Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Four qualities — organization at work, managing domestic help, loving devotion to her husband, and guarding his earnings — let a woman succeed in this life, and four further qualities — faith, ethical conduct, generosity, and wisdom — let her succeed in the next, together forming a differently organized eight from the single set met at AN 8.46-48.
This life: overlapping material, reorganized
The first four qualities substantially overlap with items already met in AN 8.46-48's own eight, but reorganized explicitly under the heading of worldly rather than spiritual success: work organization, staff management, devotion to her husband framed as never transgressing his wishes even at the cost of her own life, and financial guardianship.
The next life: a genuinely different fourth quality
The second four qualities — faith, ethics, generosity, and wisdom — are the same fourfold accomplishment pattern (saddhāsampadā, sīlasampadā, cāgasampadā, paññāsampadā) already met in this book's discourses to men, here applied without alteration to a woman's own path to spiritual success, including the wisdom of arising and passing away explicitly credited as leading to the ending of suffering.
An unresolved number in the closing verse
The closing verse describes a woman with these eight qualities as “accomplished in sixteen respects, complete with the eight factors” — a number this reading guide notes rather than fully resolves, since the verse doesn't itself specify what the second eight respects consist of beyond the eight qualities already named.
Key terms
The text
The setting, and four qualities for this life
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in the stilt longhouse of Migāra’s mother in the Eastern Monastery. Then Visākhā, Migāra’s mother, went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to her: “Visākhā, a lady who has four qualities is practicing to win in this life, and she succeeds at it. What four? It’s when a lady is well-organized at work, manages the domestic help, acts lovingly toward her husband, and preserves his earnings. And how is a lady well-organized at work? It’s when she’s deft and tireless in doing domestic duties for her husband, such as knitting and sewing. She understands how to go about things in order to complete and organize the work. That’s how a lady is well-organized at work.
Four qualities explained
§2And how does a lady manage the domestic help? It’s when she knows what work her husband’s domestic bondservants, servants, and workers have completed, and what they’ve left incomplete. She knows who is sick, and who is fit or unwell. She distributes to each a fair portion of fresh and cooked foods. That’s how a lady manages the domestic help. And how does a lady act lovingly toward her husband? It’s when a lady would not transgress in any way that her husband would not consider agreeable, even for the sake of her own life. That’s how a lady acts lovingly toward her husband. And how does a lady preserve his earnings? It’s when she ensures that any income her husband earns is guarded and protected, whether money, grain, silver, or gold. She doesn’t overspend, steal, waste, or lose it. That’s how a lady preserves his earnings. A lady who possesses these four qualities is practicing to win in this life, and she succeeds at it.
Four qualities for the next life
§3A lady who has four qualities is practicing to win in the next life, and she succeeds at it. What four? It’s when a lady is accomplished in faith, ethics, generosity, and wisdom. And how is a lady accomplished in faith? It’s when a lady 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.’ That’s how a lady is accomplished in faith. And how is a lady accomplished in ethics? It’s when a lady doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or consume beer, wine, and liquor intoxicants. That’s how a lady is accomplished in ethics. And how is a lady accomplished in generosity? It’s when she 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. That’s how a lady is accomplished in generosity. And how is a lady accomplished in wisdom? It’s when a lady is wise. She has the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering. That’s how a lady is accomplished in wisdom. A lady who possesses these four qualities is practicing to win in the next life, and she succeeds at it.
Closing verses
§4She’s organized at work, and manages the domestic help. She’s agreeable to her husband, and preserves his wealth. Faithful, accomplished in ethics, bountiful, rid of stinginess, she always purifies the path to well-being in lives to come. And so, a lady in whom these eight qualities are found is known as virtuous, firmly principled, and truthful. Accomplished in sixteen respects, complete with the eight factors, a virtuous laywoman such as she is reborn in the realm of the Agreeable Gods.”
Self-check quiz
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