With Cunda

Cunda
I ask of the Sage abundantly wise,
Buddha, Lord of Dharma, one who’s craving-free,
Best among men, charioteer beyond compare,
Please do tell me what sorts of samaṇas there are.
Buddha
Asked by you personally I shall explain:
Four are the samaṇas, not a fifth is found—
Won to the Path, of the Path the Indicator,
Who lives upon the Path, as well the Path-polluter.
Cunda
Who do the Buddhas say is winner of the Path?
How will the Path-teacher be incomparable?
Tell about that one who lives upon the Path,
Also the one who is the Path-polluter?
Buddha
“I ask the sage abounding in wisdom,”
said Cunda the smith,
“the Buddha, master of the teaching, free of craving,
best of men, excellent charioteer, please tell me this:
how many ascetics are there in the world?”

“There are four ascetics, not a fifth.”
said the Buddha to Cunda,
“Being asked to bear witness, I will explain them to you:
the path-victor, the path-teacher,
the path-liver, and the path-wrecker.”

“Who is a path-victor according to the Buddhas?”
said Cunda the smith,
“and how is one an unequaled path-explainer?
Tell me when asked about one who lives the path,
then declare the path-wrecker.”

“Rid of doubt, free of thorns,
delighting in quenching, not fawning,
a guide for the world with its gods.
The Buddhas say one such is victor of the path.

Knowing the ultimate as ultimate,
they explain and analyze the teaching right here.
That sage unstirred, with doubt cut off,
is the second mendicant, I say, the path-teacher.

Living restrained and mindful on the path
of the well-taught passages of teaching,
cultivating blameless states,
is the third mendicant, I say, the path-liver.

Dressed like one true to their vows,
pushy, rude, a corrupter of families,
devious, unrestrained, chaff,
the path-wrecker’s life is a sham.

A layperson who gets this,
a learned, wise noble disciple,
knows that ‘They are not all like that one’.
So when they see them they don’t lose their faith.
For how could one equate them—
the corrupt with the uncorrupt, the pure with the impure?”