4.7. They Adorn (AN4.7)

“Bhikkhus, these four kinds of persons who are competent, disciplined, self-confident, learned, experts on the Dhamma, practicing in accordance with the Dhamma, adorn the Saṅgha. What four?

(1) “A bhikkhu who is competent, disciplined, self-confident, learned, an expert on the Dhamma, practicing in accordance with the Dhamma, adorns the Saṅgha. (2) A bhikkhunī who is competent … (3) A male lay follower who is competent … (4) A female lay follower who is competent, disciplined, self-confident, learned, an expert on the Dhamma, practicing in accordance with the Dhamma, adorns the Saṅgha.

“Bhikkhus, these four kinds of persons who are competent, disciplined, self-confident, learned, upholders of the Dhamma, practicing in accordance with the Dhamma, adorn the Saṅgha.”

One who is competent and self-confident,
learned, an expert on the Dhamma,
practicing in accord with the Dhamma,
is called an adornment of the Saṅgha.

A bhikkhu accomplished in virtue,
a learned bhikkhunī,
a male lay follower endowed with faith,
a female lay follower endowed with faith:
these are the ones that adorn the Saṅgha;
these are the Saṅgha’s adornments.

© Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2012)

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