By fervor and spiritual practice, by restraint and by self-control: that’s how to become a brahmin, this is the supreme brahmin. Accomplished in the three knowledges, peaceful, with rebirth ended, know them, Vāseṭṭha, as the Divinity and Sakka to the wise.”

When he had spoken, Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja said to him, “Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what’s there, worthy Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. We go for refuge to the worthy Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha. From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember us as lay followers who have gone for refuge for life.”

Middle Discourses 99 With Subha