9: The Book of the Nines
10. Worthy of Gifts
- fdg sc © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi (More copyright information)
1"Bhikkhus, these nine persons are worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, worthy of reverential salutation, an unsurpassed field of merit for the world. What nine? The arahant, the one practicing for arahantship; the non-returner, the one practicing for realization of the fruit of non-returning; the once-returner, the one practicing for realization of the fruit of once-returning; the stream-enterer, the one practicing for realization of the fruit of stream-entry; the clan member.[n.1850] Gotrabhū. In his translation of Vism, where the word is used in a technical sense, Ñāṇamoli renders it "change-of-lineage" (see Vism 672–75, Ppn 22.1–14). Mp explains this person—in accordance with the exegetical scheme of the commentaries—as "one with a mind of powerful insight that has reached the peak, the immediate condition for the path of stream-entry." Mp is here referring to the gotrabhū mind-moment in the cognitive process (cittavīthi) of the path, the mental event that immediately precedes sotāpattimaggacitta, the mind-moment of the path of stream-entry. Since this scheme is relatively late and presupposes the Abhidhamma theory of the cognitive process, it is unlikely to reveal the original meaning of gotrabhū. In the Nikāyas, the word occurs infrequently. In the present sutta it seems to mean simply a virtuous monk or nun who has not reached the path of stream-entry. We find the plural form at MN 142.12, III 255,6–7: "But in the future, Ānanda, there will be clan members, with ochre (robes around) their necks, immoral people, of bad character" (bhavissanti kho pan’ānanda, anāgatamaddhānaṁ gotrabhuno kāsāvakaṇṭhā dussīlā pāpadhammā). In the latter passage it has a pejorative sense, referring to those who show merely the outer marks of a monastic without worthy inner qualities. These nine persons are worthy of gifts … an unsurpassed field of merit for the world." |