[289] **"Those who wander having dispelled the army, untroubled, without longing — them I call sages (muni)":** "Army" means the army of Māra. Bodily misconduct is Māra's army, verbal misconduct is Māra's army, mental misconduct is Māra's army; lust is Māra's army, hatred is Māra's army, delusion is Māra's army; anger, grudge, denigration, domineering, envy, avarice, deceit, hypocrisy, obstinacy, contentiousness, conceit, excessive conceit, intoxication, heedlessness — all defilements, all misconduct, all distress, all fevers, all torments, all unwholesome volitional formations (saṅkhārā) are the army of Māra.
For this was said by the Blessed One:
Sensual pleasures are your first army;
the second is called discontent;
the third is your hunger and thirst;
the fourth is called craving (taṇhā);
the fifth is your dullness and drowsiness (thīna-middha);
the sixth is called cowardice;
the seventh is your doubt (vicikicchā);
denigration and obstinacy are your eighth;
gain, renown, honor,
and whatever fame is wrongly obtained,
and whoever exalts himself
and despises others —
this, Namuci, is your army,
the striking force of the Dark One (Kaṇha).
No coward conquers it;
but having conquered it, one gains happiness.
When, by the four noble paths, all the army of Māra and all the defilements have been conquered, defeated, shattered, broken apart, and turned away, then they are called "having dispelled the army."
**"Untroubled" (anighā):** lust is a trouble, hatred is a trouble, delusion is a trouble, anger is a trouble, grudge is a trouble … all unwholesome volitional formations are troubles. Those for whom these troubles have been abandoned, cut off, stilled, calmed, rendered incapable of arising again, burnt up by the fire of knowledge (ñāṇa) — they are called untroubled.
**"Without longing" (nirāsā):** "longing" is a term for craving (taṇhā) — that lust, passion … covetousness, greed, the unwholesome root. Those for whom this longing, this craving, has been abandoned, cut off, stilled, calmed, rendered incapable of arising again, burnt up by the fire of knowledge — they are called without longing.
**"Those who wander having dispelled the army, untroubled, without longing — them I call sages":** those arahants whose taints (āsava) are destroyed, who, having dispelled the army, untroubled and without longing, wander, move about, conduct themselves, guard themselves, maintain themselves, sustain themselves — them I call, declare, teach, make known, establish, disclose, analyze, elucidate, and proclaim to be sages in the world. Thus: "those who wander having dispelled the army, untroubled, without longing — them I call sages."
Therefore the Blessed One said:
Not by view, not by learning, not by knowledge,
Nanda, do the skilled here speak of one as a sage.
Those who wander having dispelled the army,
untroubled, without longing — them I call sages.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.