The Buddha’s Final Nibbana
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mastered the tradition, and know the teachings, the discipline, and the summary lists,* and that he has heard directly from those monks, that he has learnt directly from them that such is the practice, such the discipline, such the Teacher’s instruction, then what this monk says should neither be accepted nor rejected . . . his words and expressions should be learnt and then compared against the Teaching and examined against the Discipline. If . . . they do in fact compare with the Teaching and do bear examination with the Discipline, then the conclusion must be drawn that this is certainly the word of the Blessed One and something the monk has correctly learnt. This is the third great authority you should hold to. ‘Now if a monk should say that there is an individual elder monk staying in a monastery of some particular name who is learned, has mastered the tradition, and knows the teachings, the discipline, and the summary lists, and that he has heard directly from that monk, that he has learnt directly from him that such is the practice, such the discipline, such the Teacher’s instruction, then what this monk says should neither be accepted nor rejected. Without being accepted or rejected his words and expressions should be learnt and then compared against the Teaching and examined against the Discipline. If, when they are compared against the Teaching and examined against the Discipline, they do not in fact compare with the Teaching and do not bear examination with the Discipline, then the conclusion must be drawn that this is certainly not the word of the Blessed One but something the monk has mistakenly learnt, in which case you should discard it. If, when they are compared against the Teaching and examined against the Discipline, they do in fact compare with the Teaching and do bear examination with the Discipline, then the conclusion must be drawn that this is certainly the word of the Blessed One and something the monk has correctly learnt. This is the fourth great authority you should hold to. Monks, hold to these four great authorities.’ Now while he was staying in Bhoga at the shrine of Ānanda, the Blessed One talked to the monks a lot about the teaching in these terms: he explained how it is with good conduct, how it is with concentration, how it is with wisdom — how concentration that is invested with good conduct is of great fruit and of great benefit, how wisdom that is invested with concentration is of great fruit and of great benefit, and how the mind that is invested with wisdom is fully
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