Toh 327 — The Good Person
Satpuruṣa
The Noble Sūtra
The Good Person
F.253.b Homage to the noble youthful Mañjuśrī.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was residing in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park at Śrāvastī. Then the Bhagavān said to the monks, “Monks, these five are the gifts of good people. What are the five? Monks, good people give gifts with trust.[1] They give gifts respectfully, with their own hands, at the right time, and without harming others.
“Monks, what karmic results should good people expect from giving gifts with trust? By giving gifts with trust, they become rich. They have abundant riches and great wealth. They have abundant precious materials. They have many properties. They have abundant riches, grains, jewels, gold, depositories, and reserves. They have many servants, maids, workers, and casual laborers. They have many friends, ministers, kinsmen, and relatives. Monks, they should expect such karmic results from giving gifts with trust.
“Monks, what karmic results should good people expect from giving gifts respectfully? By giving gifts respectfully, they become rich. They have many friends, ministers, kinsmen, and relatives, as before. Children, wives, servants, maids, workers, casual laborers, friends, ministers, kinsmen, and relatives also pay them respect. Monks, they should expect such karmic results from giving gifts respectfully. F.254.a
“Monks, what karmic results should good people expect from giving gifts with their own hands? By giving gifts with their own hands, they become rich and then have many friends, ministers, kinsmen, and relatives, as before. They also enjoy the great wealth of householders. They enjoy an enormous wealth of food, an enormous wealth of animal-drawn carts, an enormous wealth of clothes, and an enormous wealth of bedding. They enjoy forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles. Monks, they should expect such karmic results from giving gifts with their own hands.
“Monks, what karmic results should good people expect from giving gifts at the right time? By giving gifts at the right time, they become rich and then have many friends, ministers, kinsmen, and relatives, as before. They also receive jewels accumulated in great numbers. Monks, they should expect such karmic results from giving gifts at the right time.
“Monks, what karmic results should good people expect from giving gifts without harming others? By giving gifts without harming others, they become rich and then have many friends, ministers, kinsmen, and relatives, as before. They obtain whatever wealth they wish for through diligence. It is achieved with power; it is achieved without sweating, and while a pleasant aroma pervades.[2] Those things obtained by Dharma practitioners through the Dharma are not obstructed by kings, thieves, fire, water, unfriendly people, the sharing of goods, or any other activity. They should expect such karmic results from giving gifts without harming others.” F.254.b
Thus spoke the Bhagavān. After the Sugata had said this, the Teacher accordingly spoke again:
When the Bhagavān spoke thus, the monks rejoiced and praised what the Bhagavān had said.
The Noble Sūtra on the Good Person is complete.Colophon
Translated by the Indian preceptor Dharmākara and the translator Bandé Zangkyong, and revised by Bandé Paltsek.
Notes
For more on the term śraddhā (Tib. dad pa), translated here as “trust,” see Rotman (2009), pp. 29ff.
backThere are two alternative readings of this fragment, namely rngul zhing dri ma chags chags in most of the editions and rngul med zhing dri ma chags chags in the Stok Palace version. chags chags is probably a misspelling for chag chag (“to sprinkle”). Also, the negation med provides a better meaning in the context, referring to easy achievement of the results. Thus, we read this line as rngul med zhing dri ma chag chag and translate accordingly.
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