The Related Suttas Collection 35.155

15. The Old and the New

A Dhamma Speaker

Then a bhikkhu went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sir, they speak of a ‘Dhamma speaker’. How is a Dhamma speaker defined?”

“If a bhikkhu teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the eye, they’re qualified to be called a ‘bhikkhu who speaks on Dhamma’.

If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the eye, they’re qualified to be called a ‘bhikkhu who practices in line with the teaching’.

If they’re freed by not grasping by disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the eye, they’re qualified to be called a ‘bhikkhu who has attained Nibbana in this very life’.

If a bhikkhu teaches Dhamma for disillusionment with the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, for its fading away and cessation, they’re qualified to be called a ‘bhikkhu who speaks on Dhamma’.

If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the mind, they’re qualified to be called a ‘bhikkhu who practices in line with the teaching’.

If they’re freed by not grasping by disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding the mind, they’re qualified to be called a ‘bhikkhu who has attained Nibbana in this very life’.”