Numbered Discourses 8.49
- Sabbath
Winning in This Life (1st)
At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in the stilt longhouse of Migāra’s mother in the Eastern Monastery.
Then Visākhā, Migāra’s mother, went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side.
The Buddha said to her:
“Visākhā, a lady who has four qualities is practicing to win in this life, and she succeeds at it.
What four?
It’s when a lady is well-organized at work, manages the domestic help, acts lovingly toward her husband, and preserves his earnings.
And how is a lady well-organized at work?
It’s when she’s deft and tireless in doing domestic duties for her husband, such as knitting and sewing. She understands how to go about things in order to complete and organize the work.
That’s how a lady is well-organized at work.
And how does a lady manage the domestic help?
It’s when she knows what work her husband’s domestic bondservants, servants, and workers have completed, and what they’ve left incomplete.
She knows who is sick, and who is fit or unwell. She distributes to each a fair portion of fresh and cooked foods.
That’s how a lady manages the domestic help.
And how does a lady act lovingly toward her husband?
It’s when a lady would not transgress in any way that her husband would not consider agreeable, even for the sake of her own life.
That’s how a lady acts lovingly toward her husband.
And how does a lady preserve his earnings?
It’s when she ensures that any income her husband earns is guarded and protected, whether money, grain, silver, or gold. She doesn’t overspend, steal, waste, or lose it.
That’s how a lady preserves his earnings.
A lady who possesses these four qualities is practicing to win in this life, and she succeeds at it.
A lady who has four qualities is practicing to win in the next life, and she succeeds at it.
What four?
It’s when a lady is accomplished in faith, ethics, generosity, and wisdom.
And how is a lady accomplished in faith?
It’s when a lady has faith in the Realized One’s awakening:
‘That Blessed One is perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those fit for training, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.’
That’s how a lady is accomplished in faith.
And how is a lady accomplished in ethics?
It’s when a lady doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or consume beer, wine, and liquor intoxicants.
That’s how a lady is accomplished in ethics.
And how is a lady accomplished in generosity?
It’s when she lives at home rid of the stain of stinginess, freely generous, open-handed, loving to let go, committed to charity, loving to give and to share.
That’s how a lady is accomplished in generosity.
And how is a lady accomplished in wisdom?
It’s when a lady is wise. She has the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering.
That’s how a lady is accomplished in wisdom.
A lady who possesses these four qualities is practicing to win in the next life, and she succeeds at it.
She’s organized at work,
and manages the domestic help.
She’s agreeable to her husband,
and preserves his wealth.
Faithful, accomplished in ethics,
bountiful, rid of stinginess,
she always purifies the path
to well-being in lives to come.
And so, a lady in whom
these eight qualities are found
is known as virtuous,
firmly principled, and truthful.
Accomplished in sixteen respects,
complete with the eight factors,
a virtuous laywoman such as she
is reborn in the realm of the Agreeable Gods.”