Seven Conditions for the Welfare of the Community, AN 7.23

Evaṁ me sutaṁ

Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā rājagahe viharati gijjhakūṭe pabbate.

Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:

“satta vo, bhikkhave, aparihāniye dhamme desessāmi.  taṁ suṇātha, sādhukaṁ manasikarotha, bhāsissāmī”ti.

“Evaṁ, bhante”ti kho te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.  Bhagavā etadavoca:

“Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū abhiṇhaṁ sannipātā sannipātabahulā bhavissanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū samaggā sannipatissanti, samaggā vuṭṭhahissanti, samaggā saṅghakaraṇīyāni karissanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū apaññattaṁ na paññapessanti, paññattaṁ na samucchindissanti, yathāpaññattesu sikkhāpadesu samādāya vattissanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū ye te bhikkhū therā rattaññū cirapabbajitā saṅghapitaro saṅghapariṇāyakā, te sakkarissanti garuṁ karissanti mānessanti pūjessanti, tesañca sotabbaṁ maññissanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū uppannāya taṇhāya ponobbhavikāya na vasaṁ gacchissanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū āraññakesu senāsanesu sāpekkhā bhavissanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū paccattaññeva satiṁ upaṭṭhapessanti: ‘kinti anāgatā ca pesalā sabrahmacārī āgaccheyyuṁ, āgatā ca pesalā sabrahmacārī phāsu vihareyyun’ti. Vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni. Variant: phāsu → phāsuṁ (bj, sya-all, km, pts1ed)

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, ime satta aparihāniyā dhammā bhikkhūsu ṭhassanti, imesu ca sattasu aparihāniyesu dhammesu bhikkhū sandississanti, vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihānī’ti.

 

So I have heard:

At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain.

There the Buddha addressed the mendicants:

“Mendicants, I will teach you these seven principles that prevent decline.  Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied.  The Buddha said this:

“As long as the mendicants gather frequently and have many gatherings, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as the mendicants meet in harmony, leave in harmony, and carry on their business in harmony, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as the mendicants don’t make new decrees or abolish existing decrees, but undertake and follow the training rules as they have been decreed, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as the mendicants honor, respect, esteem, and venerate the senior mendicants—of long standing, long gone forth, fathers and leaders of the Saṅgha—and think them worth listening to, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as the mendicants don’t fall under the sway of arisen craving for future lives, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as the mendicants take care to live in wilderness lodgings, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as the mendicants individually establish mindfulness, so that more good-hearted spiritual companions might come, and those that have already come may live comfortably, they can expect growth, not decline.

As long as these seven principles that prevent decline last among the mendicants, and as long as the mendicants are seen following them, they can expect growth, not decline.”

 

[Translation, Bhikkhu Sujato]

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