Propriety

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Propriety (Skt. apatrāpya; Tib. ཁྲེལ་ཡོད་པ་; Wyl. khrel yod pa) one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the Eleven virtuous states. It is also one of the seven noble riches.

Definitions

In the Khenjuk, Mipham Rinpoche says (Tib. ཁྲེལ་ཡོད་པ་ནི་གཞན་ནམ་འཇིག་རྟེན་རྒྱུ་མཚན་དུ་བྱས་ཏེ་ཁ་ན་མ་ཐོ་བ་ལ་འཛེམ་པའི་ལས་ཅན་ནོ།)

  • Propriety has the function of causing one to refrain from misdeeds, either because of being reproached by other [noble] people or by the world. (▷RIGPA)
  • Shame has the function of causing one to shun misdeeds, either because of being reproached by other [noble] people or by the world. (Erik Pema Kunsang)

It is the attitude of refraining from unwholesome actions out of concern for others.

Alternative Translations

  • Sense of decency (▷PKT)
  • Modesty (David Karma Choepel)
  • Shame (Gyurme Dorje)
  • Propriety (Tony Duff[1])
  • concern
  • decorum

Notes

  1. Tony Duff: "Presence of (khrel ba)" i.e., concern about doing misdeeds due because of consideration of what others will say or what the world will think". With the thought either of oneself or what the world will think as a reason, this mental event causes one to take care concerning misdeeds and acts as a basis for keeping vows and not engaging in bad conduct. It has been translated as "dread of blame", "embarrassment", conscience", "decorum", "considerateness" and "modesty" all of which seem fitting; it has been translated as "bashfulness" which does not fit.