1.
The Discourse on Self-Censure
121.
"Monks, there are these four fears.
What are the four?
Fear of self-censure, fear of censure by others, fear of punishment, fear of an unfortunate realm.
"And what, monks, is fear of self-censure? Here, monks, someone considers thus - 'If I were to practise misconduct by body, practise misconduct by speech, practise misconduct by mind, what reason would there be that my self would not blame me regarding morality!' He, being afraid of fear of self-censure, having abandoned bodily misconduct, develops bodily good conduct; having abandoned verbal misconduct, develops good verbal conduct; having abandoned mental misconduct, develops good mental conduct; he maintains himself pure. This is called, monks, fear of self-censure.
"And what, monks, is fear of censure by others? Here, monks, someone considers thus - 'If I were to practise misconduct by body, practise misconduct by speech, practise misconduct by mind, what reason would there be that others would not blame me regarding morality!' He, being afraid of fear of censure by others, having abandoned bodily misconduct, develops bodily good conduct; having abandoned verbal misconduct, develops good verbal conduct; having abandoned mental misconduct, develops good mental conduct; he maintains himself pure. This is called, monks, fear of censure by others.
"And what, monks, is fear of punishment? Here, monks, someone sees kings, having seized a thief, a criminal, inflicting various bodily punishments; flogging with whips, flogging with canes, flogging with half-clubs, cutting off his hand, cutting off his foot, cutting off his hand and foot, cutting off his ear, cutting off his nose, cutting off his ear and nose, inflicting the "gruel pot" torture, inflicting the "shell-tonsure" torture, inflicting the "Rāhu's mouth" torture, inflicting the "fire garland" torture, inflicting the "hand torch" torture, inflicting the "grass-strip" torture, inflicting the "bark-dress" torture, inflicting the "antelope" torture, inflicting the "flesh-hook" torture, inflicting the "coin-cutting" torture, inflicting the "lye-pickling" torture, inflicting the "pivot-turning" torture, inflicting the "straw-chair" torture, pouring boiling oil on him, having him eaten by dogs, impaling him alive on a stake, cutting off his head with a sword.
He thinks thus - 'Because of whatever kind of evil deeds, kings, having seized a thief, a criminal, inflict various bodily punishments; they flog him with whips, etc. they cut off his head with a sword. If I were to do such an evil deed, kings, having seized me too, would inflict such various bodily punishments; they would flog me with whips, they would flog me with canes, they would flog me with half-clubs, they would cut off my hand, they would cut off my foot, they would cut off my hand and foot, they would cut off my ear, they would cut off my nose, they would cut off my ear and nose, they would inflict the "gruel pot" torture, they would inflict the "shell-tonsure" torture; they would inflict the "Rāhu's mouth" torture, they would inflict the "fire garland" torture, they would inflict the "hand torch" torture, they would inflict the "grass-strip" torture, they would inflict the "bark-dress" torture, they would inflict the "antelope" torture, they would inflict the "flesh-hook" torture, they would inflict the "coin-cutting" torture, they would inflict the "lye-pickling" torture, they would inflict the "pivot-turning" torture, they would inflict the "straw-chair" torture, they would pour boiling oil on me, they would have me eaten by dogs, they would impale me alive on a stake, they would cut off my head with a sword.' He, being afraid of fear of punishment, does not go about plundering others' property. Having abandoned bodily misconduct, etc. he maintains himself pure. This is called, monks, fear of punishment.
"And what, monks, is fear of an unfortunate realm? Here, monks, someone considers thus - 'Bodily misconduct indeed has an evil result in the future life, verbal misconduct has an evil result in the future life, mental misconduct has an evil result in the future life. If I were to practise misconduct by body, practise misconduct by speech, practise misconduct by mind, what reason would there be that I would not, upon the body's collapse at death, be reborn in a realm of misery, an unfortunate realm, a nether world, in hell!' He, being afraid of fear of an unfortunate realm, having abandoned bodily misconduct, develops bodily good conduct; having abandoned verbal misconduct, develops good verbal conduct; having abandoned mental misconduct, develops good mental conduct; he maintains himself pure. This is called, monks, fear of an unfortunate realm. These, monks, are the four fears." The first.