Twenty-seven sources of mistaken conduct

Twenty-seven sources of mistaken conduct (Tib. ཉེས་སྤྱོད་ཀྱི་འབྱུང སྒོ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་བདུན་པོ་, Wyl. nyes spyod kyi ’byung sgo nyi shu rtsa bdun po) – these are mentioned in chapter five of the Bodhicharyavatara, verses 48 to 53:

Verse 48:
(1) attachment (Tib. ཆགས་པ་, chags pa)
(2) rage (Tib. ཁྲོ་བ་, khro ba)

Verse 49:
(3) to be wild (rgod pa)
(4) mockery (ga zhar)
(5) pride (nga rgyal)
(6) self-infatuation (rgyags pa)
(7) exposing others’ faults (mtshang ’bru ba)
(8) causing dissension (skyor ’byin)
(9) deceit (bslu ba’i sems)

Verse 50:
(10) praising oneself (bdag la bstod pa)
(11) criticizing others (gzhan la smod pa)
(12) insulting others (gzhan la gshe ba)
(13) picking a quarrel (’gyed pa)

Verse 51:
(14) desiring gain (rnyed par ’dod pa)
(15) desiring respect (bkur sti ’dod pa)
(16) desiring fame (grags par ’dod pa)
(17) desiring a circle of attendants (g.yog ’khor ’dod pa)
(18) desiring personal service (rim gro ’dod pa)

Verse 52:
(19) wishing to give up working for the benefit of others (gzhan don yal bar ’dor ba ’dod pa)
(20) desiring to pursue one’s own welfare (rang don gnyer bar ’dod pa)
(21) wishing to have pointless conversations and conversations that incite attachment and aversion (don med chags sdang gi gtam smra bar ’dod pa)

Verse 53:
(22) being impatient (mi bzod pa)
(23) being lazy (le lo)
(24) being fainthearted (’jigs pa)
(25) being boastful (spyi brtol)
(26) talking nonsense (mu cor smra ba) and
(27) being attached to one’s own group (rang phyogs la zhen pa)

Alternative Translations

• Twenty-seven gates that give rise to mistaken conduct (Andreas Kretschmar)