Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Four things worth wanting, four qualities that get them, and four proper uses for the wealth that results — beginning with one’s own happiness and ending with religious giving.
The four wishes, and their honesty
May wealth come by legitimate means; may fame come, together with family and teachers; may I live long; may I be reborn in a heavenly realm. Each is stated as a wish and each is said to be likable, desirable, agreeable — and hard to get.
The discourse does not disparage any of them, and that is worth registering before anything else. A great deal of what the Aṅguttara says to lay people takes this form: it accepts the goals as stated and works on the means. Anāthapiṇḍika is not told that he should want something different.
Note the qualifier on the first: wealth by legitimate means, dhammikehi kammehi. It is built into the wish itself rather than added as a condition afterward, and the phrase about earning — by his efforts and initiative, built up with his own hands, gathered by the sweat of the brow — recurs throughout the second half.
The four accomplishments
Faith, ethics, generosity, wisdom — the same four AN 4.55 and 4.56 told a couple to match in. Here they are given as the means to the four wishes, and each is defined.
Three of the definitions are short and standard. Faith is confidence in the Buddha’s awakening; ethics is the five precepts; generosity is living at home rid of the stain of stinginess, freely generous, open-handed, loving to let go.
The fourth definition is unexpected and it is the most interesting passage in the discourse. Accomplishment in wisdom is defined entirely by the five hindrances: when your heart is mastered by covetousness, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, or doubt, you do what you shouldn’t and fail to do what you should, and your fame and happiness fall to dust. Knowing them as corruptions of the mind, the noble disciple gives them up — and that is what wisdom is.
So wisdom here is not knowledge of the truths or insight into the aggregates. It is the practical capacity to see what is currently running the decision and to set it down. Defined that way it is directly connected to the worldly outcomes the discourse is about, and the connection is stated: a mind under those five does the wrong things.
The four expenditures
This is the part the discourse is known for. With legitimately earned wealth a noble disciple: makes himself happy, and his parents, children, partners, workers, and friends; defends himself against losses from fire, flood, rulers, bandits, and unloved heirs; makes the five offerings to relatives, guests, ancestors, king, and deities; and establishes a religious donation for ascetics and brahmins.
The order is the striking thing. Personal and household happiness comes first. Not last, not grudgingly, and not as a concession — it is the first fitting deed, and the phrase used of it is the same as for the other three: an expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause.
The second is insurance in all but name. The third covers social and civic obligation, including tax to the king, which the discourse simply lists among the offerings. Only the fourth is religious giving, and it comes last of four.
For a tradition often presented as asking lay people to give as much as possible to monastics, this is a corrective worth having in plain sight. Religious donation is one quarter of the proper use of money, after one’s own household, one’s own security, and one’s obligations.
What the fourth expenditure specifies
The recipients are described, and the description is a condition: ascetics and brahmins who refrain from intoxication and negligence, are settled in patience and gentleness, and who tame, calm, and extinguish themselves.
That is the fifth such condition in as many chapters — AN 4.51, 4.57, 4.58, 4.60, and now this. The collection is consistent: giving to the religious is a fitting use of money when the religious are practising, and the donor is expected to be able to tell.
Note also that ascetics and brahmins is not restricted to Buddhist monastics. The category is broader, as it was in AN 4.50.
The recollection at the end
The verses put the whole discourse into a first-person recollection: I’ve enjoyed my wealth, supporting those who depend on me; I’ve overcome losses; I’ve given uplifting religious donations; and made the five spirit-offerings. I have served the ethical and disciplined spiritual practitioners.
And then the line the discourse is aiming at: I’ve achieved the goal for which an astute layperson wishes to gain wealth. I don’t regret what I’ve done.
That is the answer to a question the discourse never asks aloud — what is money for — and the answer is a state of mind available at the end of a life. The four expenditures are not a budget. They are the conditions under which a person can look back at what they earned and not regret it, and the verse says that a mortal who recollects this stands firm in the teaching of the noble ones.
