“Monks, you have friends, relatives and family members who you have sympathy for. If they listen to your advice, you should establish them in the four factors of stream-entry. You should encourage them to have the four factors of stream-entry. What four?
“You should establish them and encourage them to have unshakable confidence in the Buddha…
“Monks, there might be change in the four primary elements—earth, water, fire, and air—but a noble disciple with unshakable confidence in the Buddha would never change. In this context, ‘change’ means that such a noble disciple will be reborn in hell, the animal world, or the ghost world: this is not possible.
“You should establish them and encourage them to have the unshakable confidence in the Dhamma…
“You should establish them and encourage them to have the unshakable confidence in the Saṅgha…
“You should establish them and encourage them to have virtue loved by the noble ones… leading to concentration.
“Monks, there might be change in the four primary elements—earth, water, fire, and air—but a noble disciple with the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones would never change. In this context, ‘change’ means that such a noble disciple will be reborn in hell, the animal world, or the ghost world: this is not possible.
“Monks, you should establish your friends, relatives and family members who you have sympathy for, in these four factors of stream-entry. If they listen to your advice, you should encourage them to have these four factors of stream-entry.”
Read this translation of Saṁyutta Nikāya 55.17 Dutiya Mittāmacca Sutta: Friends 2 by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnananda Thero on SuttaFriends.org. Or read a different translation on SuttaCentral.net. Or listen on SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.