“Respect for the Teacher and the teaching,

and keen respect for the Saṅgha;

a mendicant who respects diligence

and hospitality

can’t decline,

and has drawn near to extinguishment.”

Numbered Discourses 6.33 4. Deities Non-decline (2nd)

“Tonight, a glorious deity, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, came to me, bowed, stood to one side, and said to me: ‘Sir, these six things don’t lead to the decline of a mendicant. What six? Respect for the Teacher, for the teaching, for the Saṅgha, for the training, for conscience, and for prudence. These six things don’t lead to the decline of a mendicant.’

That is what that deity said. Then he bowed and respectfully circled me, keeping me on his right side, before vanishing right there.

One respectful of the Teacher and the teaching,

keenly respecting the Saṅgha;

endowed with conscience and prudence,

reverential and respectful—

it is impossible for them to decline;

they have drawn near to extinguishment.”

Numbered Discourses 6.34 4. Deities With Mahāmoggallāna

At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

Then as Venerable Mahāmoggallāna was in private retreat this thought came to his mind, “Which gods know that they are stream-enterers, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening?”