four kinds of people
trainees as well as arahants, of unbroken virtue, consistent conduct, etc., and established in the Four Foundations.
Pessa the elephant trainer’s son praises the Buddha for taming the sangha when he is able to tame elephants but not me. Humans are shady, compared to animals, which are ‘obvious’, easy to tame. Then Buddha says there are four kinds of people:
- one who mortifies themselves,
- who mortifies others,
- mortifies themselves and others, and
- one who mortifies neither themselves nor others, who
“lives without wishes in this very life, quenched, cooled, experiencing bliss, with self become divine” (Sujato).
One who mortifies themselves is a ‘naked ascetic’ who goes about ‘licking their hands’.
One who mortifies others is butcher or hunter, etc.
One who mortifies themselves and others is a depraved priest or politician.
One who neither mortifies themselves nor mortifies others is someone who hears the dhamma, gains faith in the Buddha, and decides to go forth as a monk of the sangha., embarking on a life purified and polished like the conch shell.
As such, MN 51 may be support for the argument ordination is the best way to do service by realising awakening for oneself and others, because the fourth person is one who ordains.