems more acceptable. [Treasures] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Conscience and prudence]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Language] [Christianity]


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9. “I like the translations ‘conscience’ and ‘concern’ for hiri and otappa. Having done unskillful actions in the past that create suffering, and being aware of the tendency to personalize, how can it be over and done?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Treasures] [Conscience and prudence ] [Unskillful qualities] [Suffering] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] // [Four Noble Truths] [Divine Abidings]

Quote: “As a human being, I have the opportunity to learn from the past and move on to skillful action in the future. I don’t have to be like a dog that barfs stuff up and goes back and eats it again.” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Human] [Learning] [Skillful qualities] [Similes]

Quote: “The not-self refrain, ‘This is not me, this is not mine, this is not what or who I am,’ is not an abdication of responsibility but an understanding, ‘This is the way I can put things down and move on, move past the things that are still creating suffering.’” — Ajahn Pasanno. [Not-self] [Relinquishment]

Suttas: SN 42.8 The Conch Blower; AN 3.100: A Lump of Salt.


The Teaching and the Training, Session 2 – Mar. 13, 2018

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1. “Can you talk about respect in the context of horizontal and vertical relationships in monastic life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Respect] [Respect for elders] [Monastic life] // [Conscience and prudence]


The New Ajahn Chah Biography, Session 2 – Apr. 21, 2018

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16. “Can you speak about regret?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Conscience and prudence] [Restlessness and worry] // [Guilt/shame/inadequacy ] [Determination] [Skillful qualities] [Culture/West] [Kamma] [Goodwill]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno can’t translate guilt into Thai. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Thai] [Suffering]


Following the Path of a Forest Monk – Jun. 23, 2023

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10. “What was it like establishing a forest monastery with the strict Vinaya of the Forest Tradition in California in the 1990s?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abhayagiri] [Vinaya] [Thai Forest Tradition] [Culture/West] // [Conscience and prudence] [Trust] [Precepts]