Gentleness
and Self-Control Balances the Mind:
The
wanderer
Sabhiya
once asked the
Blessed Buddha:
What defines a
Bhikkhu,
a gentle one, a self-controlled, and an Enlightened One?
The Blessed
Buddha
Gotama answered:
He who has reached calm stilling by a path developed
by himself, who has crossed
over all
doubt and uncertainty, who by giving up both this life and any new becoming,
who has
lived the Noble life, whose renewed existence has become fully destroyed,
such one is
a
Bhikkhu....
Any recluse,
who does not harm anyone in the whole
world, who just looks on every
being in aware equanimity, imperturbable, humble, without pride, is a
gentle one...
Anyone whose senses are all controlled, whether the object is internal or
external,
who has understood both this world and the next, who being developed just awaits
his last moment, like a waiter waits for his salary, such quiet one, is
self-controlled!
Having comprehended all fabrications, journeying-on, dying here
and re-arising
there,
whose mental fermentations have faded away, clean, who is
without blemish, stainless,
purified, arrived at the destruction of the rebirth,
him they call enlightened...
This elated the mind of
Sabhiya,
who approving, delighted, glad, enraptured
by joy,
asked for permission to join the
Buddha's
Sangha. After the usual probationary
period of four months,
Sabhiya
in this
very life awakened himself as an
Arahant.
Sutta-Nipāta verses 513-517 Edited excerpt.


More on these
events, institutions and individualities:
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sangha_Contemplation.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/b_f/bhikkhu.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/SammaSambuddho.short.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/In_this_very_Life.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/sa/sabhiya.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/g/gotama.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/buddha.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/The_Sage.htm