Upvote:1
Looking on suttacentral with Pali lookup enabled:
The text in question is,
satthā ca me pariciṇṇo bhavissati mettāvatāyā’ti
Given the mini-translation ...
sattha
- a science; an art; a lore 2) a knife; a lance 3) a caravan
... I wondered how that could translate as "Teacher"?
I think that word-lookup is misleading -- the text says not sattha but rather satthā.
And frankk's answer says that's sathhar, "teacher, master" (which, i.e. satthar and satthā being the same word, is very possible because in Pali word-endings change when nouns are declined).
The full PTS dictionary mentions ...
[cp. Vedic śāstra, fr. śās to teach] a science, art, lore
... so that's the root or etymology of the word.
The question of "who the teacher is?" is notoriously difficult to analyse -- "is the Tathagata this body?" etc. It may be worth remembering SN 6.2 which implies that even the Buddha wants or needs to "dwell in dependence, honoring and respecting [him]" which I think implies that's a motive (or a condition, a sine qua non) of any monk.
Finally the word translated reward is ānisaṁsa
- profit, advantage; benefit, blessing (in, locative)
- praise i.e. that which is commendable, profit, merit, advantage good result, blessing in or from (c. loc.). There are five ānisaṁsā sīlavato sīla-sampadāya or blessings which accrue to the virtuous, enumerated at ...
So maybe not a mundane "reward" but more generally something praise-worthy (or I might say blameless).
Upvote:1
satthar 1 masc. master; teacher [√sās + tar] ●
satthar 2 masc. name of a privately enlightened Buddha; lit. teacher [√sās + tar] ●
In the suttas, "sattha" is often referring to The Buddha. The "reward", is that the disciples feel gratitude for the Buddha, and by practicing his teaching to its culmination is the ultimate sign of respect and gratitude, and the best way to serve him.