Dighanikaya 0.31

0.31

Bhikkhū āhaṃsu – ‘‘tena hi, bhante, thero bhikkhū uccinatū’’ti. Thero pana sakalanavaṅgasatthusāsanapariyattidhare puthujjanasotāpannasakadāgāmianāgāmi sukkhavipassaka khīṇāsavabhikkhū anekasate, anekasahasse ca vajjetvā tipiṭakasabbapariyattippabhedadhare paṭisambhidāppatte mahānubhāve yebhuyyena bhagavato etadaggaṃ āropite tevijjādibhede khīṇāsavabhikkhūyeva ekūnapañcasate pariggahesi. Ye sandhāya idaṃ vuttaṃ – ‘‘atha kho āyasmā mahākassapo ekenūnāni pañca arahantasatāni uccinī’’ti (cūḷava. 437).

The bhikkhus said, "Well then, venerable sir, let the Elder select bhikkhus." Then the Elder, setting aside many hundreds and many thousands of ordinary persons, stream-enterers, once-returners, non-returners, dry-insight practitioners, and cankerless bhikkhus who had mastered the entire ninefold Dispensation of the Teacher, selected four hundred and ninety-nine cankerless bhikkhus alone—those who had mastered all divisions of the learning of the Tipiṭaka, had attained analytical knowledge, were of great spiritual power, had mostly been designated foremost by the Blessed One, and were endowed with the three knowledges and the like. Concerning them, it was said: "Then Venerable Mahākassapa selected five hundred arahants minus one."