FIVEFOLD

23. [2] Then the Blessed One addressed the Pâtaligâma disciples, and said: ‘Fivefold, O householders, is the loss of the wrong-doer through his want of rectitude. In the first place the wrong-doer, devoid of rectitude, falls into great poverty through sloth; in the next place his evil repute gets noised abroad; thirdly, whatever society he enters–whether of Brâhmans, nobles, heads of houses, or Samanas–

he enters shyly and confused; fourthly, he is full of anxiety when he dies; and lastly, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he is reborn into some unhappy state of suffering or woe[1]. This, O householders, is the fivefold loss of the evil-doer!’

24. ‘Fivefold, O householders, is the gain of the well-doer through his practice of rectitude. In the first place the well-doer, strong in rectitude, acquires great wealth through his industry; in the next place, good reports of him are spread abroad; thirdly, whatever society he enters–whether of nobles, Brâhmans, heads of houses, or members of the order–he enters confident and self-possessed; fourthly, he dies without anxiety; and lastly, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he is reborn into some happy state in heaven. This, O householders, is the fivefold gain of the well-doer.’

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

CONTEMPLATION SET ROUND WITH UPRIGHT CONDUCT

13. Now when the Blessed One had sojourned at Râgagaha as long as he pleased, he addressed the venerable Ânanda, and said: ‘Come, Ânanda, let us go to Ambalatthikâ.’

‘So be it, Lord!’ said Ânanda in assent, and the Blessed One, with a large company of the brethren, proceeded to Ambalatthikâ.

14. There the Blessed One stayed in the king’s house and held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren on the nature of upright conduct, and of earnest contemplation, and of intelligence. ‘Great is the fruit, great the advantage of earnest contemplation when set round with upright conduct. Great is the fruit, great the advantage of intellect when set round with earnest contemplation. The mind set round with intelligence is freed from the great evils, that is to say, from sensuality, from individuality, from delusion, and from ignorance.’

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

11. ‘Six conditions of welfare will I teach you, O brethren. Listen well, and attend, and I will speak.’

And on their expressing their assent, he spake as follows:

‘So long as the brethren shall persevere in kindness of action, speech, and thought amongst the saints, both in public and in private–so long as they shall divide without partiality, and share in common with the upright and the holy, all such things as they receive in accordance with the just provisions of the order, down even to the mere contents of a begging bowl–so long as the brethren shall live among the saints in the practice, both in public and in private, of those virtues which (unbroken, intact, unspotted, unblemished) are productive of freedom[1], and praised by the wise; which are untarnished by the desire of future life, or by the belief in the efficacy of outward acts[2]; and which are conducive to high and holy thoughts–so long as the brethren shall live among the saints, cherishing, both in public and in private, that noble and saving faith which leads to the complete destruction of the sorrow of him who acts according to it–so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

‘So long as these six conditions shall continue to
exist among the brethren so long as they are instructed in these six conditions, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.’

[1. Buddhaghosa takes this in a spiritual sense, ‘tâni pan’ etâni (sîlâni) tanhâ-dâsavyato moketvâ bhugissa-bhâva-karanato bhugissâni:’ that is, ‘These virtues are bhugissâni because they bring one to the state of a free man by delivering him from the slavery of craving.’

2. ‘Tanhâ-ditthîhi aparâmatthattâ, idam nâma tvam âpannapubbo ti kenaki paramatthum asakkuneyyattâ ka, ‘aparâmatthâni’ (S. V. fol. 116), that is, ‘These virtues are called aparâmatthâni’ because they are untarnished by craving or delusion, and because no one can say of him who practises them, “you have been already guilty of such and such a sin.”‘ Craving is here the hope of a future life in heaven, and delusion the belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies (the two nissayas) which are condemned as unworthy inducements to virtue.]

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

FIFTH SEVEN CONDITIONS TO PROSPER

10. ‘Other seven conditions of welfare will I teach you, O brethren. Listen well, and attend, and I will speak.’

