There Venerable Sāriputta addressed the mendicants: … “Whoever asks a question of another, does so for one or other of these five reasons. What five? Someone asks a question of another from stupidity and folly. Or they ask from corrupt wishes, being of wishful temperament. Or they ask in order to disparage. Or they ask wanting to understand. Or they ask with the thought,
‘If they correctly answer the question I ask it’s good. If not, I’ll correctly answer it for them.’ Whoever asks a question of another, does so for one or other of these five reasons. As for myself, I ask with the thought,
PL
‘sace me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati iccetaṁ kusalaṁ, no ce me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati ahamassa sammadeva byākarissāmī’ti. Yo hi koci, āvuso, paraṁ pañhaṁ pucchati, sabbo so imehi pañcahi ṭhānehi, etesaṁ vā aññatarena. Ahaṁ kho panāvuso, evaṁcitto paraṁ pañhaṁ pucchāmi:
EN
‘If they correctly answer the question I ask it’s good. If not, I’ll correctly answer it for them.’”
PL
‘sace me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati iccetaṁ kusalaṁ, no ce me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati, ahamassa sammadeva byākarissāmī’”ti. Pañcamaṁ.
There Venerable Sāriputta addressed the mendicants: … “Whoever asks a question of another, does so for one or other of these five reasons. What five? Someone asks a question of another from stupidity and folly. Or they ask from corrupt wishes, being of wishful temperament. Or they ask in order to disparage. Or they ask wanting to understand. Or they ask with the thought,
‘If they correctly answer the question I ask it’s good. If not, I’ll correctly answer it for them.’ Whoever asks a question of another, does so for one or other of these five reasons. As for myself, I ask with the thought,
PL
‘sace me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati iccetaṁ kusalaṁ, no ce me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati ahamassa sammadeva byākarissāmī’ti. Yo hi koci, āvuso, paraṁ pañhaṁ pucchati, sabbo so imehi pañcahi ṭhānehi, etesaṁ vā aññatarena. Ahaṁ kho panāvuso, evaṁcitto paraṁ pañhaṁ pucchāmi:
EN
‘If they correctly answer the question I ask it’s good. If not, I’ll correctly answer it for them.’”
PL
‘sace me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati iccetaṁ kusalaṁ, no ce me pañhaṁ puṭṭho sammadeva byākarissati, ahamassa sammadeva byākarissāmī’”ti. Pañcamaṁ.
Sutraya