And what’s the sense in which you could rightly say that I’m a mortifier, I teach mortification, and I guide my disciples in that way? 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.

And what’s the sense in which you could rightly say that I’m gutless, I teach gutlessness, and I guide my disciples in that way? I say that a gutless person is someone who has given up future wombs and rebirth into a new state of existence. 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 has given up future wombs and regeneration into a new state of existence. 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 gutless.

And what’s the sense in which you could rightly say that I’m ambitious, I teach ambition, and I guide my disciples in that way? I’m ambitious to offer solace, the highest solace, I teach solace, and I guide my disciples in that way. In this sense you could rightly say that I’m ambitious.”