Reading guide
A question that names what SN 22.115 left implicit
"How is a Dhamma speaker defined? How is a mendicant who practices in line with the teaching defined? And how is a mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life defined?" — all three titles SN 22.115's answer had introduced are now asked about explicitly, by name, in the question itself.
This retrospectively confirms that SN 22.115's threefold answer was not an improvised elaboration but a settled, named distinction the questioner already knew to ask about directly.
The identical answer, word for word
The Buddha's response matches SN 22.115's own answer exactly, clause for clause: teaching for disillusionment qualifies the title "Dhamma speaker," practicing for it qualifies "practices in line with the teaching," and being freed by not grasping qualifies "attained extinguishment in this very life" — repeated across all five aggregates in the same compressed pattern.
Why repeat the identical answer to a differently phrased question
The pairing demonstrates that the same content can be reached by two different routes — one question implicitly inviting a threefold answer, one explicitly requesting all three parts — and the answer does not change depending on how directly it was solicited.
This is a variation on the pairing method already seen several times in this book (SN 22.107-108, SN 22.118-119): two discourses sharing near-identical content, distinguished chiefly by how the shared material is approached.
Closing the vagga's namesake pair
With SN 22.115 and SN 22.116 both complete, Dhammakathikavagga moves to its next material: SN 22.117's image of shackled and unshackled understanding, using the near/far shore metaphor for the first time in this run of discourses.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Seated to one side, that mendicant said to the Buddha: “Sir, they speak of a ‘Dhamma speaker’. How is a Dhamma speaker defined? How is a mendicant who practices in line with the teaching defined? And how is a mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life defined?”
§2“Mendicant, if a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding form, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’. If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding form, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who practices in line with the teaching’. If they’re freed by not grasping by disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding form, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life’.
§3If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment with feeling … perception … choices … consciousness, for its fading away and cessation, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’. If they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding consciousness, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who practices in line with the teaching’. If they’re freed by not grasping by disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding consciousness, they’re qualified to be called ‘a mendicant who has attained extinguishment in this very life’.”
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