And on their expressing their assent, he spake as follows:

‘So long as the brethren shall exercise themselves in the sevenfold perception due to earnest thought, that is to say, the perception of impermanency, of non-individuality[1], of corruption, of the danger of sin, of sanctification, of purity of heart, of Nirvâna, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

‘So long as these conditions shall continue to exist among the brethren, so long as they are instructed in these conditions, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.’

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

FOURTH SEVEN CONDITIONS TO PROSPER

9. ‘Other seven conditions of welfare will I teach you, O brethren. Listen well, and attend, and I will speak.’

And on their expressing their assent, he spake as follows:

‘So long as the brethren shall exercise themselves in the sevenfold higher wisdom, that is to say, in mental activity, search after truth, energy, joy, peace, earnest contemplation, and equanimity of mind, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

‘So long as these conditions shall continue to exist among the brethren, so long as they are instructed in these conditions, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.’

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

THIRD SEVEN CONDITIONS TO PROSPER

 ‘Other seven conditions of welfare will I teach you, O brethren. Listen well, and attend, and I will speak.’

And on their expressing their assent, he spake as follows:

‘So long as the brethren shall be full of faith, modest in heart, afraid of sin[1], full of learning, strong in energy, active in mind, and full of wisdom, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

‘So long as these conditions shall continue to exist among the brethren, so long as they are instructed in these conditions, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.’

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

SECOND SEVEN CONDITIONS TO PROSPER

 ‘Other seven conditions of welfare will I teach you, O brethren. Listen well, and attend, and I will speak.’

And on their expressing their assent, he spake as follows:

‘So long as the brethren shall not engage in, or be fond of, or be connected with business–so long as the brethren shall not be in the habit of or be fond of, or be partakers in idle talk–so long as the brethren shall not be addicted to, or be fond of, or indulge in slothfulness–so long as the brethren shall not frequent, or be fond of, or indulge in society–so long as the brethren shall neither have, nor fall under the influence of, sinful desires–so long as the brethren shall not become the friends, companions, or intimates of sinners–so long as the brethren shall not come to a stop on their way [to Nirvâna^[1]] because they have attained to any lesser thing–so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

FIRST SEVEN CONDITIONS TO PROSPER

6. Now soon after he had gone the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ânanda, and said: ‘Go now, Ânanda, and assemble in the Service Hall such of the Brethren[1] as live in the neighbourhood of Râgagaha.’

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.

‘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.’

Buddhist Suttas – MAHÂ-PARINIBBÂNA-SUTTANTA 
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1103.htm

Comment: I’m placing emphasis on prosperity. Unfortunately, at least in U.S. culture, the word welfare carries a negative connotation for some.

END OF ALL SUFFERING

“And what, O brethren, is the path that leads to the annihilation of suffering? It is the holy eightfold path that leads to the annihilation of suffering, which consists of right views, right decision, right speech, right action, right living, right struggling, right thoughts, and right meditation.

“In so far, O friends, as a noble youth thus recognizes suffering and the origin of suffering, as he recognizes the annihilation of suffering, and walks on the path that leads to the annihilation of suffering, radically forsaking passion, subduing wrath, annihilating the vain conceit of the “I-am, leaving ignorance, and attaining to enlightenment, he will make an end of all suffering even in this life.”

BUDDHA, THE GOSPEL By Paul Carus
Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company,[1894]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/btg/btg46.htm

SUFFERING

“What, however, O brethren, is suffering? What is the origin of suffering? What is the annihilation of suffering? Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; disease is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow and misery are suffering; affliction and despair are suffering; to be united with loathsome things is suffering; the loss of that which we love and the failure in attaining that which is longed for are suffering; all these things, O brethren, are suffering.

“And what, O brethren, is the origin of suffering? It is lust, passion, and the thirst for existence that yearns for pleasure everywhere, leading to a continual rebirth I It is sensuality, desire, selfishness; all these things, O brethren, are the origin of suffering.”

BUDDHA, THE GOSPEL By Paul Carus
Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company,[1894]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/btg/btg46.htm