Numbered Discourses 10.8

1. Benefits

Inspiring All Around: the Absorptions

“Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is faithful but not ethical. So they’re incomplete in that respect, and should fulfill it, thinking: ‘How can I become faithful and ethical?’ When the bhikkhu is faithful and ethical, they’re complete in that respect.

A bhikkhu is faithful and ethical, but not learned. … they’re not a Dhamma speaker … they don’t frequent assemblies … they don’t teach Dhamma to the assembly with assurance … they’re not an expert in the monastic law … they don’t stay in the wilderness, in remote lodgings … they don’t get the four jhānas—pleasant meditations in the present life that belong to the higher mind—when they want, without trouble or difficulty … they don’t realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life, and live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements. So they’re incomplete in that respect, and should fulfill it, thinking: ‘How can I become faithful, ethical, and learned, a Dhamma speaker, one who frequents assemblies, one who teaches Dhamma to the assembly with assurance, an expert in the training, one who lives in the wilderness, in remote lodgings, one who gets the four jhānas when they want, and one who lives having realized the ending of defilements?’

When they’re faithful, ethical, and learned, a Dhamma speaker, one who frequents assemblies, one who teaches Dhamma to the assembly with assurance, an expert in the training, one who lives in the wilderness, in remote lodgings, one who gets the four jhānas when they want, and one who lives having realized the ending of defilements, they’re complete in that respect. A bhikkhu who has these ten qualities is inspiring all around, and is complete in every respect.”