Words Which Should Be Studied, Learned, and Investigated in The Foremost Assembly

And what is the assembly trained in investigation, not in conceited talk.

Here, in this kind of assembly, when those discourses are being recited that are mere poetry composed by poets, beautiful in words and phrases, created by outsiders, spoken by (their) disciples, the Monks are not interested to listen to them, do not lend an ear to them, or apply their minds to understand them; they do not think those teachings should be studied and learned.

But when those discourses spoken by The Tathāgata are being recited that are deep, deep in meaning, world-transcending, connected with emptiness, the Monks are interested to listen to them, lend an ear to them, and apply their minds to understand them; they think those Teachings should be studied and learned. And having learned those Teachings, they question each other about them and investigate them thoroughly, (asking): How is this? What is the meaning of this? (They) disclose to (others) what is obscure and clarify what is unclear, and dispel their confusion about numerous misunderstandings.

This is called the assembly trained in investigation, not in conceited talk.

And what is the assembly trained in conceited talk, not in investigation.

Here, in this kind of assembly, when those discourses are being spoken by The Tathāgata are being recited that are deep, deep in meaning, world-transcending, connected with emptiness, the Monks are not interested to listen to them, do not lend an ear to them, or apply their minds to understand them; they do not think those Teachings should be studied and learned.

But when those discourses are being recited that are mere poetry composed by poets, beautiful in words and phrases, created by outsiders, spoken by (their) disciples, they are interested to listen to them, lend an ear to them, and apply their minds to understand them; they think those teachings should be studied and learned. And having learned those teachings, they do not question each other about them or investigate them thoroughly, [asking]: How is this? What is the meaning of this? They do not disclose [to others] what is obscure and clarify what is unclear, or dispel their confusion about numerous misunderstandings.

This is called the assembly trained in conceited talk, not in investigation.

These, Monks, are the two kinds of assemblies. Of these two kinds of assemblies, the assembly trained in investigation, not in conceited talk, is foremost.

(Reference: AN 2.47)

During the lifetime of the man we now refer to as Gotama Buddha, there were several communities of roaming Ascetics, also known as “Spiritual Seekers”, whose primary Teacher claimed it was their teachings which led to Enlightenment.

As Siddhartha Gotama left the royal palace to embark on his journey towards seeking Enlightenment, he sought training and instruction from one of these Teachers. He spent time learning the teachings and had mastered the teachings shared by this first Teacher. The Teacher declared him to be able to fully represent his teachings as a masterful student now being declared a Teacher. Siddhartha Gotama observed that while he was declared a master of this community’s teachings in a short time, his mind was still discontent and lacked the discipline to experience the Enlightened mind. Due to his continued challenges of a discontent mind, he chose to leave this community and seek guidance with a new Teacher.

Soon after receiving instruction with his new Teacher, this Teacher also determined that Siddhartha Gotama had mastered his teachings and declared him to be able to represent his teachings as a Master Teacher. But, with this second designation of being a Master Teacher in a second community claiming to have the teachings that lead to Enlightenment, Siddhartha Gotama observed his mind was still discontent.

Realizing that he had spent the last two (2) years learning two different approaches towards the attainment of Enlightenment and becoming accomplished in both disciplines as a Master Teacher, he could observe that the condition of his mind was not yet steady, stable, unshakable, with peacefulness, calmness, serenity, and contentedness with joy.

He had essentially succeeded at mastering the teachings of two different approaches to attaining Enlightenment, yet the condition of his mind had not improved to the point of complete and total peacefulness. He also had not discovered the answers to the initial questions that ignited his motivation to leave the royal palace and pursue the answers to why human beings experienced sickness, aging, and death.

He was no closer to understanding the core and central problem he sought to investigate as he was when he first left the royal palace. While he had mastered two different disciplines of teachings, he had not solved the challenge of a discontent mind and he did not have the answers to why human beings experienced sickness, aging, and death.

So, he decided to leave from the communities of wandering Ascetics retreating to isolation in the forest embarking on a journey of independent investigation of how to solve the problem of the discontent mind and why human beings experienced sickness, aging, and death.

