Those Worthy of Offerings (a)

Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.

[1] THUS have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī,
at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.

There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

"Yes, lord," they replied, and the Exalted One said:

2. 'Monks, a monk who is endowed with eight qualities
is worthy of offerings,
worthy of gifts,
worthy of oblations,
meet to be reverently saluted,
the world's peerless field for merit.

What eight?

3. Herein a monk is virtuous,
he abides restrained by the restraint of the obligations,
perfect in behaviour and conduct,
seeing danger in the smallest fault,
accepting the training,
he trains himself accordantly;

4. He is learned,^[ed1]
is replete with learning,
is a hoard of learning.

Those doctrines which,
lovely at the beginning,
lovely in the middle,
lovely at the end
both in the meaning and the letter of them,
which preach the utterly fulfilled,
the perfectly purified way of the God-life, -
such doctrines are much heard by him,
borne in mind,
repeated aloud,
pondered over
and well penetrated by his vision;

5. He has good friends,
companions and intimates;

6. He holds right views and is endowed with wisdom;

7. He attains at will,
easily and without difficulty to those pleasant states of living, even in this life, the four musings wholly mental;

8. He remembers divers past dwellings, that is to say: one birth, two births, or three, or four, or five,
or ten, or twenty, or thirty, or forty, or fifty,
or a hundred, or a thousand, or a hundred thousand,
or many an age of rolling on,
or many an age of rolling back,
or many an age of both rolling on and rolling back -
such an one I was by name,
of such a clan,
of such a caste,
such was my food,
such my experience of weal and woe,
such was the end of my life,

passing away thence,
I arose in such a place.

there, such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of weal and woe,
such my end,

passing away from there,
I arose here.

thus many a previous dwelling
he calls to mind
with its circumstances and details;

9. He knows by the deva eye,
purified and surpassing that of mankind,
the course of beings -
lowly and exalted,
beautiful and ugly,
happy and in woe,
according to their deeds;

And he thinks:

"These worthies were given over to evil practices
in act, word and thought,
were revilers of the Ariyans,
holders of wrong views,
men who have acquired this karma
from wrong views;
and on the breaking up of the body after death,
have arisen in the untoward way,
the ill way,
the abyss,
hell.

But these good sirs behaved rightly
in act, word and thought,
were no revilers of the Ariyans,
held right views
and have acquired this karma therefrom;
and on the breaking up of the body after death,
have arisen in the blissful heaven world."

Thus with the deva-eye
purified and surpassing the human eye,
he sees and knows beings
in course of faring on -
beings lowly and exalted,
beautiful and ugly,
happy and in woe,
according to their deeds.

10. By destroying the cankers,
he enters and abides in the emancipation of the heart and wisdom,
which is cankerless,
and this state he knows and realizes for himself,
even in this life.

Monks, a monk who is endowed with these eight qualities
is worthy of offerings,
worthy of gifts,
worthy of oblations,
meet to be reverently saluted,
the world's peerless field for merit.'

^[ed1] Hare abridges and I am not able to locate any version of this item that has been translated by Hare. I have used the translation of Woodward, [AN 4. 22] in it's place.

Aṇguttara Nikāya VIII. Aṭṭhaka Nipāta VI. Gotamī Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings VIII. The Book of the Eights VI: The Gotamid

Sutta 57

Paṭhama Āhuneyya-Bhikkhu Suttaṃ

Those Worthy of Offerings (a)

Aṇguttara Nikāya
VIII. Aṭṭhaka Nipāta
VI. Gotamī Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings
VIII. The Book of the Eights
VI: The Gotamid