The Monk

Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.

[13]

[1][than] Thus have I heard:

Once, while dwelling on Mount Vulture Peak,
the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks, I will teach you seven things that cause not decline;
listen,
pay heed,
I win speak!'

'Yes, lord,' the monks rejoined;
and the Exalted One said:

"And what, monks, are these seven things
that cause not decline?

So long as the monks shall be often assembled,
much in assembly,
growth may be expected,
not decline;

■

so long as they shall sit down in concord,
rise up in concord,
do business in concord,
growth may be expected,
not decline;

■

so long as they shall not decree the undecreed,
nor repeal the decreed,
but conform to the decreed training,
growth may be expected,
not decline;

■

so long as they shall honour,
respect,
venerate;
revere the elders,
monks of experience,
long gone forth,
fathers of the Order,
leaders of the Order,
and deem them worthy to be heard,
growth may be expected,
not decline;

■

so long as they shall fall not into the power of craving's surge,
the cause of renewed becoming,
growth may be expected,
not decline;

■

so long as they shall cleave^[1] to the forest bed and seat,
growth may be expected,
not decline;

■

so long as they shall each in himself make mindfulness stand up,
and it shall be known
that pious men in godly fellowship
may come there from abroad
and that those there dwell in comfort -
growth may be expected for the monks,
not decline.

And so long as these seven things that cause not decline
shall endure among the monks
and they shall live in conformity therewith,
growth may be expected, not decline.

^[1] Sāpekkha. Comy. Sālaya.

Aṇguttara Nikāya Sattaka Nipāta 3. Vajjī Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings The Book of the Sevens Chapter III: The Vajjians

Sutta 21

Bhikkhu Aparihānīya Suttaṃ

The Monk

Aṇguttara Nikāya
Sattaka Nipāta
3. Vajjī Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Sevens
Chapter III: The Vajjians