Seven Conditions of the Welfare of a Community
And the Blessed One arose, and went to the Service Hall; and when he was seated, he addressed the Brethren, and said:
‘I will teach you, O mendicants, seven conditions of the welfare of a community. Listen well and attend, and I will speak.’
‘Even so, Lord,’ said the Brethren, in assent, to the Blessed One; and he spake as follows:
‘So long, O mendicants, as the brethren meet together in full and frequent assemblies–so long as they meet together in concord, and rise in concord, and carry out in concord the duties of the order–so long as the brethren shall establish nothing that has not been already prescribed, and abrogate nothing that has been already established, and act in accordance with the rules of the order as now laid down–so long as the brethren honour and esteem and revere and support the elders of experience and long standing, the fathers and leaders of the order, and hold it a point of duty to hearken to their words–so long as the brethren fall not under the influence of that craving which, springing up within them, would give rise to renewed existence[1]–so long as the brethren delight in a life of solitude–so long as the brethren so train their minds[2] that good and holy men shall come to them, and those who have come shall dwell at case –so long may the brethren be expected, not to decline, but to prosper. So long as these seven conditions shall continue to exist among the brethren, so long as they are well-instructed in these conditions, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.’
From the MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA pg 6-7, Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids, 1881 http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm