Vanaropa Sutta
Discourse on the Merit Gained in Planting Groves
Aditta Vagga, Devata Samyutta
Sagatha Vagga Samyutta, Samyutta Nikaya, Suttanta Pitaka

7. Vanaropa Sutta
Discourse on the Merit Gained in Planting Groves

      47. (The deva said:)

      In whom does merit grow by day and by night? Who are the people that are well established in the Dhamma? Who are the people that are endowed with morality? Who are the people that are bound for the deva realms?

      (The Bhagava said:)

      "They who plant orchards and gardens, who plant groves, who build bridges, who set up sheds by the roadside with drinking water for the travellers, who sink wells or build reservoirs, who put up various forms of shelter for the public, are those in whom merit grows by day and by night.¹ They are the people that are established in the Dhamma, that are endowed with morality and that are bound for the deva realms."

End of the Vanaropa Sutta,

the seventh in this vagga

      1. Merit grows: The merit from all the deeds mentioned here is of a lasting nature in the sense that whenever these deeds are recalled in the minds of the donors merit is gained