Is there anyone in the world restrained by moral shame, who avoids blame like a noble horse avoids the whip?

Hirīnisedho puriso — a person restrained by moral shame: hirī is internal moral shame, distinct from ottappa (fear of external consequences). Hirī is the brake that comes from within: “I cannot do this because it goes against my values”.

Koci lokasmiṃ vijjati — is there anyone such in the world?: the rhetorical question suggests the rarity of this quality. Few are those who have sufficient internal moral sensibility to restrain themselves before acting badly, without needing external punishment.

Yo nindaṃ apabodheti asso bhadro kasāmiva — who avoids blame like a noble horse avoids the whip: assa bhadra is the noble horse, the well-trained one. A good horse barely needs to feel the whip to correct its course; a touch suffices.

In Buddhist tradition, hirī and ottappa are called the two “guardians of the world” (lokapālā). Without them, human conduct would lack internal regulation and social order would collapse. The practitioner cultivates these guardians as the foundation of sīla.