Gamantapabbharavasi mahasivatthera : the worldling whose students were enlightened

[RobertK]

@mrunal_mhatre

Master i don’t think nibbana is something which we achieved or somthing which is motivated by tanha.

Hi mrunal
I meant that the wondering (and hoping) that such and such a teacher is enlightened is motivated by tanha.
.

For the putthajjana it is difficult to know, hard to gauge who is explaining correctly, let alone who has attained.
It is easy to be fooled, and even the teacher themselves may overestimate their understanding.

This is a time for placing confidence in the Dhamma.
This is a good topic. Keep investigating and questioning.

The importance of questioning and discussion

“Anguttara nikaya Book of twos 47 (6) “Bhikkhus, there are these two kinds of assemblies. What two? The assembly trained in vain talk, not in interrogation, and the assembly trained in interrogation, not in vain talk. 284 “And what is the assembly trained in vain talk, not in interrogation? Here, in this kind of assembly, when those discourses spoken by the Tathāgata are being recited that are deep, deep in meaning, world-transcending, connected with emptiness, the bhikkhus do not want to list…

Now what is arising: seeing, colors, thinking, doubt, wishing, wondering, hardness, heat… many different dhammas, that can be understood as they arise, as conditioned, as impermanent, as anatta.
Maha-parinibbana Sutta

Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.

"And how, Ananda, is a bhikkhu an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge?
When he dwells contemplating the body in the body, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world; when he dwells contemplating feelings in feelings, the mind in the mind, and mental objects in mental objects, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world, then, truly, he is an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; having the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge.