What are the scriptural references to working with praise and blame from the Pali Canon?
Due to space, I'll answer with some excerpts but bear in mind that the full texts should be read for a better understanding:
(1) Bhikkhus, when an uninstructed worldling meets with gain, he does
not reflect thus: ‘This gain that I have met is impermanent,
suffering, and subject to change.’ He does not understand it as it
really is. (2) When he meets with loss … (3) … fame … (4) … disrepute
… (5) … blame … (6) … praise … (7) … pleasure … (8) … pain, he does
not reflect thus: ‘This pain that I have met is impermanent,
suffering, and subject to change.’ He does not understand it as it
really is.
“Gain obsesses his mind, and loss obsesses his mind. Fame obsesses his
mind, and disrepute obsesses his mind. Blame obsesses his mind, and
praise obsesses his mind. Pleasure obsesses his mind, and pain
obsesses his mind. He is attracted to gain and repelled by loss. He is
attracted to fame and repelled by disrepute. He is attracted to praise
and repelled by blame. He is attracted to pleasure and repelled by
pain. Thus involved with attraction and repulsion, he is not freed
from birth, from old age and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain,
dejection, and anguish; he is not freed from suffering, I say.
“But, bhikkhus, (1) when an instructed noble disciple meets with gain,
he reflects thus: ‘This gain that I have met is impermanent,
suffering, and subject to change.’ He thus understands it as it really
is. (2) When he meets with loss … (3) … fame … (4) … disrepute … (5) …
blame … (6) … praise … (7) … pleasure … (8) … pain, he reflects thus:
‘This pain that I have met is impermanent, suffering, and subject to
change.’ He thus understands it as it really is.
“Gain does not obsess his mind, and loss does not obsess his mind.
Fame does not obsess his mind, and disrepute does not obsess his mind.
Blame does not obsess his mind, and praise does not obsess his mind.
Pleasure does not obsess his mind, and pain does not obsess his mind.
He is not attracted to gain or repelled by loss. He is not attracted
to fame or repelled by disrepute. He is not attracted to praise or
repelled by blame. He is not attracted to pleasure or repelled by
pain. Having thus discarded attraction and repulsion, he is freed from
birth, from old age and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain,
dejection, and anguish; he is freed from suffering, I say.
“This, bhikkhus, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference
between an instructed noble disciple and an uninstructed worldling.”
-AN 8.6, Worldly Principles (2)
"'It's through adversity that a person's endurance may be known, and
then only after a long period, not a short period; by one who is
attentive, not by one who is inattentive; by one who is discerning,
not by one who is not discerning': Thus was it said. And in reference
to what was it said?
"There is the case where a person, suffering loss of relatives, loss
of wealth, or loss through disease, does not reflect: 'That's how it
is when living together in the world. That's how it is when gaining a
personal identity. When there is living in the world, when there is
the gaining of a personal identity, these eight worldly conditions
spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly
conditions: gain, loss, status, disgrace, blame, praise, pleasure, &
pain.' Suffering loss of relatives, loss of wealth, or loss through
disease, he sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes
distraught. And then there is the case where a person, suffering loss
of relatives, loss of wealth, or loss through disease, reflects:
'That's how it is when living together in the world. That's how it is
when gaining a personal identity. When there is living in the world,
when there is the gaining of a personal identity, these eight worldly
conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight
worldly conditions: gain, loss, status, disgrace, blame, praise,
pleasure, & pain.' Suffering loss of relatives, loss of wealth, or
loss through disease, he does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not
beat his breast or become distraught.
"'It's through adversity that a person's endurance may be known, and
then only after a long period, not a short period; by one who is
attentive, not by one who is inattentive; by one who is discerning,
not by one who is not discerning': Thus was it said. And in reference
to this was it said.
-AN 4.192, Traits
Gain and loss, disrepute and fame,
blame and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions that people meet
are impermanent, transient, and subject to change.
A wise and mindful person knows them
and sees that they are subject to change.
Desirable conditions don’t excite his mind
nor is he repelled by undesirable conditions.
He has dispelled attraction and repulsion;
they are gone and no longer present.
Having known the dustless, sorrowless state,
he understands rightly and has transcended existence.
-AN 8.5, Worldly Principles (1)
Not to gain or loss
not to status or honor,
not to praise or blame,
not to pleasure or pain:
everywhere
they do not adhere —
like a water bead
on a lotus.
Everywhere
they are happy, the enlightened,
everywhere
un-defeated.
-Thag 14.2, Godatta
He whose doctrine is [judged as] demolished,
defeated, by those judging the issue:
He laments, he grieves — the inferior exponent.
"He beat me," he mourns.
These disputes have arisen among contemplatives.
In them are elation, dejection.
Seeing this, one should abstain from disputes,
for they have no other goal
than the gaining of praise.
He who is praised there
for expounding his doctrine
in the midst of the assembly,
laughs on that account & grows haughty,
attaining his heart's desire.
-Sn 4.8, To Pasura
As a single slab of rock
won't budge in the wind,
so the wise are not moved
by praise,
by blame.
-Dhp 81