[749] **An evil companion** — in the phrase "One should avoid an evil companion (pāpaṃ sahāyaṃ parivajjayetha)": that companion is called an evil companion who is possessed of the wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi) with its ten grounds: "There is nothing given, nothing offered; there is no fruit or result of actions well done or ill done; there is no this world, no world beyond; there is no mother, no father; there are no beings spontaneously reborn (opapātika); there are no ascetics and brahmins in the world who, faring rightly and practicing rightly, having realized this world and the world beyond for themselves by direct knowledge (abhiññā), make them known." This is an evil companion.
**"One should avoid an evil companion"** means: one should avoid, should shun, should keep away from an evil companion; therefore it is said, "One should avoid an evil companion."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.