AN 7.67 B. Sujato translates hiri as 'conscience': in the same way a noble disciple has a conscience. They’re conscientious about bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, and conscientious about having any bad, unskillful qualities. Evamevaį¹ kho, bhikkhave, ariyasÄvako hirÄ«mÄ hoti, hirÄ«yati kÄyaduccaritena vacÄ«duccaritena manoduccaritena, hirÄ«yati pÄpakÄnaį¹ akusalÄnaį¹ dhammÄnaį¹ samÄpattiyÄ. It's not necessarily a wrong translation or interpretation, but by not translating it as 'shame', as many other translators do, it loses the powerful motivating factor that 'shame' has in governing people's actions, in our practice. Here's an excerpt from B. Thanissaro that explains why really well. And in a similar vein IMO, this is why the Buddha talks about 4 noble truths of suffering, and not 4 noble truths of happiness. Both could work, but dukkha is a powerful motivating factor, to drive our practice. A focus on happiness could easil
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