AN 5.42 — A True Person | Ru-Yi Meditation Center

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A true person, born into a family, is for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of many people: their parents, children and partners, household staff, friends and colleagues, and ascetics and brahmins.

Benefit prior to action

AN 5.41 concerned what a true person does with wealth. This discourse concerns what a true person simply is, once born into a family — the claim precedes any specific act of giving or support. Read together, the two discourses distinguish a person’s existence as a source of benefit from their actions as a further, separate source, layered on top.

A widening circle, named in order

The six beneficiaries move outward in a specific sequence: parents first, then children and partners, then household staff, then friends and colleagues, then ascetics and brahmins — from the most intimate relationships to the most public. The rain-cloud simile matches this widening: a cloud does not choose which crops to nourish, and neither does the benefit of a true person’s presence stop at the household’s edge.

The verses' additional claim

The closing verses add something the prose does not state directly: that the gods protect one who is guarded by principle, and that someone learned, ethical, and steady in principle doesn't lose their reputation. The verses extend the discourse’s claim from human beneficiaries to divine protection, and frame reputation itself as a natural consequence of steadiness rather than something separately pursued.

Where this fits the chapter's arc

Between AN 5.41's account of wealth's proper use and AN 5.50's narrative of a king's grief, this discourse and the next several establish what a genuinely beneficial life and a genuinely satisfying one consist of — groundwork the chapter will need before it turns, at its close, to what cannot be secured by any of it.

Key terms

sappurisa — “true person, good person” — this discourse's subject, already met as a term across earlier discourses in this chapter and nipāta.

atthāya hitāya sukhāya — “for the benefit, welfare, and happiness” — the fixed triple phrase repeated for each of the six named groups.

mahāmegha — “great rain cloud” — the discourse's central simile, chosen for nourishing every crop without needing to be asked.

dhammagutta — “guarded by principle” — the closing verse's description of one whom the gods are said to protect.

bahussuta — “learned” — one of three qualities, alongside ethics and steadiness, the verses say prevents a loss of reputation.

The text

The discourse in full: the six beneficiaries of a true person's presence, the rain-cloud simile, and the closing verses. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, a true person is born in a family for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of the people. For the benefit, welfare, and happiness of mother and father; children and partners; bondservants, workers, and staff; friends and colleagues; and ascetics and brahmins.

The rain cloud

§2It’s like a great rain cloud, which nourishes all the crops for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of the people. In the same way, a true person is born in a family for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of the people. …

The closing verses

§3The gods protect one who is guarded by principle, who uses their wealth for the welfare of the many. One who is learned, with precepts and observances intact, and steady in principle, doesn’t lose their reputation.

§4Firm in principle, accomplished in ethical conduct, truthful, conscientious; like a pendant of Black Plum River gold, who is worthy to criticize them? Even the gods praise them, and by the Divinity, too, they’re praised.”

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Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10

What claim does this discourse make about a true person's existence, distinct from AN 5.41's claim?

Correct: B. Existence as a source of benefit, distinguished from action as a further, separate source.

Question 2 of 10

What six groups does the discourse name as benefiting from a true person's presence?

Correct: B. A widening circle from the most intimate relationships to the most public.

Question 3 of 10

What does the rain-cloud simile illustrate?

Correct: B. An image chosen for its indiscriminate, widespread benefit.

Question 4 of 10

What does the closing verse add about divine protection?

Correct: B. An extension from human beneficiaries to divine protection, not stated in the prose.

Question 5 of 10

How does the guide frame this discourse's relationship to AN 5.41?

Correct: B. Existence and action treated as two layered sources of benefit.

Question 6 of 10

In what order are the six beneficiary groups named?

Correct: B. Parents first, ascetics and brahmins last — matching the rain cloud's widening reach.

Question 7 of 10

What three qualities does the closing verse say prevent a loss of reputation?

Correct: B. Bahussuta, sīlavatūpapanna, and steadiness in dhamma.

Question 8 of 10

What does the guide say this discourse and its neighbors establish, ahead of the chapter's close?

Correct: B. Groundwork the chapter needs before turning to its final theme.

Question 9 of 10

Is a specific act of wealth-giving required for the benefit this discourse describes?

Correct: B. The claim concerns presence and character, not a specific transaction.

Question 10 of 10

Where is AN 5.42 set?

Correct: B. Consistent with the default setting used throughout this nipāta when nothing new is stated.

Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

A True Person

Why this discourse