“There is, brahmin, a sense in which you could rightly say that I’m an exterminator. For I teach the extermination of greed, hate, and delusion, and the many kinds of unskillful things. In this sense you could rightly say that I’m an exterminator. But that’s not what you’re talking about.”
“Worthy Gotama is a mortifier.”
“There is, brahmin, a sense in which you could rightly say that I’m a mortifier. For I say that bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind should be mortified. I say that a mortifier is someone who has given up unskillful qualities that should be mortified. They’ve cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, obliterated them, so that they’re unable to arise in the future. The Realized One is someone who has given up unskillful qualities that should be mortified. He has cut them off at the root, made them like a palm stump, obliterated them, so that they’re unable to arise in the future. In this sense you could rightly say that I’m a mortifier. But that’s not what you’re talking about.”
“Worthy Gotama is gutless.”