After Śākyamuni Buddha had put away his robe and bowl, washed his face, arranged his seat and sat down, an Elder named Subhūti stood up in the assembly. There are Three Kinds of Elders: the elder in years, the dharma-nature elder, and the elder in blessings and virtue.

1. The elder in years must be old and have held the precepts for a long time, as had Mahākāśyapa, the oldest and longest precepted of those in Śākyamuni Buddha’s dharma assembly. There are three grades of elders in years:

a) Low rank, those who have held precepts for at least ten years;

b) Middle rank, those who have held precepts for more than twenty years; and

c) High rank, those who have held precepts for more than thirty years.

2. The dharma-nature elder may be young, but he must possess great wisdom and be able to lecture sutras and speak dharma with sufficient power to teach and transform living beings. His stature comes from his deep understanding of dharma, his penetration of wonderful principle, and his unobstructed eloquence. For example, the Buddha’s disciple Śāriputra mastered the entire Buddhadharma in just seven days and became an elder at the age of eight. At that time he mounted the high seat and spoke dharma, totally confounding the best debaters from the five parts of India. All they could do was prostrate themselves before the eight-year-old child and confess themselves defeated. Of all Śākyamuni Buddha’s disciples, Śāriputra was foremost in wisdom and had unobstructed eloquence.

There are Four Kinds of Unobstructed Eloquence: of phrasing, principle, dharma and delight in speech.

a) Unobstructed eloquence of phrasing enables one to answer any question, however difficult, without perplexity.

b) Unobstructed eloquence of principle is a necessary complement to that of phrasing, because along with having limitless powers of debate, one must always speak in accordance with principle.

c) Unobstructed eloquence of dharma means that no matter what is said, one can counter with a higher principle. There is a saying, “Everything is the Way. Left and right meet the source.”

d) Unobstructed eloquence of delight in speaking enables one to obtain the Delight in Speech Samadhi. Then, even if the audience is unwilling to listen, one’s words flow like water and no one can resist the current.

3. The elder in blessings and virtue must have the reward from having planted blessings and acted with virtuous conduct.

Elder is a term of respect and definitely not a title one assigns oneself saying, “I am an elder. Everyone should call me ‘Elder.”

Subhūti, the elder in the Vajra Prajña Dharma Assembly, was an elder in years, a dharma-nature elder, and an elder in blessings and virtue.