Aṅguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
IX. Samaṇa Vagga

III. The Book of the Threes

IX. The Recluse

Sutta 84

Sekkha Suttaṃ

Pupil

[210]

Thus have I heard:

On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying near Vesālī,
in Great Grove,
at the House with the Peaked Gable.

Now a certain monk
came to see the Exalted One

On coming to him
he saluted him
and sat down at one side.

As he sat at one side
that monk said this to the Exalted One:

"As to the saying,
'A pupil. A pupil,'
lord, pray, how far is one a pupil?"

[211] "He is under training, monk.¹

That is why be is called a pupil.

And what does he train in?

He trains in the higher morality,
the higher thought,
the higher insight.

That, monk, is why one is called
'A pupil.'"

To the pupil training, in the straight way walking,²
By ending³ of his sins first cometh knowledge:
Straight⁴ follows gnosis: by that gnosis freed
He knows in very truth: Sure is my freedom,
By wearing out the fetter of becoming.²

¹ Cf. S. v, 14. At V.M. 274 sikkhati is def. as ghaṭati, vāyamati.

² These gathas occur at Itiv. 53 and partly at p. 104.[?]

³ Khayasmiṃ = kilesānaṃ khepanato, Comy. Cf. M.A. i, 63, which quotes this passage and notes āsavānaṃ khayā samano hoti. Cf. M. ii, 38, for details of this process; Pts. of Contr. 83.