Why some people say that they are noble?

December 2015 edition

Why some people say that they are noble?

Article summary

As we know there are noble people among us. “Noble” means they truly understood the eternal Dhamma and achieve the various levels in the path of nirvana. Let’s find out about them in brief!

When someone says “I am a noble being or I am someone who achieved the fruitful levels in the path” there can be few various reasons behind that expose. The great Samma Sambuddha said actually there can be 8 reasons and if someone expose their achievement that could be based on one of the below.  The noble achievements are as below and let's find out the reasons after this.

  1. The path to Stream – Entry (Follower of the Sowan Path)
  2. The fruition of Stream – Entry (Sowan person)
  3. The path to Once – returning (Follower of the Sakadagami Path)
  4. The Fruition of Once – returning (Sakadagami person)
  5. The path to Non – returning (Follower of the Anagami Path)
  6. The fruition of Non – returning (Anagami person)
  7. The path to Arahathship (Follower of the Arihat Path)
  8. The fruition of Arahathship (Great Arihat)

All these noble beings except for the Arhathship can live a lay life in their own style. Even though the final achievement of the eternal nirvana (Arahthship) is achievable as a lay person he or she can’t live as an Arihath – An enlightened one with regular lay life style. It’s a deep topic to discuss and I’m not discussing on that matter in here.

Whether it is a Bhikku or Bhikkuni or lay person, if they are claims to be one of the above noble beings then there can be few reason behind their exposing.

  1. Mandattang momuhatta (The one who is stupid and with higher level of ignorance says that he / she achieve the levels of Dhamma path)
  2. Papicco iccapagatho ( The one who expect profits, compliments, gifts & other benefits are again saying that he / she achieved the various levels in the Dhamma path)
  3. Ummada citta vikkepa (The one who say with crazy mind / the crazy people say that he / she achieved the levels in the Dhamma path)
  4. Adimanena ( The one who with higher pride or ego level which arise with the ignorance say that he / she achieved the levels in the Dhamma path)
  5. Sammadeva (The one who truly say & explore that he /she really achieve the levels of Dhamma path with expectation to support others too to achieve such a level with kind heart)

BUT the worst situation is not these reasons, the real issue is the people’s reaction toward to the people who expose their nobility to the society.  Every time it is a negative reaction towards to them and people says that the noble ones are not express their nobility.

That’s true that the noble ones are not promoting themselves unnecessarily as they have seen the truth of the world. But again you can’t judge with the data you have or the outer observations.  If you are  judging my friend, you are in a big trouble.

It’s better to remember that there can be one of the above reasons behind their exposing as a noble being and just be wise to get the best out of them to your benefit of completing the path of nirvana and if there is nothing supporting from them just ignore without any judgments or anger or conflict thoughts towards them. Because it’s the safest way to deal with the situation which we actually don’t know about!

May triple gem bless you for the best! May you able to identify the greatest noble people among you and achieve the best for you self too!

Rajitha Viduransi | Kelaniya, Sri Lanka