3.10 Of Moral Restraint (KV3.10)

Controverted Point: That there is self-control among devas.

Theravādin: Since you affirm its existence, you imply also that there may be absence of it among devas. You deny this, meaning that there is no want of it among devas. Then you imply that there is no need of self-control among them—this again you deny, by your proposition.

Granting that virtue is restraint from absence of self-restraint, does this restraint exist among devas? “Yes”, you say, but you are hereby implying also the coexistence of absence of self-restraint. And this you deny.

Yet you admit the coexistence among humans. Why not among devas? For instance, you say “devas abstain from taking life, from intoxicating drinks”. Yet you deny that these vices are found among them. You contend they are not found among them, yet you will not allow that restraint from them is not found either, although you allow the coexistence of both among men.

Opponent: But if moral restraint is absent among devas, surely you are implying that all devas are takers of life, thieves, etc. They are not, hence, etc.… .

The Points of Controversy, an English translation of the Pali Abhidhamma Kathāvatthu. Translated by Shwe Zan Aung and C.A.F. Rhys Davids. First published by Pali Text Society, 1915.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Manfred Wierich and Ven. Vimala and proofread by Josephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:

Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.

Cross-references were linked.

Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.

Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.

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