Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are seven kinds of wealth: faith, ethics, conscience, prudence, learning, generosity, and wisdom, and whoever has them is truly prosperous, their life not lived in vain.
This chapter's title, finally earned
AN 7.1 and 7.2 concerned being liked; AN 7.3 and 7.4 concerned powers; only with this discourse does the chapter titled 'Wealth' actually name wealth as its subject — a chapter title, like several already met across this series, describing later content more than its opening.
Wealth reframed entirely as inward qualities
None of the seven items named — faith, ethics, conscience, prudence, learning, generosity, wisdom — is a material possession. The discourse's verse makes the reframing explicit: these seven inward qualities are what actually constitutes being “prosperous,” not any accumulation of coin or property.
A brief half whose elaboration is already on this site
AN 7.6, this discourse's elaborated companion, was already published in this site's earlier eighteen-page selection before this systematic build-out began — matching the same pattern already met with AN 6.16 and AN 6.63 within the Sixes, an already-existing page this build simply threads around.
Key terms
The text
The seven kinds of wealth
§1“Mendicants, there are these seven kinds of wealth. What seven? The wealth of faith, ethics, conscience, prudence, learning, generosity, and wisdom. These are the seven kinds of wealth.
The closing verse
§2Faith and ethical conduct are kinds of wealth, as are conscience and prudence, learning and generosity, and wisdom is the seventh kind of wealth. When a woman or man has these kinds of wealth, they’re said to be prosperous, their life is not in vain. So let the wise devote themselves to faith, ethical behavior, confidence, and insight into the teaching, remembering the instructions of the Buddhas.”
Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.