Daily Readings from the Wofd of the Buddha - June 9th

Venerable Subhuti and a believing monk came to the Lord, sat down, and the Lord said to Subhuti: "Who, Subhuti, is this monk with you?"

"Sir, he is a believer, the son of a believing disciple; he went forth from a believer's home."

"But, Subhuti, does he have the traditional characteristics of a believer?"

"Now is the time, Lord, to tell me the traditional characteristics of a believer, then I will know whether or not this monk has them."

"Then, listen carefully and I will speak. Concerning this, a monk is virtuous, he lives restrained by the rules of training, he is well-equipped with practice, seeing danger in the slightest fault, and he follows the precepts and applies himself to them. Furthermore, he has heard much, he learns it in mind and remembers what he has heard. Those teachings that are beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle and beautiful in the end, in both the letter and the spirit, laying down the holy life in all its perfection and purity - those teachings he listens to much, remembers, recites, ponders over and penetrates with wisdom.

"Again, he has friendship with the beautiful, fellowship with the beautiful, companionship with the beautiful.

"Again, he is pleasant to speak to, endowed with the qualities that make it easy to speak to; he is patient and clever at grasping the meaning of instructions.

"Yet again, in all dealings with his fellows in the holy life, great or small, he is clever and energetic, possessing the ability to give proper consideration to them, knowing what is the right thing and how to do it.

"Yet again, he delights in Dhamma, he rejoices greatly in higher Dhamma and higher discipline, and is pleasant to speak with about it.

"Yet again, he has resolute energy for abandoning bad qualities, he is stout and strong in acquiring good qualities, not shirking the burden of good qualities.

"Yet again, he can attain easily and without difficulty the four jhanas which are of the clearest consciousness and are connected with happiness here and now.

"Yet again, he can recall his former lives - one, two, five, ten, a hundred, a hundred thousand.

"Yet again, with god-like vision, purified and surpassing that of ordinary men, he can see the rising and passing away of beings.

"And finally, by the destruction of the defilements, in this very life and by his own comprehension, he attains freedom of mind, freedom through wisdom and abides in it. These, Subhuti, are the traditional characteristics of a believer."