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

65. Then the Blessed One proceeded to the Service Hall, and sat down there on the mat spread out for him. And when he was seated the Blessed One addressed the brethren, and said: 'Therefore, O brethren--ye to whom the truths I have perceived have been made known by me--having thoroughly made yourselves masters of them, practise them, meditate upon them, and spread them abroad; in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to be for the good and happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men! 'Which then, O brethren, are the truths which, when I had perceived, I made known to you, which, when you have mastered it behoves you to practise, meditate upon, and spread abroad, in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order p. 61 that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men?' They are these: The four earnest meditations. The fourfold great struggle against sin. The four roads to saintship. The five moral powers. The five organs of spiritual sense. The seven kinds of wisdom, and The noble eightfold path. These, O brethren, are the truths which, when I had perceived, I made known to you, which, when you have mastered it behoves you to practise, meditate upon, and spread abroad, in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!