Reading guide
A formal title, emptied of substance
A royal bull elephant that eats food, takes up space, drops dung, and takes a ticket — the bare minimum of formal occupancy — is ‘still reckoned a royal bull elephant’, regardless of whether it actually functions as one.
The single disqualifying quality
What makes such an elephant practically useless, despite its formal status, is the same akkhama pentad already seen at AN 5.85 and 5.113: inability to endure sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches.
The mendicant's parallel
A mendicant with this same inability is described in nearly identical terms: eating food, taking up space, trampling beds and chairs, and taking a ticket — still formally ‘reckoned a mendicant’, whatever their actual practical value.
The wit of the comparison
This discourse's real point lands with a certain dryness: being formally counted in a role is entirely compatible with total practical uselessness within it, so long as one merely occupies the costume rather than fulfilling the function.
A fourth appearance of this pentad
This is the third time in this nipāta that the akkhama/khama sense-tolerance pentad has appeared, after AN 5.85 (social standing) and AN 5.113 (right immersion) — each time with a different consequence attached to the same underlying quality.
What comes next
AN 5.139 gives the fullest, most elaborate treatment of this same pentad yet, unpacking each item through a vivid battle scenario.
Key terms
The text
A royal elephant in name only
§1“Mendicants, a royal bull elephant with five factors eats food, takes up space, drops dung, and takes a ticket, yet is still reckoned a royal bull elephant. What five? It’s when a royal bull elephant can’t endure sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. A royal bull elephant with these five factors eats food, takes up space, drops dung, and takes a ticket, yet is still reckoned a royal bull elephant.
A mendicant in name only
§2In the same way, a mendicant with five qualities eats food, takes up space, tramples beds and chairs, and takes a ticket, yet is still reckoned a mendicant. What five? It’s when a mendicant can’t endure sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. A mendicant with these five qualities eats food, takes up space, tramples beds and chairs, and takes a ticket, yet is still reckoned a mendicant.”
Self-check quiz
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