A Dhamma Speaker (SN35.155)

Linked Discourses 35.155

15. The Old and the New

A Dhamma Speaker

Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him,

“Sir, they speak of a ‘Dhamma speaker’.¹

How is a Dhamma speaker defined?”

“If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the eye, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’.

If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the eye, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who practices in line with the teaching’.

If they’re freed by not grasping by disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the eye, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life’.

If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment with the ear … nose … tongue … body …

mind, for its fading away and cessation, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’.

If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the mind, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who practices in line with the teaching’.

If they’re freed by not grasping by disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the mind, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life’.”