The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [422]
12. “But when you were asked: ‘Is there, Master Ānanda, any single bhikkhu who was appointed by Master Gotama…?’ you answered ‘There is no such single bhikkhu…’ When you were asked: ‘Is there, Master Ānanda, any single bhikkhu who has been chosen by the Sangha…?’ [11] you answered: ‘There is no such single bhikkhu…’ When you were asked: ‘Is there, Master Ānanda, any single bhikkhu whom you honour, respect, revere, and venerate, and on whom you live in dependence honouring and respecting him?’ you answered: ‘There is such a single bhikkhu whom we now honour…and on whom we live in dependence honouring and respecting him.’ Now how should the meaning of these statements be regarded, Master Ānanda?”
13. “There are, brahmin, ten qualities inspiring confidence that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. When these qualities are found in anyone among us, we honour, respect, revere, and venerate him, and live in dependence on him honouring and respecting him. What are the ten?
14. (1) “Here, brahmin, a bhikkhu is virtuous, he dwells restrained with the restraint of the Pātimokkha, he is perfect in conduct and resort, and seeing fear in the slightest faults, he trains himself by undertaking the training precepts.
15. (2) “He has learned much, remembers what he has learned, and consolidates what he has learned. Such teachings as are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, and which affirm a holy life that is utterly perfect and pure—such teachings as these he has learned much of, remembered, mastered verbally, investigated with the mind, and penetrated well by view.
16. (3) “He is content with his robes, almsfood, resting place, and medicinal requisites.
17. (4) “He obtains at will, without trouble or difficulty, the four jhānas that constitute the higher mind and provide a pleasant abiding here and now.
18. (5) “He wields the various kinds of supernormal power: having been one, he becomes many; having been many, he becomes one; he appears and vanishes; he goes unhindered through a wall, through an enclosure, through a mountain as though through space; he dives in and out of the earth as though it were water; he walks on water without sinking as though it were earth; [12] seated cross-legged, he travels in space like a bird; with his hand he touches and strokes the moon and sun so powerful and mighty; he wields bodily mastery even as far as the Brahma-world.
19. (6) “With the divine ear element, which is purified and surpasses the human, he hears both kinds of sounds, the divine and the human, those that are far as well as near.
20. (7) “He understands the minds of other beings, of other persons, having encompassed them with his own mind. He understands a mind affected by lust as affected by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as unaffected by lust; he understands a mind affected by hate as affected by hate and a mind unaffected by hate as unaffected by hate; he understands a mind affected by delusion as affected by delusion and a mind unaffected by delusion as unaffected by delusion; he understands a contracted mind as contracted and a distracted mind as distracted; he understands an exalted mind as exalted and an unexalted mind as unexalted; he understands a surpassed mind as surpassed and an unsurpassed mind as unsurpassed; he understands a concentrated mind as concentrated and an unconcentrated mind as unconcentrated; he understands a liberated mind as liberated and an unliberated mind as unliberated.
21. (8) “He recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births…(as Sutta 51, §24)...Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives.
22. (9) “With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass on according to their actions.