Respect for Conscience

“Mendicants, tonight, a glorious deity, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, came to me, bowed, stood to one side, and said to me:

‘Sir, these seven things don’t lead to the decline of a mendicant.

What seven?

Respect for the Teacher, for the teaching, for the Saṅgha, for the training, for immersion, for conscience, and for prudence.

These seven things don’t lead to the decline of a mendicant.’

That is what that deity said.

Then he bowed and respectfully circled me, keeping me on his right side, before vanishing right there.

One respectful of the Teacher and the teaching,

keenly respecting the Saṅgha;

respecting immersion, being energetic,

and keenly respecting the training;

endowed with conscience and prudence,

reverential and respectful—

it is impossible for them to decline;

they have drawn near to extinguishment.”