The
Suttanipata
An Ancient Collection of the
Buddha’s Discourses
Together with Its Commentaries (bodhi)
Blessings (Mahāmaṅgala Sutta)
As Sakka, ruler of the devas, said:
“I pay homage to them, O Mātali,
those householders who do merits,
those lay followers of good behavior
> who righteously maintain a wife.” (SN I 234,28–29)
An honest occupation: work such as agriculture, cattle- rearing, business, and so forth, which, because carried out in a timely manner, in a suitable manner, with diligence, with vigor and energy, and harmlessly, is devoid of such entangling faults
as untimeliness, doing what is unsuitable, inertia, slackness, and so forth. When these tasks are undertaken in such a way, through one’s own competence, or that of one’s wife and chil- dren, or that of one’s slaves and workers, it is called a blessing, for it is a cause for obtaining and growing in money and grain.
Further, secular learning,1076 too, when blameless, should be understood as a blessing, for it leads to well-being and happi- ness in both worlds.
A craft could be the crafts of a layperson or the crafts of a homeless one. The crafts of a layperson are any trades that do not cause harm to others and are devoid of the unwholesome, such as the work of a jeweler, a goldsmith, and so forth; this is a blessing because it leads to good in the present world. The crafts of a homeless one are such things as designing and sewing robes and repairing an ascetic’s requisites. These have been praised here and there, as in the passage “Here, a bhikkhu is diligent in undertaking various tasks for his fellow monks,” which has been called a protective quality (AN V 24,10–13). This should be understood to be a blessing because it leads to well-being and happiness in both worlds for both oneself and others.