Itivuttaka — Assim Foi Dito — 22 — The Benefits of Love

1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.

2“Mendicants, don’t fear good deeds. For ‘good deeds’ is a term for happiness, for what is likable, desirable, and agreeable. I recall undergoing for a long time the likable, desirable, and agreeable results of good deeds performed over a long time. Having developed a mind of love for seven years, for seven eons of the cosmos contracting and expanding I didn’t return to this world again. As the eon contracted I went to the realm of sublime luminosity. As it expanded I was reborn in an empty mansion of divinity.

3There I was the Divinity, the Great Divinity, the vanquisher, the unvanquished, the universal seer, the wielder of power. I was Sakka, lord of gods, thirty-six times. Many hundreds of times I was a king, a wheel-turning monarch, a just and principled king. My dominion extended to all four sides, I achieved stability in the country, and I possessed the seven treasures. Not to mention regional kingship!

4Then I thought, ‘Of what deed of mine is this the fruit and result, that I am now so mighty and powerful?’ Then I thought, ‘It is the fruit and result of three kinds of deeds: giving, self-control, and restraint.’”

5The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:

6“One should practice only good deeds,
whose happy outcome stretches ahead.
Giving and moral conduct,
developing a mind of love:

7having developed these
three things yielding happiness,
that astute one is reborn
in a happy, pleasing world.”

8This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.