Linked Discourses 55
1. At Bamboo Gate
2. The Culmination of the Spiritual Life
“Mendicants, a noble disciple who has four things is a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, bound for awakening.
What four? It’s when a noble disciple has experiential confidence in the Buddha … the teaching … the Saṅgha … And they have the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones … leading to immersion. A noble disciple who has these four things is a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, bound for awakening.”
That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:
“Those who have faith and ethics,
confidence, and vision of the truth,
in time arrive at happiness,
the culmination of the spiritual life.”