I have heard thus: Once, the Buddha travelled to Śrāvastī and stayed at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove.

At that time, the World Honored One addressed the bhikṣus: “If a bhikṣu has no shame, has no conscience, that will be detrimental to his love and reverence. If he has no love or reverence, that will be detrimental to his faith. If he has no faith, that will be detrimental to right thinking. If he does not have right thinking, that will be detrimental to his right mindfulness and right knowledge. If he does not have right mindfulness and right knowledge, that will be detrimental to guarding his faculties and guarding the precepts, to non-regret, to encouragement, to ease, to calm, to happiness, to concentration, to seeing according to reality and knowing according to reality, to disenchantment, to desirelessness, and to liberation. If he does not have liberation, that will be detrimental to having Nirvāṇa.

“If a bhikṣu has shame, has conscience, that leads to his cultivation of love and reverence. If he has love and reverence, that leads to the cultivation of his faith. If he has faith, that leads to the cultivation of right thinking. If he has right thinking, that leads to the cultivation of right mindfulness and right knowledge. If he has right mindfulness and right knowledge, that leads to the cultivation of guarding his faculties and guarding the precepts, to non-regret, to encouragement, to ease, to calm, to happiness, to concentration, to seeing according to reality and knowing according to reality, to disenchantment, to desirelessness, and to liberation. If he has liberation, that leads to the cultivation of Nirvāṇa.”

The Buddha spoke thus. Those bhikṣus who heard what the Buddha had said were elated, took it up, and left.