Thanissaro Bhikkhu's definition of 'compunction' and 'ottappa'

 

Dear Ven. Thanissaro,

What exactly do you mean by 'compunction', besides that's the word you translate for 'ottappa'?

For that matter, I'm not sure I understand how to disambiguate 'ottappa' either. 

PED has:

fear of exile, shrinking back from doing wrong, remorse.

'remorse' seems to imply to me you've already done the action and are now regretting it, whereas ' fear of exile, shrinking back from doing wrong,' implies the awareness of consequences prevents you from following through on a regrettable action.

In pali dictionary for ottappa, it says shirking away from wrong doing,

com·punc·tion | \ kəm-ˈpəŋ(k)-shən: (merriam webster defn.), Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu‍ trans. of 'ottappa'.

1a : anxiety arising from awareness of guilt compunctions of conscience

b : distress of mind over an anticipated action or result … showed no compunction in planning devilish engines of … destruction.— Havelock Ellis

2 : a twinge of misgiving : scruple cheated without compunction … he had no compunction about brushing aside legal technicalities.— Robert Penn Warren

In theology, compunction seems to be more of the sense of guilt and remorse AFTER you've already committed a regrettable action.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/english-vocabulary-d/compunction

Can you please clarify both 'ottappa' and 'compunction' ?

to clarify this line a little more:

'remorse' seems to imply to me you've already done the action and are now regretting it, whereas ' fear of exile, shrinking back from doing wrong,' implies the awareness of consequences prevents you from following through on a regrettable action.

We should be clear if  ottappa and compunciton mean:

1) ONLY the fear of wrong doing prevents you from doing wrong

2) ONLY the regret AFTER already committed a wrong doing

3) both 1 and 2

4) in the suttas, mostly 1, sometimes 2, or?

Ven. Thanissaro's response:

Compunction is defined as a sense of moral scruple that follows on or prevents doing something bad.

In British English, it usually refers to a sense of scruple that follows on a harmful action.

In American English, it refers more primarily to a sense of scruple that precedes the possibility of doing something unskillful.

The Pali term ottappa could mean either compunction prior to an action,

or both prior to and after an action. 

The suttas are not clear on this point. 

The important thing is that it acts as a check on the next impulse to act unskillfully. 

That’s when it’s a treasure.

Ven. Dhammando believes ottappa is most likely only preventative, not remorse for after

thread:Thanissaro Bhikkhu's definition of 'compunction' and 'ottappa'