{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an4.87/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an4.87","id":"suttacentral_an4.87","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an4.87/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"\u201cMendicants, these four individuals are found in the world. What four? The confirmed ascetic, the white lotus ascetic, the pink lotus ascetic, and the delicate ascetic of ascetics. And how is an individual a confirmed ascetic? It\u2019s when a mendicant is a practicing trainee, who lives aspiring to the supreme sanctuary from the yoke. It\u2019s like the eldest son of an anointed aristocratic king. He has not yet been anointed, but is eligible, and has been confirmed in the succession. In the same way, a mendicant is a practicing trainee, who lives aspiring to the supreme sanctuary from the yoke. That\u2019s how an individual is a confirmed ascetic. And how is an individual a white lotus ascetic? It\u2019s when a mendicant realizes the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom. And they live having realized it with their own insight in this very life due to the ending of defilements. But they don\u2019t have direct meditative experience of the eight liberations. That\u2019s how an individual is a white lotus ascetic. And how is an individual a pink lotus ascetic? It\u2019s when a mendicant realizes the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom \u2026 in this very life \u2026 And they have direct meditative experience of the eight liberations. That\u2019s how an individual is a pink lotus ascetic. And how is an individual a delicate ascetic of ascetics? It\u2019s when a mendicant usually uses only what they\u2019ve been invited to accept\u2014robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick\u2014rarely using them without invitation. When living with other spiritual practitioners, they usually find themselves treated agreeably by them by way of body, speech, and mind, and rarely disagreeably. And they are usually presented with agreeable things by them, rarely with disagreeable ones. They\u2019re healthy, so the various unpleasant feelings\u2014stemming from disorders of bile, phlegm, wind, or their conjunction; or caused by change in weather, by not taking care of yourself, by exertion, or as the result of past deeds\u2014usually don\u2019t come up. They get the four absorptions\u2014blissful meditations in this life that belong to the higher mind\u2014when they want, without trouble or difficulty. And they realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom \u2026 in this very life \u2026 That\u2019s how an individual is a delicate ascetic of ascetics. And if anyone should be rightly called a delicate ascetic of ascetics, it\u2019s me. For I usually use only what I\u2019ve been invited to accept \u2026 When living with other mendicants, I am usually treated agreeably by them.  \u2026 I\u2019m healthy \u2026 I get the four absorptions when I want, without trouble or difficulty. And I\u2019ve realized the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom \u2026 in this very life \u2026 So if anyone should be rightly called a delicate ascetic of ascetics, it\u2019s me. These are the four individuals found in the world.\u201d","title":"The Son","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":477}