Catukkanipāta 60

Numbered Discourses 4.60

6. Overflowing Merit

Lay Practice

1 Then the householder Anāthapiṇḍika went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him:

2 “Householder, when a noble disciple does four things they are practicing appropriately for a layperson, which brings fame and leads to heaven. What four? It’s when a noble disciple serves the mendicant Saṅgha with robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick. When a noble disciple does these four things they are practicing appropriately for a layperson, which brings fame and leads to heaven.

3 Those who are astute practice the way

that’s appropriate for laypeople.

They provide those who are ethical

and rightly comported with robes,

4 almsfood, lodgings,

and supplies for the sick.

Their merit always grows

by day and by night.

They pass on to a place in heaven,

having done excellent deeds.”