[1188] "Venerable sir, with how many factors is a bhikkhu endowed who is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen (adhikaraṇajāta)?"
"Upāli, a bhikkhu endowed with five factors is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen. With which five?
1. He is virtuous; he dwells restrained by the restraint of the Pātimokkha, possessed of proper conduct and resort, seeing danger in the slightest faults; having undertaken them, he trains in the training rules.
2. He is learned, one who retains what he has heard, one who stores up what he has heard; those teachings which are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, which with their meaning and phrasing proclaim the holy life utterly complete and pure — such teachings have been much learned by him, remembered, recited verbally, examined with the mind, and well penetrated by view.
3. Both Pātimokkhas, moreover, have been well handed down to him in detail, well analyzed, well mastered in recitation, well determined, rule by rule and in each detail of phrasing.
4. He is, moreover, established in the Vinaya, immovable.
5. He is capable of reassuring both parties to a dispute, of convincing them, of making them reflect, of making them consider, of inspiring their confidence.
Upāli, a bhikkhu endowed with these five factors is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen.
Upāli, a bhikkhu endowed with a further five factors is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen. With which five?
1. He is of purified bodily conduct;
2. He is of purified verbal conduct;
3. He is of purified livelihood;
4. He is wise and competent;
5. He is capable, when being examined, of giving answer to the examination.
Upāli, a bhikkhu endowed with these five factors is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen.
Upāli, a bhikkhu endowed with a further five factors is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen. With which five?
1. He knows the subject-matter;
2. He knows the origin-story;
3. He knows the rule as laid down;
4. He knows the wording laid down afterwards;
5. He knows the connected sequence of statements.
Upāli, a bhikkhu endowed with these five factors is of great service to bhikkhus for whom a legal issue has arisen."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.