Aṇguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka Nipāta
9. Thera Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fives
IX. The Elder
Sutta 88
Thera Suttaṃ
The Elder
Translated by E. M. Hare
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[1] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One dwelt near Sāvatthī;
and there he addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
'Yes, lord,' they replied; and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, possessed of five qualities,
the way[1] of an elder monk
is not to the advantage of many folk,
is not for the happiness of many folk,
is not for the good of many folk;
it is to the harm and ill of devas and men.
Of what five?
There is the elder,
time-honoured[2] and long gone forth;
■
well-known,
renowned,
with a great following of householders
and those gone forth;
■
a receiver of the requisites;
the robes,
alms,
lodgings
and medicaments for sickness;
■
who is learned,
has a retentive and well-stored mind,
and those Dhammas,
lovely in the beginning,
lovely in the middle,
lovely in the end,
which set forth in spirit and in letter
the godly life of purity,
perfect in its entirety —
those are fully learnt by him,
resolved upon,
made familiar by speech,
pondered over in the mind,
fully understood in theory;
■
but he is a wrong viewer
with perverted vision.
He turns away many folk from Saddhamma
and sets them in what is not Saddhamma.
Thus though he be an elder,
time-honoured and long gone forth,
through him they fall into the way of wrong views;
■
though the elder be well-known,
renowned,
with a great following of householders
and those gone forth,
through him they fall into the way of wrong views;
■
though the elder be a receiver of the requisites;
the robes,
alms,
lodgings
and medicaments for sickness;
through him they fall into the way of wrong views;
■
though the elder be learned
and has a retentive and well-stored mind,
through him they fall into the way of wrong views.
Monks, possessed of these five qualities,
the way of an elder monk
is not to the advantage of many folk,
is not for the happiness of many folk,
is not for the good of many folk;
it is to the harm and ill of devas and men.
§
Monks, possessed of five qualities,
the way of an elder monk
is to the advantage of many folk,
is for the happiness of many folk,
is for the good of many folk;
it is to the benefit and good of devas and men.[ed1]
Of what five?
There is the elder,
time-honoured and long gone forth;
■
well-known,
renowned,
with a great following of householders
and those gone forth;
■
a receiver of the requisites;
the robes,
alms,
lodgings
and medicaments for sickness;
■
who is learned,
has a retentive and well-stored mind,
and those Dhammas,
lovely in the beginning,
lovely in the middle,
lovely in the end,
which set forth in spirit and in letter
the godly life of purity,
perfect in its entirety —
those are fully learnt by him,
resolved upon,
made familiar by speech,
pondered over in the mind,
fully understood in theory;
■
and he is a right viewer
with unperverted vision.
He sets many folk in Saddhamma
and turns them away from what is not Saddhamma.
Thus he be an elder,
time-honoured and long gone forth,
through him they attain to the way of right views;
■
though the elder be well-known,
renowned,
with a great following of householders
and those gone forth,
through him they attain to the way of right views;
■
though the elder be a receiver of the requisites;
the robes,
alms,
lodgings
and medicaments for sickness;
through him they attain to the way of right views;
■
though the elder be learned
and has a retentive and well-stored mind,
through him they attain to the way of right views.
Monks, possessed of these five qualities,
the way of an elder monk
is to the advantage of many folk,
is for the happiness of many folk,
is for the good of many folk;
it is to the benefit and good of devas and men.
[1] Rattaññā.
[2] Paṭipanna.
[ed1] Hare abridges this whole section with the words "Just the opposite qualities) so the precise translation he would have used here of certain opposites is not known and is just a best guess.
