Dighanikaya 27.135

27.135

Sakaṃ dhammaṃ garahamānoti na setacchattaṃ ussāpanamattena sujjhituṃ sakkāti evaṃ attano khattiyadhammaṃ nindamāno. Esa nayo sabbattha. ‘‘Imehi kho, vāseṭṭha, catūhi maṇḍalehī’’ti iminā imaṃ dasseti ‘‘samaṇamaṇḍalaṃ nāma visuṃ natthi, yasmā pana na sakkā jātiyā sujjhituṃ, attano attano sammāpaṭipattiyā visuddhi hoti. Tasmā imehi catūhi maṇḍalehi samaṇamaṇḍalassa abhinibbatti hoti. Imāni maṇḍalāni samaṇamaṇḍalaṃ anuvattanti, anuvattantāni ca dhammeneva anuvattanti, no adhammena. Samaṇamaṇḍalañhi āgamma sammāpaṭipattiṃ pūretvā suddhiṃ pāpuṇantī’’ti.

‘Deprecating his own status’ means censuring his own khattiya status in this way: ‘One cannot become pure merely by raising a white parasol.’ This is the method everywhere. By ‘Indeed, Vāseṭṭha, from these four circles’, he shows this: ‘There is no separate circle called the circle of ascetics; but since one cannot become pure by birth, purification comes about through one's own right practice. Therefore, the circle of ascetics arises from these four circles. These circles follow the circle of ascetics, and following it, they follow it solely with Dhamma, not with unrighteousness. For having come to the circle of ascetics and fulfilled right practice, they attain purity.’