Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A lay follower who misses seeing mendicants, neglects the teaching, doesn't train in higher ethics, is suspicious of mendicants, listens with a fault-finding mind, and serves those outside the Buddhist community first declines; the seven reversals prevent that decline.
Seven items concerning the lay-mendicant relationship specifically
Unlike this chapter's mendicant-focused discourses, every item on this list concerns how a lay follower relates to mendicants and the wider Buddhist community — access, attentiveness, trust, and where support is directed — rather than any inward meditative quality.
A closing verse restating the entire teaching
Unusually for this collection's shorter formulaic discourses, this one closes with a full verse restatement of both the decline and non-decline halves, ending each with the same refrain: a lay follower who practices the decline-causing seven “falls away from the true teaching,” while one who practices the reversal “doesn't fall away.”
The first of three near-identical discourses
AN 7.30 and 7.31, immediately following, restate this exact seven-item content under two further titles — “failures” and “downfalls” — a genre convention this series has now met repeatedly: the same content given more than one name, each presumably carrying slightly different connotations in the source tradition even where the underlying list is identical.
Key terms
The text
Seven things that lead to a lay follower's decline
§1“These seven things lead to the decline of a lay follower. What seven? They miss out on seeing the mendicants. They neglect listening to the true teaching. They don’t train in higher ethical conduct. They’re very suspicious about mendicants, whether senior, junior, or middle. They listen to the teaching with a hostile, fault-finding mind. They seek outside of the Buddhist community for those worthy of religious donations. And they serve them first. These seven things lead to the decline of a lay follower. These seven things don’t lead to the decline of a lay follower. What seven? They don’t miss out on seeing the mendicants. They don’t neglect listening to the true teaching. They train in higher ethical conduct. They’re very confident about mendicants, whether senior, junior, or middle. They don’t listen to the teaching with a hostile, fault-finding mind. They don’t seek outside of the Buddhist community for those worthy of religious donations. And they serve the Buddhist community first. These seven things don’t lead to the decline of a lay follower.” That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:
The closing verse
§2“A lay follower misses out on seeing those who are evolved and listening to the teachings of the Noble One. They don’t train in higher ethical conduct, and their suspicion about mendicants just grows and grows. They want to listen to the true teaching with a fault-finding mind. They seek outside the Buddhist community for someone else worthy of religious donations, and that lay follower serves them first. These seven principles leading to decline have been well taught. A lay follower who practices them falls away from the true teaching. A lay follower doesn’t miss out on seeing those who are evolved and listening to the teachings of the Noble One. They train in higher ethical conduct, and their confidence in mendicants just grows and grows. They want to listen to the true teaching without a fault-finding mind. They don’t seek outside the Buddhist community for someone else worthy of religious donations, and that lay follower serves the Buddhist community first. These seven principles that prevent decline have been well taught. A lay follower who practices them doesn’t fall away from the true teaching.”
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