Seven noble riches

Seven noble riches (Skt. saptadhanāni; Tib. འཕགས་པའི་ནོར་བདུན་, pakpé nor dün, Wyl. ‘phags pa’i nor bdun) —

1. faith (Skt. sŕaddhā; Wyl. dad pa)
2. discipline (Skt. śīla; Wyl. tshul khrims)
3. generosity (Skt. tyāga; Wyl. gtong ba)
4. learning or hearing (Skt. śruta; Wyl. thos pa)
5. dignity (Skt. hrī; Wyl. ngo tsha shes pa)
6. propriety (Skt. āpatrāpya; Wyl. khrel yod pa)
7. wisdom (Skt. prajñā; Wyl. shes rab)

One speaks of faith, which is like a river; discipline which is like a flower; generosity, which is like a jewel; learning, which is like an ocean; samaya, which is like a crystal; a sense of moral shame, which is undeceiving like one's own parents; and wisdom, which is like the sun. The direct translation of this term is the Seven Riches of an Arya.

Quotations

དད་དང་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཐོས་དང་གཏོང་བ་དང་། །

དྲི་མེད་ངོ་ཚ་ཤེས་དང་ཁྲེལ་ཡོད་དང་།
ཤེས་རབ་ནོར་བདུན་ལགས་པར་ཐུབ་པས་གསུངས། །

ནོར་གཞན་ཕལ་དོན་མ་མཆིས་རྟོགས་མཛོད། །

Faith and discipline, learning, generosity,
An untainted sense of shame and decency,
And wisdom, are the seven riches spoken of by the Buddha.
Know, other worldly riches have no value.

Nagarjuna, Letter to a Friend, verse 32

Alternative Versions

• 5. a sense of moral shame in front of others
• 5. samaya
• 6. a sense of ethical conscience in regard to oneself
• 5. a sense of shame with respect to oneself (Padmakara)
• 6. a sense of decency with regard to others (Padmakara)

Alternative Translations

• Seven jewels of the noble ones