“If you don’t think of me that way, what then do you think of me?” “We think of you this way: ‘The Buddha is sympathetic and wants what’s best for us. He teaches out of sympathy.’” “So it seems you think that I teach out of sympathy.

In that case, each and every one of you should train in the things I have taught from my direct knowledge, that is: the four kinds of mindfulness meditation, the four right efforts, the four bases of psychic power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening factors, and the noble eightfold path. You should train in these things in harmony, appreciating each other, without dispute.

As you do so, it may happen that two mendicants disagree about the teaching.

Now, you might think, ‘These two venerables disagree on both the meaning and the phrasing.’ So you should approach whichever mendicant you think is most amenable and say to them: ‘The venerables disagree on the meaning and the phrasing. But the venerables should know that this is how such disagreement on the meaning and the phrasing comes to be. Please don’t get into a dispute about this.’ Then you should approach whichever mendicant they think is most amenable among those who side with the other party and say to them: ‘The venerables disagree on the meaning and the phrasing. But the venerables should know that this is how such disagreement on the meaning and the phrasing comes to be. Please don’t get into a dispute about this.’ So you should remember what has been incorrectly memorized as incorrectly memorized and what has been correctly memorized as correctly memorized. Remembering this, you should speak on the teaching and the training.