After a total of a six (6) year journey, four (4) years independently, where he gradually discovered The Teachings that do indeed lead to Enlightenment, he then returned to share his independently discovered Teachings with those who chose to learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings he had discovered.

Now, a Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha, Gotama Buddha performed a miracle for five (5) Ascetics who were then convinced, he had attained Enlightenment.

He delivers his first discourse of The Four Noble Truths helping these first five (5) Students understand the problem of the unEnlightened mind, the cause of the problem, the elimination of the problem, and the path leading to the complete elimination of the problem. His Teachings were detailed and eye opening for these first five (5) Students who understood, he was surely Enlightened.

But, a Buddha does not rely on miracles to convince large numbers of people that he is, in fact, a Buddha. Instead, a Buddha skillfully shares his Teachings with others in a humble way guiding those who choose to learn, reflect, and practice his Teachings towards the attainment of Enlightenment.

There is no outward physical indication of one who has attained Enlightenment and a Buddha does not advertise that they are a Buddha, but instead humbly goes about their objective of sharing their Teachings into the world, in such a way, that will guide countless people to Enlightenment during their lifetime, and leaves The Teachings in a condition that after their death, will guide countless more people to the attainment of Enlightenment.

During Gotama Buddha’s lifetime in the region of the world he lived, modern day Nepal and Northeastern India, there were several communities of roaming Ascetics that continued to share what they felt were the teachings that lead to Enlightenment. There were different communities that felt they had discovered The Teachings that lead to Enlightenment. So, there were many competing views and opinions of what Enlightenment is, The Teachings to attain Enlightenment, and the methods of training that would produce Enlightenment.

There were competing communities of Ascetics with a Master Teacher all claiming it was their teachings that would produce Enlightenment. Various members of these communities would listen to talks on the teachings and applied various amounts of effort to implementing the teachings into their daily life.

Due to the environment of competing views and opinions, along with there being no way to confirm for others that Gotama Buddha was indeed a Buddha, various Teachers shared their teachings throughout the community.

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that there are two different types of “assemblies” or “communities” that exist.

1.) One trained in investigation of The Teachings, not in conceited talk, and

2.) One trained in conceited talk, not in investigation.

He associates those who are learning, reflecting, and practicing his Teachings as a community that is trained in investigation of The Teachings, not in conceited talk. And, he associates those who are interested in listening to the teachings of “mere poets” as a community that is trained in conceited talk, not in investigation.

A Buddha knows with 100% certainty that their Teachings do, in fact, lead to Enlightenment because they themselves are experiencing the results of the Enlightened mind. They (1) discover The Teachings through their own independent journey, (2) share their independently discovered Teachings for the remaining time of their life guiding countless individuals to Enlightenment and (3) leave The Teachings in such a condition that after their death countless more individuals will be able to attain Enlightenment.

Not everyone would be interested to necessarily learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings of The Buddha because it is hard work and requires an extensive amount of energy and effort to learn, reflect, and train one’s mind to attain Enlightenment.

So, in an environment where individuals are unable to determine that a specific Teacher is or is not a Buddha and the only way to know whether a certain collection of Teachings lead to Enlightenment or not is to learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings - there were many people who did not learn from The Buddha, but instead chose the approach of listening to Teachers who were speaking “mere poetry composed by poets, beautiful in words and phrases”. These words are easier on the ears and the mind, thus, no hard work ensures the mind can remain complacent.

Gotama Buddha would be interested in encouraging people to learn, reflect, and practice his Teachings helping Students to understand the difference between his Teachings and those teachings of other Teachers doing so using “Right Speech” which includes not disparaging or degrading others.

The Buddha, using Right Speech, led his Students to understand the difference between his Teachings and those of others.

The Buddha, whom not everyone understood was a Buddha, was training his Students in investigation to uncover the true Teachings that lead to Enlightenment to acquire wisdom, thus, producing a liberated mind while speaking humbly - without conceit.

But, if one is speaking “mere poetry composed by poets, beautiful in words and phrases” without benefit of learning, reflecting, and practicing Teachings to acquire wisdom that improves the condition of one’s mind and their life, these teachings would not lead to Enlightenment, which would be considered useless by a Buddha as individuals would gain no tangible benefits from the actual teachings being shared.