Kevalin

Renderings

• kevalin: one who is spiritually perfected

• kevalin: one who is fully accomplished

• brahmacariyassa kevalin: spiritually perfected through living the religious life

Introduction

Brahmacariyassa kevalin

In translating the genitive/dative case in brahmacariyassa kevalin we follow the instrumental case suggested in Norman’s rendering, which at Th.v.679 is ‘perfected in living the holy life.’ Our solution is ‘through living the religious life,’ as follows:

• One who has abandoned birth and death is spiritually perfected through living the religious life.
☸ Pahīnajātimaraṇo brahmacariyassa kevalī (A.1.162; A.2.23).

Illustrations

Illustration: kevalī, spiritually perfected

He who set rolling the Wheel of the Teaching having overcome (Māra and his army), spiritually perfected, tenderly concerned for all beings.
☸ Yo dhammacakkaṃ abhibhuyya kevalī pavattayī sabbabhūtānukampī (A.2.9).

Comment:

Other suttas show how abhibhuyya should be parenthesised:

• having overcome Māra and his army
☸ Māraṃ sasenaṃ abhibhuyya (It.41)

• having overcome Māra’s tie (that ties one to renewed states of individual existence).
☸ Abhibhuyya mārasaṃyogaṃ (Sn.v.733).

Illustration: kevalinaṃ, spiritually perfected

The one who is spiritually perfected, the great Seer, one whose āsavas are destroyed, whose fretting has subsided.
☸ kevalinaṃ mahesiṃ khīṇāsavaṃ kukkuccavūpasantaṃ (S.1.167; Sn.v.82).

Illustration: kevalī, spiritually perfected

Maintaining their own dogmatic views, contentious, different (so-called) pandits say: “Whoever knows this knows Perfect Truth. Whoever rejects it is not spiritually perfected.”
☸ Sakaṃ sakaṃ diṭṭhiṃ paribbasānā vigayha nānā kusalā vadanti
Yo evaṃ jānāti sa vedi dhammaṃ idaṃ paṭikkosamakevalī so (Sn.v.978).

Illustration: kevalī, spiritually perfected

‘Those who assert a doctrine different from this have strayed from spiritual purity. They are not spiritually perfected.’ Non-Buddhist ascetics each say this because they are passionately attached to their own dogmatic views.
☸ Aññaṃ ito yābhivadanti dhammaṃ aparaddhā suddhimakevalī te
Evampi titthiyā puthuso vadanti sandiṭṭhirāgena hi tebhirattā (Sn.v.891).

Illustration: brahmacariyassa kevalī, spiritually perfected through living the religious life

He who knows the mind purified (of the five hindrances), who is completely freed from attachment, and who has abandoned birth and death is spiritually perfected through living the religious life.
☸ Cittaṃ visuddhaṃ jānāti muttaṃ rāgehi sabbaso
Pahīnajātimaraṇo brahmacariyassa kevalī (M.2.144).

Comment:

Mind purified (of the five hindrances) (cittaṃ visuddhaṃ) is justified by this quote

• Having abandoned the (five) hindrances, (be) pure
☸ nīvaraṇāni pahāya visuddho (Th.v.1222).

Illustration: kevalino, spiritually perfected

Those who roam the world who are truly liberated (from individual existence), liberated from the perception of existence, spiritually perfected, with egos restrained.
☸ Ye ve asattā vicaranti loke akiñcanā kevalino yatattā (Sn.v.490).

Illustration: kevalino, spiritually perfected

Those who are liberated (from perceptually obscuring states) are spiritually perfected.
☸ ye suvimuttā te kevalino

Those who are spiritually perfected, the round of rebirth for them is not to be discerned.
☸ ye kevalino vaṭṭaṃ tesaṃ natthi paññāpanāya (S.3.63).

Illustration: kevalī, spiritually perfected

A bhikkhu who has abandoned five factors and is possessed of five factors, in this teaching and training system is called spiritually perfected, one who has fulfilled (the religious life), the unexcelled person.
☸ Pañcaṅgavippahīno bhikkhave bhikkhu pañcaṅgasamannāgato imasmiṃ dhammavinaye kevalī vusitavā uttamapuriso ti vuccati

In what way has a bhikkhu abandoned five factors?
☸ Kathañca bhikkhave bhikkhu pañcaṅgavippahīno hoti

In this regard, abandoned by a bhikkhu are sensuous hankering, ill will, lethargy and torpor, restlessness and anxiety, and doubt (about the excellence of the teaching). In this way a bhikkhu has abandoned five factors.
☸ Idha bhikkhave bhikkhuno kāmacchando pahīno hoti vyāpādo pahīno hoti thīnamiddhaṃ pahīnaṃ hoti uddhacchakukkuccaṃ pahīnaṃ hoti vicikicchā pahīnā hoti evaṃ kho bhikkhave bhikkhu pañcaṅgavippahīno hoti.

In what way is a bhikkhu possessed of five factors?
☸ Kathañca bhikkhave bhikkhu pañcaṅgasamannāgato hoti:

In this regard a bhikkhu is possessed of the aggregate of a finished disciple’s virtuous practices, inward collectedness, penetrative discernment, liberation (from perceptually obscuring states), and the knowledge and vision that follows liberation (from perceptually obscuring states).
☸ Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu asekhena sīlakkhandhena samannāgato hoti asekhena samādhikkhandhena samannāgato hoti asekhena paññākkhandhena samannāgato hoti asekhena vimuttikkhandhena samannāgato hoti asekhena vimuttiñāṇadassanakkhandhena samannāgato hoti evaṃ kho bhikkhave bhikkhu pañcaṅgasamannāgato hoti.

A bhikkhu who has abandoned five factors and is possessed of five factors, in this teaching and training system is called spiritually perfected, one who has fulfilled (the religious life), the unexcelled person.
☸ Pañcaṅgavippahīno bhikkhave bhikkhu pañcaṅgasamannāgato imasmiṃ dhammavinaye kevalī vusitavā uttamapurisoti vuccatī ti (A.5.16).

Illustration: kevalino, fully accomplished

We are fully accomplished in whatever (knowledge) is taught by masters of threefold Vedic knowledge. We are experts in linguistics and grammar. We match our teachers in recitation.
☸ Tevijjānaṃ yadakkhātaṃ tatra kevalino’smase
Padakasmā veyyākaraṇā jappe ācariyasādisā (Sn.v.595; M.2.196).