[167] "Sāriputta, there are these four grounds of self-assurance (vesārajja) of the Tathāgata, possessed of which the Tathāgata claims the place of the leader of the herd (āsabhaṇṭhāna), roars the lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahmā (brahmacakka). What four?
"I see no ground, Sāriputta, on which any ascetic, or brahmin, or deity, or Māra, or Brahmā, or anyone at all in the world could legitimately reprove me thus: 'Though you claim to be a Perfectly Self-Awakened One, these dhammas have not been fully awakened to by you.' Not seeing any such ground, Sāriputta, I dwell having attained security, having attained fearlessness, having attained self-assurance.
"I see no ground, Sāriputta, on which any ascetic, or brahmin, or deity, or Māra, or Brahmā, or anyone at all in the world could legitimately reprove me thus: 'Though you claim to be one whose taints (āsava) are destroyed, these taints of yours are not fully destroyed.' Not seeing any such ground, Sāriputta, I dwell having attained security, having attained fearlessness, having attained self-assurance.
"I see no ground, Sāriputta, on which any ascetic, or brahmin, or deity, or Māra, or Brahmā, or anyone at all in the world could legitimately reprove me thus: 'Those things declared by you to be obstructive are not in fact able to obstruct one who engages in them.' Not seeing any such ground, Sāriputta, I dwell having attained security, having attained fearlessness, having attained self-assurance.
"I see no ground, Sāriputta, on which any ascetic, or brahmin, or deity, or Māra, or Brahmā, or anyone at all in the world could legitimately reprove me thus: 'The Dhamma taught by you for the sake of a certain goal does not lead the one who practises it to the complete destruction of suffering (dukkha).' Not seeing any such ground, Sāriputta, I dwell having attained security, having attained fearlessness, having attained self-assurance.
"These, Sāriputta, are the four grounds of self-assurance of the Tathāgata, possessed of which the Tathāgata claims the place of the leader of the herd, roars the lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahmā.
"Sāriputta, should anyone say of me, who knows thus and sees thus: 'The ascetic Gotama has no superhuman distinction in knowledge (ñāṇa) and vision adequate to the noble ones; the ascetic Gotama teaches a Dhamma hammered out by reasoning, following his own line of inquiry, as it occurs to him' — then, without abandoning that speech, without abandoning that state of mind (citta), without relinquishing that view, he is deposited in hell as surely as if carried and placed there. Just as, Sāriputta, a bhikkhu accomplished in virtue, accomplished in concentration (samādhi), and accomplished in wisdom would attain final knowledge (aññā) in this very life, even so is the result in this case, I say: without abandoning that speech, without abandoning that state of mind, without relinquishing that view, he is deposited in hell as surely as if carried and placed there."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.