[Cunda the smith:]

"I ask the sage of abundant discernment,
awakened, lord of the Dhamma, free
of craving,
			supreme
among two-legged beings,
		best
of charioteers:
	"How many contemplatives
	are there in the world?
		Please tell me."

[The Buddha:]

"Four contemplatives, Cunda. There isn't a fifth.
Being asked face-to-face, I'll explain:
	the Victor of the path,
	the teacher of the path,
	one who lives by the path,
	& one who corrupts the path."

[Cunda:]

"Whom do the Awakened
call the Victor of the path
[&] one who is an unequalled teacher of the path?
Tell me the one who lives by the path,
and explain to me one who corrupts the path."

[The Buddha:]

"He's crossed over perplexity,
his arrow removed,
delighting in Unbinding, free
of greed,
the leader of the world with its devas:
		one like this
		the Awakened
		call the Victor
		of the path.

He here knows the foremost as foremost,
who right here shows & analyzes the Dhamma,
that sage, a cutter-of-doubt unperturbed:
		he's called the second of monks,
		the teacher of the path.

	Mindful, restrained,
he lives by the well-taught 	Dhamma-principles,
				path,
associating with principles without blame:
		he's called the third of monks,
		one who lives by the path.

Creating a counterfeit
of those with good practices,
self-asserting, a corrupter of families, intrusive,
deceitful, unrestrained, chaff,
going around in disguise:
		he's one who corrupts the path.

Any householder, having ferreted these out
	— a discerning disciple of those who are noble — 
knowing they aren't all the same,
seeing this, his conviction's not harmed.
For how could the corrupt with the un-
	corrupt,
		the impure with the pure,
			be put on a par?"