Mahâ-Parinibbâna-Suttanta: The Book of the Great Decease

[1. With reference to Oldenberg's note at Mahâ Vagga, p. 384, it may be mentioned that Buddhaghosa says here, 'sabba-santharin' ti yathâ sabbam santhatam yeva. (S. V. fol. te.) 2. The following sentences contain a synopsis of what was merely the elementary righteousness, the Âdi-brahma-kariyam, quite distinct from, and not for a moment to be compared in glory with the Magga-brahma-kariyam, the system developed in the Noble Eightfold Path. It will have been seen above, § 11, that the latter, to be perfect, must be untarnished by the attraction of the hope of heaven or the fear of hell.] p. 17 he enters shyly and confused; fourthly, he is full of anxiety when he dies; and lastly, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he is reborn into some unhappy state of suffering or woe[1]. This, O householders, is the fivefold loss of the evil-doer!' 24. 'Fivefold, O householders, is the gain of the well-doer through his practice of rectitude. In the first place the well-doer, strong in rectitude, acquires great wealth through his industry; in the next place, good reports of him are spread abroad; thirdly, whatever society he enters--whether of nobles, Brâhmans, heads of houses, or members of the order--he enters confident and self-possessed; fourthly, he dies without anxiety; and lastly, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he is reborn into some happy state in heaven. This, O householders, is the fivefold gain of the well-doer.'