Saptadhana

saptadhana (T. nor bdun ནོར་བདུན་; bdun; C. qi cai 七財) is translated as "seven riches," "seven jewels," etc. These are seven qualities of a spiritual practitioner that are mentioned in many sutras and commentaries.

A common list of the seven riches consists of:

1. faith (śraddhā-dhanam; དད་པའི་ནོར་)
2. discipline (śīla-dhanam, ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ནོར་)
3. generosity (tyāga-dhanam; གཏོང་བའི་ནོར་)
4. learning (śruta-dhanam; ཐོས་པའི་ནོར)
5. self-respect (hrī-dhanam; ངོ་ཚ་ཤེས་པའི་ནོར་)
6. consideration for others (apatrāpya-dhanam; ཁྲེལ་ཡོད་པའི་ནོར་)
7. wisdom (prajñā-dhanam; ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ནོར་)

An alternate list, presented in the Princeton Dictionary, is:

1. faith or confidence (śraddhā)
2. vigor or effort (virya)
3. virtue or moral restraint (śīla)
4. sense of shame (hrī) and fear of blame (apatrāpya)
5. listening/learning (lit. “hearing,” śruta)
6. relinquishment (prahāṇa)
7. the wisdom arising from meditative training (bhāvanāmayīprajñā).

Quotations

Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend states:

Faith and ethical discipline,
Learning, generosity,
an untainted sense of integrity,
and consideration for others,
and wisdom,
are the seven jewels spoken of by the Buddha.
Know that other worldly riches have no meaning (or no value.)

Atisha's Bodhisattva’s Garland of Jewels states:

The wealth of faith, of discipline,
Generosity and learning,
Decency, self-control,
And wisdom—such are the seven riches.
These most sacred forms of wealth
Are seven treasures that never run out.
Do not speak of this to those who are not human.

Further reading

• Seven Jewels of the Aryas, lectures by Thubten Chodron
• The Seven Riches of the Aryas, Talk #1, first in a series of lectures by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche