Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A teacher deserves respect exactly to the degree that they are free of greed, hatred, and delusion regarding what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, and thought — and the honest evidence for that freedom is simply how, and where, such a person chooses to live.
An unscripted arrival
The scene is drawn with unusual social detail for a Majjhima discourse. The Buddha, wandering through Kosalan territory with a large community of mendicants, arrives at Nagaravinda; word of his reputation reaches the local brahmins and householders in the standard formula used across the canon for the Buddha’s fame, and they go out to see him. But their approach is not uniform: “some bowed, some exchanged greetings and polite conversation, some held up their cupped palms toward the Buddha, some announced their name and clan, while some kept silent.” It is a small, realistic touch — a crowd of ordinary people responding to something in as many different ways as there are people in it — before the Buddha addresses them all at once with something clearly meant to be carried away and used.
A script for an honest answer
The Buddha does not simply tell the householders what he thinks of rival ascetics and brahmins. He gives them, twice over, exact words to use if wanderers of other religions ever put the question to them directly — treating the villagers not as passive recipients of doctrine but as people capable of reasoning the matter through and defending their own judgment in public.
Who does not deserve veneration
The first script concerns ascetics and brahmins “who are not free of greed, hate, and delusion for sights known by the eye… sounds known by the ear… smells known by the nose… tastes known by the tongue… touches known by the body… ideas known by the mind, who are not peaceful inside, and who conduct themselves badly among the good by way of body, speech, and mind.” Such people, the villagers are told to say, do not deserve honor, respect, reverence, or veneration — and the reason given is disarmingly modest: “Because we ourselves are not free of these things, so we do not see that they have any higher good conduct than us.” The standard is comparative and testable, not a matter of reputation or credentials. A teacher who is exactly as caught up in sensory greed and aversion as the ordinary householder asking the question has, by definition, nothing extra to offer.
Who does
The second script runs in the reverse direction, term for term: ascetics and brahmins who are free of greed, hate, and delusion across all six senses, who are peaceful inside, and whose conduct of body, speech, and mind is good, do deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration — “because we ourselves are not free of these things, but we see that they have a higher good conduct than us.” The measure of a worthy teacher, in other words, is not charisma, ritual status, or claimed attainment, but a visible, comparative freedom from exactly the same afflictions an ordinary person struggles with.
The evidence: where such people choose to live
A third, sharper question follows, anticipating an obvious objection: how could an outsider ever verify a claim like this about someone else’s inner freedom from greed, hatred, and delusion? The Buddha’s answer turns to observable behavior rather than mind-reading. Such people, he says, “frequent remote lodgings in the wilderness and the forest,” places with “no sights known by the eye to see and enjoy… no sounds… no odors… no flavors… and no touches… to feel and enjoy.” Someone still driven by sensory craving has every reason to stay near sensory abundance; someone who has genuinely worked through that craving has no particular need to. Choosing solitude and austerity, freely and without complaint, is offered here as a piece of external, checkable evidence for an internal condition that could otherwise only be taken on trust.
A practical teaching, practically received
The discourse ends exactly as MN 135 does, with the same formula marking genuine understanding — “as if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden…” — and the householders of Nagaravinda going for refuge as lay followers for life. There is no report of any deeper metaphysical claim being resolved for them; what has been given, and what they visibly recognize as valuable, is a tool: a way to keep their own judgment sharp in a religious marketplace crowded with competing claimants, using standards they can apply themselves rather than deferring to any one authority, including, implicitly, the Buddha’s own.
Key terms
The text
An unscripted arrival
§1–3So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was wandering in the land of the Kosalans together with a large Saṅgha of mendicants when he arrived at a village of the Kosalan brahmins named Nagaravinda.
The brahmins and householders of Nagaravinda heard, “It seems the ascetic Gotama—a Sakyan, gone forth from a Sakyan family—while wandering in the land of the Kosalans has arrived at Nagaravinda, together with a large Saṅgha of mendicants. He has this good reputation: ‘That Blessed One is perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those fit for training, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.’ He has realized with his own insight this world—with its gods, Māras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, gods and humans—and he makes it known to others. He proclaims a teaching that’s good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased. And he reveals a spiritual practice that’s entirely full and pure. It’s good to see such perfected ones.”
Then the brahmins and householders of Nagaravinda went up to the Buddha. Before sitting down to one side, some bowed, some exchanged greetings and polite conversation, some held up their cupped palms toward the Buddha, some announced their name and clan, while some kept silent. The Buddha said to them:
Who does not deserve veneration
§4“Householders, if wanderers who follow another religion were to ask you: ‘What kind of ascetic or brahmin doesn’t deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration?’ You should answer them: ‘There are ascetics and brahmins who are not free of greed, hate, and delusion for sights known by the eye, who are not peaceful inside, and who conduct themselves badly among the good by way of body, speech, and mind. They don’t deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration. Why is that? Because we ourselves are not free of these things, so we do not see that they have any higher good conduct than us. That’s why they don’t deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration. There are ascetics and brahmins who are not free of greed, hate, and delusion for sounds known by the ear… smells known by the nose… tastes known by the tongue… touches known by the body… ideas known by the mind, who are not peaceful inside, and who conduct themselves badly among the good by way of body, speech, and mind. They don’t deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration. Why is that? Because we ourselves are not free of these things, so we do not see that they have any higher good conduct than us. That’s why they don’t deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration.’ When questioned by wanderers of other religions, that’s how you should answer them.
Who does
§5If wanderers of other religions were to ask you: ‘What kind of ascetic or brahmin deserves honor, respect, reverence, and veneration?’ You should answer them: ‘There are ascetics and brahmins who are free of greed, hate, and delusion for sights known by the eye, who are peaceful inside, and who conduct themselves well by way of body, speech, and mind. They deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration. Why is that? Because we ourselves are not free of these things, but we see that they have a higher good conduct than us. That’s why they deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration. There are ascetics and brahmins who are free of greed, hate, and delusion for sounds known by the ear… smells known by the nose… tastes known by the tongue… touches known by the body… ideas known by the mind, who are peaceful inside, and who conduct themselves well by way of body, speech, and mind. They deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration. Why is that? Because we ourselves are not free of these things, but we see that they have a higher good conduct than us. That’s why they deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration.’ When questioned by wanderers of other religions, that’s how you should answer them.
The evidence: where such people choose to live
§6If wanderers of other religions were to ask you: ‘But what reasons and evidence do you have regarding those venerables that justifies saying, “Clearly those venerables are free of greed, hate, and delusion, or practicing to be free of them”?’ You should answer them: ‘It’s because those venerables frequent remote lodgings in the wilderness and the forest. In such places there are no sights known by the eye to see and enjoy, there are no sounds known by the ear to hear and enjoy, no odors known by the nose to smell and enjoy, no flavors known by the tongue to taste and enjoy, and no touches known by the body to feel and enjoy. These are the reasons and evidence that you have regarding those venerables that justifies saying, “Clearly those venerables are free of greed, hate, and delusion, or practicing to be free of them”.’ When questioned by wanderers of other religions, that’s how you should answer them.”
A practical teaching, practically received
§7When he had spoken, the brahmins and householders of Nagaravinda said to the Buddha, “Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what’s there, worthy Gotama has made the Teaching clear in many ways. We go for refuge to the worthy Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha. From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember us as lay followers who have gone for refuge for life.”
Self-check quiz
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