[302] "I ask the sage (muni) of abundant wisdom" (thus said Cunda the smith's son, kammāraputta),
"the Buddha, master of the Dhamma, rid of craving (taṇhā),
supreme among two-footed beings, most excellent of charioteers:
how many ascetics (samaṇa) are there in the world? Come, tell me that."
"There are four ascetics; there is no fifth" ("Cunda," said the Blessed One).
"Asked face to face, I shall make them plain to you:
the victor by the path, the teacher of the path,
one who lives upon the path, and one who defiles the path."
"Whom do the Buddhas call a victor by the path?" (thus said Cunda the smith's son)
"And who is the meditator upon the path, without an equal?
Asked, tell me of one who lives upon the path;
then make plain to me the defiler of the path."
"One who has crossed over doubt, rid of the dart,
delighting in Nibbāna, free from longing,
the guide of the world together with its devas—
such a one (tādiṃ) the Buddhas call a victor by the path.
"One here who, having known the supreme as 'the supreme,'
declares and analyzes the Dhamma right here—
that cutter of doubt, the unstirred sage—
him they call the second of bhikkhus: the teacher of the path.
"One who, in the well-taught word of the Dhamma,
lives upon the path, restrained and mindful (satimā),
resorting to blameless words—
him they call the third of bhikkhus: one who lives upon the path.
"But one who, making a cloak of those of good vows,
is a brazen intruder, a corrupter of families, impudent,
deceitful, unrestrained, mere chaff,
and goes about in counterfeit guise—he is the defiler of the path.
"And the householder who has penetrated these—
a learned noble disciple endowed with wisdom—
having understood of them all, 'they are such,'
and having seen thus, his faith (saddhā) does not decline.
For how indeed could he set the uncorrupted level with the corrupted,
the pure level with the impure?"
The Cunda Sutta, the fifth.
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In the Suttanipāta, the sixth [discourse] of the Uragavagga: the Parābhava Sutta.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.