What Mendicants Hold Most Dear

The sutra, What Mendicants Hold Most Dear (Skt. Bhikṣuprareju; Tib. དགེ་སློང་ལ་རབ་ཏུ་གཅེས་པ་།, Wyl. dge slong la rab tu gces pa), contains the Buddha’s answer to a question by Upali, the Buddha’s foremost disciple in knowledge and mastery of the Vinaya. Upali asks the Buddha to teach about the nature, types, and obligations of mendicants and about the meaning of this term. For the benefit of the assembled mendicants and mendicants in general, the Buddha explains that their nature is restraint, their obligations consist of disciplined conduct, and their types are the genuine mendicants who abide by disciplined conduct and those who are not genuine and thus do not so abide. When one of the Buddha’s answers given in similes seems obscure, he offers further clarification upon Upali’s request. The Buddha explains the advantages of maintaining disciplined conduct, thus urging the mendicants to treasure it, and he warns against disregarding it while wearing the mendicant’s robes. .

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The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 302

• English translation: What Mendicants Hold Most Dear