Thus I have heard: One time, the Buddha was staying at the Residence of Sages in the Deer Preserve of Bārāṇasī.
It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “There are four noble truths. What are the four? They are the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of suffering’s formation, the noble truth of suffering’s cessation, and the noble truth of the path to suffering’s cessation.
“If a monk has known the noble truth of suffering, then he has understood [suffering] … has known the noble truth of suffering’s formation, then he has ended [its formation] … has known the noble truth of suffering’s cessation, then he has realized [its cessation] … has known the noble truth of the path to suffering’s cessation, then he has cultivated [that path]. In this way, that monk is at the end, the final end, the end that’s free of defilement. The religious life being finished, he’s entirely pure white. He’s called a superior man.”
After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved.