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Liber XXXVI · Zoroastrianism

Liber XXXVI · Zoroastrianism · Chapter VII: Zarathustra & the Gathas

Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds: Zoroastrian Ethics

Zoroastrian ethics explained: humata, hukhta, hvarshta, asha and free choice in the Gathas, truthfulness, charity, proper measure and the soul's judgment.

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"Good thoughts, good words, good deeds" — in Avestan humata, hukhta, hvarshta — is the classic summary of Zoroastrian ethics. It expresses the conviction, rooted in the Gathas of Zarathustra, that every person freely chooses between Truth (asha) and the Lie (druj), and that this choice is lived out in thought, speech and action, for which each soul will be judged after death.

The Triad: Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta§

The threefold division of human action into thought, word and deed runs through the Old Avestan texts. In one of the Gathas (Yasna 30) the two primal Spirits are said to be "the better and the bad" in thought, word and deed, and the Yasna Haptanghaiti, the "Worship in Seven Chapters" that stands beside the Gathas in the liturgy, praises good thoughts, good words and good deeds wherever they are done. The Fravarane, the ancient profession of faith in Yasna 12, has the worshipper commit to well-thought thought, well-spoken word and well-done deed. Middle Persian texts render the triad humat, hukht, huvarsht and name its opposites, evil thoughts, words and deeds.

The formula is not unique to Iran — similar triads appear in Indian and later Christian texts — but in Zoroastrianism it became the defining expression of the religion. Zoroastrians recite it in daily prayer, recall it when they tie the sacred cord three times around the waist (see the Navjote), and confess sins in the same three categories in the prayer of repentance. Its order is significant: right action begins in the mind, is expressed in speech and is completed in deeds.

Asha and the Ethics of Choice in the Gathas§

The ground of Zoroastrian ethics is asha (Old Persian arta), a word that can be translated as truth, order, righteousness or the right way things should be. Asha is the principle according to which Ahura Mazda created the world; its opposite, druj, the Lie, is the principle of disorder and deception associated with Angra Mainyu. A person who upholds asha is an ashavan, a righteous one; a follower of the Lie is a dregvant. The prayer that praises asha, the Ashem Vohu, is discussed in the Ahuna Vairya and Ashem Vohu.

What gives Zarathustra's teaching its distinctive force is the emphasis on choice. In the same Gatha that describes the two Spirits, the prophet calls on his hearers to listen with their ears to the best things and consider them with a clear mind, each person deciding for himself or herself. Good and evil are not destinies assigned at birth; they are sides that each human being chooses, as the Spirits themselves chose at the beginning. The cosmic drama described in Ahura Mazda and Ahriman is therefore also a moral drama in every life. On the Gathas themselves and their difficult language, see Zarathustra and the Gathas.

This ethic is active rather than merely avoiding wrong. Because the good creation is under attack, the righteous person is expected to strengthen it: to increase life, health, order and prosperity, and to diminish suffering, decay and falsehood. Zoroastrians often describe human beings as Ahura Mazda's co-workers in the renewal of the world.

The Amesha Spentas as a Moral Path§

The six or seven Amesha Spentas, the "Bounteous Immortals" who surround Ahura Mazda, are at once divine beings and moral qualities that a person can share. Vohu Manah (Good Mind), Asha Vahishta (Best Truth), Khshathra Vairya (Desirable Dominion), Spenta Armaiti (Beneficent Devotion), Haurvatat (Wholeness) and Ameretat (Immortality) can be read as stages of a spiritual path: through good thinking and truth one comes to just rule over oneself and devotion, and finally to wholeness and immortality.

Each Amesha Spenta also protects one of the seven creations — cattle, fire, metal, earth, water and plants, with Ahura Mazda or Spenta Mainyu caring for humanity — so that ethical conduct includes the care of animals, the purity of fire and water and the cultivation of the earth. In this way the moral life is tied to the physical world. Modern Zoroastrians frequently draw on this teaching to present their religion as one of the earliest to express an ethic of environmental stewardship, an interpretation that builds on genuine traditional concerns with purity and the protection of the elements.

Truth-telling, Contract and Charity in Practice§

Ancient observers singled out truthfulness. Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BCE, reported that Persian boys were taught three things — to ride, to shoot with the bow and to speak the truth — and that the Persians regarded lying as the most shameful of all things, with debt second because a debtor is driven to lie (Histories 1.136–138). The Achaemenid kings condemned rebels as followers of the Lie, as described in the Achaemenid kings and Zoroastrianism.

Closely linked to truth is the keeping of promises. The god Mithra, whose name means "contract" or "covenant", watches over agreements and punishes the "contract-breaker", and the Videvdad sets out graded penalties for broken contracts; on Mithra see Mithra and Mithraism. Hospitality, honesty in trade and loyalty to family and community are praised throughout the Middle Persian literature.

Charity is a religious duty. Zoroastrian texts commend gifts to the righteous poor and to priests, the endowment of rites and the founding of public works. Among the Parsis of India this ideal took the form of extraordinary philanthropy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when merchants such as Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and industrialists such as the Tata family founded hospitals, schools, libraries and scientific institutions open to all communities.

Measure, Joy and the Rejection of Asceticism§

The Middle Persian andarz, or wisdom literature — collections of counsels attributed to sages such as the Sasanian high priest Adurbad i Mahraspandan, the sixth book of the Denkard and the Menog i Khrad ("Spirit of Wisdom") — develops these principles into practical guidance. A key idea is payman, the "proper measure": virtue lies between excess and deficiency, and both too much and too little belong to the Evil Spirit. Scholars have compared this teaching with Aristotle's doctrine of the mean, though it developed within Iranian tradition.

The proper measure applies to religious practice too. Traditional Zoroastrianism has generally rejected celibacy, prolonged fasting and the mortification of the body, which it regarded as weakening the good creation and so serving Ahriman. Marriage, children, good food, work and the enjoyment of the world are seen as forms of worship. A line of the Gathas (Yasna 43.1) is popularly rendered as "happiness to the one who brings happiness to others", and although the exact meaning of the Avestan is debated, the saying is widely quoted by Zoroastrians as an expression of their ethic.

Judgment, Repentance and the Modern Face of Zoroastrian Ethics§

Zoroastrian ethics is bound up with the fate of the soul. After death, the soul is judged at the Chinvat bridge, where its thoughts, words and deeds are weighed in the balance by the divine judge Rashnu, accompanied by Mithra and Sraosha. The soul meets its own conscience, the daena, in the form of a beautiful maiden or a hideous hag, according to its deeds, and crosses to paradise or falls into the place of punishment; at the end of time all will be purified and restored. These teachings are told in Zoroastrian eschatology.

Yet the tradition provides for repentance. The Patet, recited for oneself or on behalf of the dying, is a long confession in which the speaker renounces sins of thought, word and deed and resolves not to commit them again. Middle Persian theology held that sins against other people required reparation to them, while repentance and good works could outweigh many other faults.

In modern times the triad has become the most widely recognised summary of the religion, inscribed in fire temples and community halls around the world. Reformist Zoroastrians, who look to the Gathas as the core of the faith, often present Zarathustra's teaching as a rational ethical monotheism, while traditionalists emphasise that ethics is inseparable from ritual purity and prayer. Outside the community, Friedrich Nietzsche chose Zarathustra as the voice of his Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1885), explaining in Ecce Homo that the Persian prophet had first made morality the wheel of the world and taught truthfulness as the highest virtue — a philosopher's reinterpretation rather than a description of the religion.

Frequently asked questions§

What does humata, hukhta, hvarshta mean?§

They are Avestan words for good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Together they form the classic summary of Zoroastrian ethics and are recited in prayer and professed at initiation.

What is asha in Zoroastrianism?§

Asha means truth, order and righteousness: the right order of the world created by Ahura Mazda. Its opposite is druj, the Lie. Zoroastrians aim to live according to asha in thought, word and deed.

Does Zoroastrianism believe in free will?§

Yes. The Gathas teach that every person must choose between Truth and the Lie, as the primal Spirits did, and that each will be judged by that choice. Free will is central to Zoroastrian ethics.

Why did Nietzsche write about Zarathustra?§

Nietzsche used Zarathustra as the mouthpiece of his own philosophy because he regarded the Persian prophet as the first to make the struggle of good and evil the basis of morality. His book does not describe Zoroastrian belief.

Sources and further reading§