And what is wealth for a mendicant? It’s when a monk meditates spreading a heart full of love to one direction, and to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. In the same way above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of love to the whole world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will. They meditate spreading a heart full of compassion … rejoicing … equanimity to one direction, and to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. In the same way above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of equanimity to the whole world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will. This is wealth for a mendicant. And what is power for a mendicant? It’s when a mendicant realizes the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom. And they live having realized it with their own insight in this very life due to the ending of defilements. This is power for a mendicant. Mendicants, I do not see a single power so hard to defeat as the power of Māra. It is due to undertaking skillful qualities that merit grows.” That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.

Long Discourses 27 What Came First