sn.12.16 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

A Speaker on the Dhamma

At Savatthī. Then a certain bhikkhu approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Venerable sir, it is said, ‘a speaker on the Dhamma, a speaker on the Dhamma.’ In what way, venerable sir, is one a speaker on the Dhamma?”

“Bhikkhu, if one teaches the Dhamma for the purpose of revulsion towards aging-and-death, for its fading away and cessation, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who is a speaker on the Dhamma. If one is practising for the purpose of revulsion towards aging-and-death, for its fading away and cessation, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who is practising in accordance with the Dhamma. If, through revulsion towards aging-and-death, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated by nonclinging, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who has attained Nibbāna in this very life.

“Bhikkhu, if one teaches the Dhamma for the purpose of revulsion towards birth … for the purpose of revulsion towards ignorance, for its fading away and cessation, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who is a speaker on the Dhamma. If one is practising for the purpose of revulsion towards ignorance, for its fading away and cessation, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who is practising in accordance with the Dhamma. If, through revulsion towards ignorance, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated by nonclinging, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who has attained Nibbāna in this very life.”

- Translator: Bhikkhu Bodhi

- Editor: Blake Walsh

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A Dhamma Speaker

At Sāvatthī.
Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:
“Sir, they speak of a ‘Dhamma speaker’.
How is a Dhamma speaker defined?”
“If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding old age and death, they’re qualified to be called a ‘mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’.
If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding old age and death, 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 old age and death, they’re qualified to be called a ‘mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life’.
If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment regarding rebirth …
continued existence …
grasping …
craving …
feeling …
contact …
the six sense fields …
name and form …
consciousness …
choices …
If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding ignorance, they’re qualified to be called a ‘mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’.
If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding ignorance, 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 ignorance, they’re qualified to be called a ‘mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life’.”