“Mendicants, there are these eight grounds for giving. What eight? Someone might give a gift out of favoritism or hostility or stupidity or cowardice. Or they give thinking, ‘Giving was practiced by my father and my father’s father. It would not be right for me to abandon this traditional family custom.’ Or they give thinking, ‘After I’ve given this gift, when my body breaks up, after death, I’ll be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ Or they give thinking, ‘When giving this gift my mind becomes clear, and I become happy and joyful.’ Or they give a gift thinking, ‘This is an adornment and requisite for the mind.’ These are the eight grounds for giving.”

Numbered Discourses 8.34 4. Giving A Field

“Mendicants, when a field has eight factors a seed sown in it is not very fruitful or rewarding or productive. What eight factors does it have? It’s when a field has mounds and ditches. It has stones and gravel. It’s salty. It doesn’t have deep furrows. And it’s not equipped with water inlets, water outlets, irrigation channels, and boundaries. When a field has these eight factors a seed sown in it is not fruitful or rewarding or productive.

In the same way, when an ascetic or brahmin has eight factors a gift given to them is not very fruitful or beneficial or brilliant or bountiful. What eight factors do they have? It’s when an ascetic or brahmin has wrong view, wrong purpose, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, and wrong immersion. When an ascetic or brahmin has these eight factors a gift given to them is not very fruitful or beneficial or brilliant or bountiful.