AN 7.23

Paṭhamasattakasutta

Evaṁ me sutaṁ— ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā rājagahe viharati gijjhakūṭe pabbate. Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “satta vo, bhikkhave, aparihāniye dhamme desessāmi. Taṁ suṇātha, sādhukaṁ manasi karotha, bhāsissāmī”ti. “Evaṁ, bhante”ti kho te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. Bhagavā etadavoca:

Non-Decline for Mendicants (1st)

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 apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“Katame ca, bhikkhave, satta aparihāniyā dhammā? Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū abhiṇhaṁ sannipātā bhavissanti sannipātabahulā; vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

“What are the seven principles that prevent decline? As long as the mendicants meet frequently and have many meetings, they can expect growth, not decline.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Yāvakīvañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhū paccattaññeva satiṁ upaṭṭhāpessanti: ‘kinti anāgatā ca pesalā sabrahmacārī āgaccheyyuṁ, āgatā ca pesalā sabrahmacārī phāsuṁ vihareyyun’ti; vuddhiyeva, bhikkhave, bhikkhūnaṁ pāṭikaṅkhā, no parihāni.

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.

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

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.”