Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are four genuine ascetics — the stream-enterer, the once-returner, the non-returner, and the one who is fully free — and the mendicants are instructed to declare that only this teaching contains them.
The lion’s roar, stated twice
Idheva, bhikkhave, samaṇo, idha dutiyo samaṇo, idha tatiyo samaṇo, idha catuttho samaṇo, suññā parappavādā samaṇehi aññe. Evametaṁ, bhikkhave, sammā sīhanādaṁ nadatha: ‘only here is there a first ascetic… other sects are empty of ascetics… this is how you should rightly roar your lion’s roar’. The instruction frames the whole discourse, given before the four are defined and repeated after, so that the definition sits inside a call to public, confident assertion rather than standing as neutral doctrinal content.
The four ascetics, precisely defined
The stream-enterer: with three fetters ended, not liable to rebirth in the underworld, assured of reaching awakening. The once-returner: with three fetters ended and greed, hate, and delusion weakened, returning to this world only once more. The non-returner: with the five lower fetters ended, reborn spontaneously in a higher realm and not returning from it. And the one fully free: who has realized undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life, through their own insight.
This is the clearest, most systematic statement of the four stages of awakening this series has yet encountered, and it is worth treating as a reference point: the sequence of fetters ended at each stage, and the destination each stage forecloses or guarantees, are given here in a single, compact discourse.
An exclusivity claim, read plainly
It would be easy, and dishonest, to read past ‘other sects are empty of ascetics’ as rhetorical flourish. The discourse instructs a specific, public assertion that no other tradition contains anyone who has reached any of these four attainments — a comprehensive exclusivity claim, not a claim about this tradition’s relative merits. This reading guide records that claim as the text states it, without softening it into something more comfortable for a modern, pluralist reader, and without endorsing it either. It is what this discourse says, and a companion image, the lion’s roar — a call and a challenge, not a quiet observation — makes clear that the text itself intends the claim to be heard as forceful.
What the claim is and is not doing
One honest observation softens nothing but adds context: the claim concerns attainment of these specific four stages, defined by the ending of specific fetters as this tradition analyzes them, not a claim that people outside the tradition cannot be ethical, wise, or admirable by other standards. The scope of the exclusivity is exact — these four named accomplishments, on this tradition’s own technical criteria — even if its rhetorical force, in the instruction to ‘roar’ it, is anything but narrow.
Key terms
The text
The instruction
§1“‘Only here is there a first ascetic, here a second ascetic, here a third ascetic, and here a fourth ascetic. Other sects are empty of ascetics.’ This, mendicants, is how you should rightly roar your lion’s roar.
The first ascetic
§2And who is the first ascetic? It’s a mendicant who—with the ending of three fetters—is a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening. This is the first ascetic.
The second ascetic
§3And who is the second ascetic? It’s a mendicant who—with the ending of three fetters, and the weakening of greed, hate, and delusion—is a once-returner. They come back to this world once only, then make an end of suffering. This is the second ascetic.
The third ascetic
§4And who is the third ascetic? It’s a mendicant who—with the ending of the five lower fetters—is reborn spontaneously. They’re extinguished there, and are not liable to return from that world. This is the third ascetic.
The fourth ascetic
§5And who is the fourth ascetic? It’s a mendicant who realizes the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And they live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements. This is the fourth ascetic.
The instruction, repeated
§6‘Only here is there a first ascetic, here a second ascetic, here a third ascetic, and here a fourth ascetic. Other sects are empty of ascetics.’ This, mendicants, is how you should rightly roar your lion’s roar.”
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