SN 12.16
CDB i 545
Dhammakathiko Sutta: The Teacher of the Dhamma
translated from the Pali by
Maurice O'Connell Walshe
The Pali title of this sutta is based on the PTS (Feer) edition.

[ A monk said: ] "'Dhamma-teacher, Dhamma-teacher' they say, Lord."

"If, monk, anyone teaches a doctrine of disenchantment [1] with decay-and-death, of dispassion [2] [ leading to ] its cessation, that suffices for him to be called a monk who teaches Dhamma. [3]

"If anyone has trained himself in this disenchantment with decay-and-death, in dispassion [4] [ leading to ] its cessation, that suffices for him to be called a monk who is trained in what is in conformity with Dhamma. [5]

"If anyone, through disenchantment with decay-and-death, through dispassion [ leading to ] its cessation, is liberated from grasping, that suffices for him to be called one who has attained Nibbaana in this life." [6]

[ The same three distinctions are made in respect of birth... ignorance ]

Notes

1 .
Nibbidaa : sometimes rendered "revulsion," but this suffers from the defect of suggesting too strong an emotional reaction. "Disenchantment" covers it better.
2 .
Viraaga is quite literally "dis-passion." The syntax of this sentence is rather curious, but the meaning is clear enough.
3 .
This gives a clear indication of the minimum standard required for anyone (today, in the West, often a lay person) setting up as a teacher of Buddhism. It denotes a "worldling" ( puthujjana , i.e., one who has not "entered the stream") who has the basic intellectual knowledge mentioned here.
4 .
This one is a sekha "trainee," i.e., one who has at least "entered the stream" (and thus knows in part from experience), but is not an Arahant.
5 .
His training is proceeding along the right path.
6 .
He is an asekha ("non-trainee," i.e., one who has finished his training), an Arahant.