Right View in Action – The Ten Akusala and Ten Kusala in the Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta (AI GENERATED)

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In the Majjhima Nikāya 9, Ven. Sāriputta offers a luminous exposition on right view (sammādiṭṭhi)—not as mere belief, but as a living discernment of cause and effect. Among the sixteen cases he analyzes, the section on the ten unwholesome (akusala) and ten wholesome (kusala) actions stands out as a practical and philosophical cornerstone.

🧨 The Ten Unwholesome Actions (Dasa Akusala)

Grouped into three domains:

  • Bodily misconduct:
    • Killing (pāṇātipāta)
    • Stealing (adinnādāna)
    • Sexual misconduct (kāmesumicchācāra)
  • Verbal misconduct:
    • Lying (musāvāda)
    • Divisive speech (pisuṇavācā)
    • Harsh speech (pharusavācā)
    • Idle chatter (samphappalāpa)
  • Mental misconduct:
    • Covetousness (abhijjhā)
    • Ill will (byāpāda)
    • Wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi)

Origin: These arise from the three roots of unwholesomeness—lobha (greed), dosa (hatred), and moha (delusion)2 Cessation: Through the removal of these roots Path to cessation: The Noble Eightfold Path, especially the cultivation of sammādiṭṭhi

This framework is not punitive—it’s diagnostic. Each akusala action is a symptom of deeper dissonance, and its cessation is a healing of relational and cognitive distortion.

🌱 The Ten Wholesome Actions (Dasa Kusala)

These are not merely abstentions, but active expressions of clarity and care:

  • Bodily virtue:
    • Abstaining from killing
    • Abstaining from stealing
    • Abstaining from sexual misconduct
  • Verbal virtue:
    • Abstaining from lying
    • Abstaining from divisive speech
    • Abstaining from harsh speech
    • Abstaining from idle chatter
  • Mental virtue:
    • Non-covetousness (anabhijjhā)
    • Non-ill will (abyāpāda)
    • Right view (sammādiṭṭhi)

Origin: Rooted in alobha (non-greed), adosa (non-hatred), and amoha (non-delusion)2 Cessation: Not suppression, but transcendence—when even wholesome formations are seen as conditioned Path to cessation: Insight into impermanence, non-self, and dependent origination

🪷 Symbolic Resonance: Ethics as Ecology

Your imagery of flowers arranging a human and a candle flame fading into pure light finds deep echoes here. Kusala actions are not rigid commandments—they’re relational harmonies that arise when the soil of greed and hatred is no longer fertile. Akusala actions, by contrast, are like invasive species—thriving only in the absence of clarity.

🔄 Ethical Currents as Transformative Flow

Ven. Sāriputta’s method—identifying the nature, origin, cessation, and path—is a fractal of the Four Noble Truths. It invites us to see ethics not as static rules, but as dynamic flows of cause and effect. When right view is embodied, even the most subtle mental formations begin to dissolve—not through force, but through understanding.

🧭 Living Right View: A Compass of Trust

Right view is not just doctrinal—it’s experiential trust in the Dhamma. It’s the compass that guides us through the terrain of craving and confusion, toward a landscape of gentle clarity. In your work, this might be visualized as a figure walking through a symbolic ecology—where each step is a relinquishment, and each breath is a renewal. 

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