Anapatrāpya

Anapatrapya (Skt. anapatrāpya; P. anottappa; T. khrel mepa; C. wukui) is translated as "lack of propriety", "disreguard", etc. It is a mental factor which is given distinct definitions in the Pali and Sanskrit Abhidharma traditions. In the Pali tradition, anottappa is defined as the absence of dread on account of misconduct. In the Sanskrit tradition, anapatrapya is defined as engaging in non-virtue without inhibition on account of others.

Anapatrapya (Pali: anottappa) is identified as:

• One of the fourteen unwholesome mental factors within the Pali tradition
• One of the twenty secondary unwholesome factors within the Abhidharma-samuccaya of the Sanskrit tradition
• One of the two major omnipresent unwholesome factors within the Abhidharma-kosa of the Sanskrit tradition

Explanations

Pali tradition

In the Visuddhimagga (XIV, 160), anottappa (shamelessness) is defined together with ahirika (consciencelessness) as follows:

Herein, it has no conscientious scruples, thus it is consciencelessness (ahirika). It is unashamed, thus it is shamelessness (anottappa). Of these, ahirika has the characteristic of absence of disgust at bodily misconduct, etc., or it has the characteristic of immodesty. Anottappa has the characteristic of absence of dread on their account, or it has the characteristic of absence of anxiety about them...

Nina van Gorkom explains:

The two cetasikas shamelessness and recklessness seem to be very close in meaning, but they have different characteristics. Shamelessness does not shrink from evil because it is not ashamed of it and does not abhor it. The “Paramattha Mañjūsā” compares it to a domestic pig which does not abhor filth. Defilements (kilesa) are like filth, they are unclean, impure. Shamelessness does not abhor defilements, be it attachment, aversion, ignorance, avarice, jealousy, conceit or any other kind of unwholesomeness.

As to recklessness, it does not abhor, draw back from evil because it does not see the danger of akusala and it does not fear its consequences such as an unhappy rebirth. The “Paramattha Mañjūsā” compares recklessness to a moth which is attracted to the fire, although this is dangerous for it. Are we enslaved by pleasant experiences? We may even commit evil through body, speech or mind on account of them. Then recklessness does not fear the danger of akusala, it does not care about the consequences of akusala.

Bhikkhu Bodhi states:

Shamelessness (ahirika) and fearlessness of wrongdoing (anottappa): The characteristic of shamelessness is the absence of disgust at bodily and verbal misconduct; the characteristic of fearlessness of wrongdoing (or moral recklessness) is absence of dread on account of such misconduct. Both have the function of doing evil things. They are manifest as not shrinking shrinking away from evil. Their proximate cause is the lack of respect for self and lack of respect for others, respectively.

Sanskrit tradition

The Abhidharma-samuccaya states:

What is anapatrapya? It is not restraining oneself by taking others as the norm. It is an emotional event associated with passion-lust (raga), aversion-hatred (dvesha), and bewilderment-erring (moha). It aids the basic emotions and the proximate emotions.

The Khenjuk states:

• Tib. ཁྲེལ་མེད་པ་ནི་གཞན་རྒྱུ་མཚན་དུ་བྱས་ཏེ་མི་དགེ་བའི་ཕྱོགས་ལ་འཛེམ་པ་མེད་པར་འཇུག་པ་དུག་གསུམ་གྱི་ཆར་གཏོགས་པ། ཉོན་མོངས་ཀུན་གྱི་གྲོགས་བྱེད་པའོ།
• Shamelessness means to personally engage in what is unvirtuous without inhibition on account of others. It belongs to the categories of the three poisons and helps all the disturbing emotions.(Erik Pema Kunsang)
• Disregard means to engage in unwholesome actions without inhibition on account of others. It belongs to the categories of the three poisons and assists all the destructive emotions. (Rigpa Translations)

StudyBuddhism states:

No care for how our actions reflect on others (khrel-med) is a part of any of the three poisonous emotions. It is the lack of any sense to refrain from destructive behavior because of caring how our actions reflect on those connected to us. Such persons may include our family, teachers, social group, ethnic group, religious order, or countrymen. For Vasubandhu, this subsidiary awareness means having no scruples, and is a lack of restraint from being brazenly negative. This and the previous subsidiary awareness (āhrīkya) accompany all destructive states of mind.

Alternative Translations

• Immodesty (David Karma Choepel)
• Lack of fear of blame or lack of propriety (Tony Duff)
• lack of propriety
• disregard
• shamelessness

Sources

• Berzin, Alexander (ed.), Primary Minds and the 51 Mental Factors, StudyBuddhism 
• Bhikkhu Bodhi, ed. (2000), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Pariyatti Publishing 
• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Mipham Rinpoche (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 
• van Gorkom, Nina (1999), Cetasikas, Zolog 
• Yeshe Gyeltsen (1975), Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding", translated by Guenther, Herbert V.; Kawamura, Leslie S., Dharma Publishing 

External links

• khrel_med_pa, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• Disregard, Rigpa Shedra Wiki