Key terms
The text
Anāthapiṇḍika comes
§1Then the householder Anāthapiṇḍika went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him:
Four things hard to get
§2“Householder, these four things, which are likable, desirable, and agreeable are hard to get in the world. What four? The first thing is the wish: ‘May wealth come to me by legitimate means!’ The second thing, having got wealth by legitimate means, is the wish: ‘May fame come to me, together with my family and teachers.’ The third thing, having got wealth and fame, is the wish: ‘May I live long, keeping alive for a long time!’ The fourth thing, having got wealth, fame, and long life, is the wish: ‘When my body breaks up, after death, may I be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm!’ These are the four things, which are likable, desirable, and agreeable, but hard to get in the world.
Four things that lead to them
§3These next four things lead to the getting of those four things. What four? Accomplishment in faith, ethics, generosity, and wisdom.
§4And what is accomplishment in faith? It’s when a noble disciple 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.’ This is called accomplishment in faith. And what is accomplishment in ethics? It’s when a noble disciple doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or consume beer, wine, and liquor intoxicants. This is called accomplishment in ethics. And what is accomplishment in generosity? It’s when a noble disciple 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. This is called accomplishment in generosity.
Accomplishment in wisdom
§5And what is accomplishment in wisdom? When your heart is mastered by covetousness and immoral greed, you do what you shouldn’t, and fail to do what you should. Your fame and happiness fall to dust. When your heart is mastered by ill will … dullness and drowsiness … restlessness and remorse … doubt, you do what you shouldn’t, and fail to do what you should. Your fame and happiness fall to dust. Knowing that ‘covetousness and immoral greed are corruptions of the mind’, that noble disciple gives them up. Knowing that ‘ill will …’ … ‘dullness and drowsiness …’ … ‘restlessness and remorse …’ … ‘doubt is a corruption of the mind’, that noble disciple gives it up. When a noble disciple has given up these things, they’re called ‘a noble disciple of great wisdom, of widespread wisdom, who sees what matters, and is accomplished in wisdom’. This is called accomplishment in wisdom. These are the four things that lead to the getting of the four things, which are likable, desirable, and agreeable, but hard to get in the world.
Four fitting deeds
§6There are four fitting deeds that a noble disciple does with the legitimate wealth he has earned by his efforts and initiative, built up with his own hands, gathered by the sweat of the brow. What four? To start with, with his legitimate wealth he makes himself happy and pleased, keeping himself properly happy. He makes his mother and father happy … He makes his children, partners, bondservants, workers, and staff happy … He makes his friends and colleagues happy … This is his first expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause.
§7Furthermore, with his legitimate wealth he defends himself against threats from such things as fire, flood, rulers, bandits, or unloved heirs. He keeps himself safe. This is his second expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause.
§8Furthermore, with his legitimate wealth he makes five spirit-offerings: to relatives, guests, ancestors, king, and deities. This is his third expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause.
§9Furthermore, with his legitimate wealth he establishes an uplifting religious donation for ascetics and brahmins—those who refrain from intoxication and negligence, are settled in patience and gentleness, and who tame, calm, and extinguish themselves—that’s conducive to heaven, ripens in happiness, and leads to heaven. This is his fourth expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause.
§10’these are the four fitting deeds that a noble disciple does with the legitimate wealth he has earned by his efforts and initiative, built up with his own hands, gathered by the sweat of the brow. Whatever wealth is spent on something other than these four fitting deeds is said to not be expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause. But whatever wealth is spent on these four fitting deeds is said to be expenditure in an appropriate sphere on a deserved and fitting cause.
The verses
§11‘I’ve enjoyed my wealth, supporting those who depend on me; I’ve overcome losses; I’ve given uplifting religious donations; and made the five spirit-offerings. I have served the ethical and disciplined spiritual practitioners. I’ve achieved the goal for which an astute layperson wishes to gain wealth. I don’t regret what I’ve done.’
§12A mortal man who recollects this stands firm in the teaching of the noble ones. They’re praised in this life, and they depart to rejoice in heaven.”
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