{"collection":"Majjhima Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_mn113/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_mn113","id":"suttacentral_mn113","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/mn113/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Majjhima Nikaya"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near S\u0101vatth\u012b in Jeta\u2019s Grove, An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika\u2019s monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, \u201cMendicants!\u201d \u201cVenerable sir,\u201d they replied. The Buddha said this: \u201cMendicants, I will teach you the qualities of a true person and the qualities of an untrue person. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.\u201d \u201cYes, sir,\u201d they replied. The Buddha said this: \u201cAnd what is a quality of an untrue person? Take an untrue person who has gone forth from an eminent family. They reflect: \u2018I have gone forth from an eminent family, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018It\u2019s not because of one\u2019s eminent family that thoughts of greed, hate, or delusion come to an end. Even if someone has not gone forth from an eminent family, if they practice in line with the teaching, practice properly, and live in line with the teaching, they are worthy of honor and praise for that.\u2019 Keeping the practice to themselves, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their eminent family. This is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who has gone forth from a great family \u2026 from a wealthy family \u2026 from an exceptionally wealthy family. They reflect: \u2018I have gone forth from an exceptionally wealthy family, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018It\u2019s not because of one\u2019s exceptionally wealthy family that thoughts of greed, hate, or delusion come to an end. Even if someone has not gone forth from an exceptionally wealthy family, if they practice in line with the teaching, practice properly, and live in line with the teaching, they are worthy of honor and praise for that.\u2019 Keeping the practice to themselves, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their exceptionally wealthy family. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who is well-known and famous. They reflect: \u2018I\u2019m well-known and famous. These other mendicants are obscure and insignificant.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018It\u2019s not because of one\u2019s fame that thoughts of greed, hate, or delusion come to an end. Even if someone is not well-known and famous, if they practice in line with the teaching, practice properly, and live in line with the teaching, they are worthy of honor and praise for that.\u2019 Keeping the practice to themselves, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their fame. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who receives robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick. They reflect: \u2018I receive robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018It\u2019s not because of one\u2019s material things that thoughts of greed, hate, or delusion come to an end. Even if someone doesn\u2019t receive robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick, if they practice in line with the teaching, practice properly, and live in line with the teaching, they are worthy of honor and praise for that.\u2019 Keeping the practice to themselves, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their material things. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who is very learned \u2026 who is an expert in the monastic law \u2026 who is a Dhamma teacher \u2026 who dwells in the wilderness \u2026 who is a rag robe wearer \u2026 who eats only almsfood \u2026 who stays at the root of a tree \u2026 who stays in a charnel ground \u2026 who stays in the open air \u2026 who never lies down \u2026 who sleeps wherever they lay their mat \u2026 who eats in one sitting per day. They reflect: \u2018I eat in one sitting per day, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018It\u2019s not because of eating in one sitting per day that thoughts of greed, hate, or delusion come to an end. Even if someone eats in more than one sitting per day, if they practice in line with the teaching, practice properly, and live in line with the teaching, they are worthy of honor and praise for that.\u2019 Keeping the practice to themselves, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their eating in one sitting per day. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. They reflect: \u2018I have attained the first absorption, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018The Buddha has spoken of not being determined even by the attainment of the first absorption. For however they imagine it, it turns out to be something else.\u2019 Keeping to themselves the fact that they are not determined by that, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their attainment of the first absorption. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, enters and remains in the second absorption \u2026 third absorption \u2026 fourth absorption. They reflect: \u2018I have attained the fourth absorption, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018The Buddha has spoken of not being determined even by the attainment of the fourth absorption. For however they imagine it, it turns out to be something else.\u2019 Keeping to themselves the fact that they are not determined by that, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their attainment of the fourth absorption. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take an untrue person who, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that \u2018space is infinite\u2019, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite space \u2026 the dimension of infinite consciousness \u2026 the dimension of nothingness \u2026 the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. They reflect: \u2018I have attained the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, unlike these other mendicants.\u2019 And they glorify themselves and put others down on account of that. This too is a quality of an untrue person. A true person reflects: \u2018The Buddha has spoken of not being determined even by the attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. For however they imagine it, it turns out to be something else.\u2019 Keeping to themselves the fact that they are not determined by that, they don\u2019t glorify themselves and put others down on account of their attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This too is a quality of a true person. Furthermore, take a true person who, going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, enters and remains in the cessation of perception and feeling. And, having seen with wisdom, their defilements come to an end. This is a mendicant who does not conceive with anything, does not conceive regarding anything, does not conceive through anything.\u201d That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.","title":"A True Person","tradition":"Majjhima Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":1366}