62. “Mendicants, I will teach you about living with bad people and living
with good people. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:
"What is it like living with bad people? How do bad people live
together?
It’s when a senior mendicant thinks: ‘No mendicant, whether senior,
middle, or junior, should admonish me; and I shouldn’t admonish any
mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a mendicant—whether
senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me, they wouldn’t be
sympathetic, and I’d bother them by saying “No!” And anyway I wouldn’t
deal with it even if I saw what I did wrong.’
And a middle or a junior mendicant also thinks: ‘No mendicant, whether
senior, middle, or junior, should admonish me; and I shouldn’t admonish
any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a
mendicant—whether senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me,
they wouldn’t be sympathetic, and I’d bother them by saying “No!” And
anyway I wouldn’t deal with it even if I saw what I did wrong.’
That’s what it’s like living with bad people; that’s how bad people live
together.
What is it like living with good people? How do good people live
together? It’s when a senior mendicant thinks:
‘Any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior, should admonish me;
and I should admonish any mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior.
If a mendicant—whether senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish
me, they’d be sympathetic, so I wouldn’t bother them, but say “Thank
you!” And I’d deal with it when I saw what I did wrong.’
And a middle or a junior mendicant also thinks: ‘Any mendicant, whether
senior, middle, or junior, may admonish me; and I’ll admonish any
mendicant, whether senior, middle, or junior. If a mendicant—whether
senior, middle, or junior—were to admonish me, they’d be sympathetic,
so I wouldn’t bother them, but say “Thank you!” And I’d deal with it
when I saw what I did wrong.’
That’s what it’s like living with good people; that’s how good people
live together."
63. "In any disciplinary issue where on both sides the endless talk,
contempt for each other’s views, resentment, bitterness, and
exasperation is not settled, you can expect that this disciplinary issue
will lead to lasting acrimony and enmity, and the mendicants will not
live comfortably.
In any disciplinary issue where on both sides the endless talk, contempt
for each other’s views, resentment, bitterness, and exasperation is well
settled, you can expect that this disciplinary issue won’t lead to
lasting acrimony and enmity, and the mendicants will live comfortably."