Aṇguttara-Nikāya
Pañcaka-Nipāta
IV. Sumanā Vagga
Sutta 38
Saddha Sutta
Conviction
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
For free distribution only.
[1][pts][bodh] "For a lay person, there are these five rewards of conviction.
Which five?
"When the truly good people in the world show compassion, they will first show compassion to people of conviction, and not to people without conviction.
When visiting, they first visit people of conviction, and not people without conviction.
When accepting gifts, they will first accept those from people with conviction, and not from people without conviction.
When teaching the Dhamma, they will first teach those with conviction, and not those without conviction.
A person of conviction, on the break-up of the body, after death, will arise in a good destination, a heavenly world.
These are the five rewards of conviction in a lay person.
"Just as a large banyan tree, on level ground where four roads meet, is a haven for the birds all around, even so a lay person of conviction is a haven for many people: monks, nuns, male lay followers, and female lay followers."
A massive tree
whose branches carry fruits and leaves,
with trunks and roots
and an abundance of fruits:
There the birds find rest.
In that delightful sphere
they make their home.
Those seeking shade
come to the shade,
those seeking fruit
find fruit to eat.
So with the person consummate
in virtue and conviction,
humble, sensitive, gentle,
delightful, and mild:
To him come those without effluent —
free from passion,
free from aversion,
free from delusion --
the field of merit for the world.
They teach him the Dhamma
that dispels all stress.
And when he understands,
he is freed from effluents,
totally unbound.
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