Chapter 7: The Venerable

The author establishes that the Arhat is one who has completed their spiritual journey, freed themselves entirely from suffering, grief, and all fetters.

The author illustrates the Arhat's detachment from home and possessions through the metaphor of swans departing from their lake with concentrated minds.

The author claims that those who live simply and have perceived Nirvana follow a path difficult to understand, comparable to the flight of birds through air.

The author restates the characteristic of those with stilled appetites who have perceived Nirvana, emphasizing their incomprehensible spiritual path.

The author claims that even gods envy the Arhat whose senses are controlled, who is free from pride and desire.

The author attributes to the virtuous ascetic qualities of earthly tolerance, stability like Indra's bolt, and purity like an unmuddy lake, with immunity from rebirth.

The author describes the peaceful state of the liberated one whose thoughts, words, and deeds become quiet through attainment of true knowledge.

The author defines the greatest of all men as one who transcends credulity, perceives the uncreated, and has cut all ties, temptations, and desires.

The author asserts that wherever venerable Arhants dwell—whether in hamlet, forest, water, or dry land—that place becomes inherently delightful.

The author concludes that forests delight the passionless where the world finds no delight, for the liberated seek no sensory pleasures.