How the Dharma is taught by an Arhat

Teachers who are Arhats explain the Dharma by relying on the three purities. The first of these is the purity of the vessel or hearer. This refers to the fact that, thanks to their clairvoyance, such teachers know the minds of others. They are thus able to examine beings who need to be trained. And if they find that the latter are appropriate vessels, they set forth the Dharma. The second purity is that of the teacher’s speech.

This means that, because these teachers are free from emotional obscurations like desire and the other defilements, they teach with words that are immaculate, in a manner that is perfectly correct and clear, and in a way that is melodious and pleasant. The third

purity is that of the teaching. Thanks to their unforgetting memory, the Arhat teachers recall the Doctrine exactly as it was set forth by their own master, the perfect Buddha, and others. They then explain it without addition or subtraction, and without error. Their exposition is exact and unmistaken.

Why is it that the Shravaka Arhats do not explain the teachings by means of the three kinds of miraculous display? In fact, they are unable to do so owing to four cognitive limitations. To begin with, Arhats suffer from ignorance (in other words, an impediment in their knowledge) with regard to spatial location. This is exemplified by the story of Maudgalyayana, who was

unable to see that his mother had taken birth in the buddhafield of Marichi. Arhats suffer also from a cognitive impediment with regard to time, as is shown by the fact that the noble Shariputra was unable to

detect the root of liberation in the mind stream of the householder Shrija. They are limited, too, in being unable to perceive the endless sequence of causes and their results. As it is said in the verse:

For a single iridescent eye upon a peacock’s tail, The causes are both many and distinct.

The one who knows them is indeed omniscient.

Without all-knowing wisdom, they cannot be known.

Finally, Arhats are ignorant of very many of the qualities of buddhahood. They do not possess the ten strengths, the four fearlessnesses, the eighteen distinctive qualities, and so forth