[
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.