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# Snp 1:5 · 1:5 Cunda
- URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/snp-1-5/
- Published: 2026-06-01T00:05:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-13T16:55:11.000Z
- Description: Sutta Nipāta · Snp 1:5. Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
- Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA)
- Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Buddha, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Sutta Nipāta, Verse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library, #Import 2026-07-06 03:29

Cunda the smith:

I ask the sage of abundant discernment,

awakened, lord of the Dhamma, free

of craving,

supreme

among two-legged beings,

best

of charioteers:

How many contemplatives

are there in the world?

Please tell me.

The Buddha:

Four contemplatives, there is no fifth.

Being asked in person, I disclose them to you:

the path-victor, the path-explainer,

one who lives by the path,

and the path-corrupter.

Cunda:

Whom do the awakened call

the path-victor?

How is one unequaled

in pointing out the path?

When asked, tell me about

the one who lives by the path.

Then disclose the path-corrupter to me.

The Buddha:

Whoever, de-arrowed,

has crossed over doubt,

is refreshed in unbinding,

devoid of greed,

a guide to the world along with its devas:

The awakened call such a person

path-victor.

Whoever here knowing

the foremost as foremost,

who points out,

who analyzes the Dhamma right here,

he, the cutter of doubt, the sage unperturbed,

is called the second of monks:

path-explainer.

Whoever lives by the path,

the Dhamma-way well-explained,

restrained, mindful,

partaking of blameless ways,

is called the third of monks:

with the path as his life.

Making a façade of good practices,

brash, reckless, a corrupter of families,[1](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp1%5F5.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co)

idle, deceitful, unrestrained,

& going about as a counterfeit:

He is a path-corrupter.

And when any householder

—an instructed disciple of the noble ones,

discerning—

understands these,

knowing, “Not all are like that one,”[2](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp1%5F5.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co)

seeing one like that

doesn’t kill his conviction.

For how would one equate

the corrupt with the uncorrupt,

the impure with the pure?

vv. 83–90

Notes

1\. A corrupter of families is a monk who ingratiates himself into a family’s affections by performing services for them that are inappropriate for a monk to do, thus diverting their faith away from those who live by the Dhamma and Vinaya. For more on this term, see *The Buddhist Monastic Code,* Saṅghādisesa 13.

2\. “That one” = the path-corrupter.

See also: [DN 16](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/dn-16/); [AN 10:176](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-10-176/)

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*Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp1%5F5.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*