sramana

One who is completely free from all evil actions is a śramaṇa.
‘Śramaṇa’ in Sanskrit is “samaṇa” in Pali.
The word “śramaṇa” in Sanskrit is derived from the root “śram,” which means ‘to strive’ or ‘to labor hard’. A śramaṇa has to work hard to drive out different defilements like craving and aversion from his mind. If he works to achieve this end, he is called a śramaṇa.
The word “samaṇa” in Pali is derived from the root “sama” which means ‘to become quiet’, to attain peace and tranquillity. It also means to be free from burning. Its other meaning is equanimity, which means to remain unmoved in all circumstances of life [1].
Because a samaṇa works hard to get rid of defilements, to attain peace, and to develop equanimity, the derivation of the word samaṇa from both the roots is justified.
One who has ceased to do evil actions and one who commits no evil actions (pāpakā akusalā dhammā) is called a samaṇa [2].
What are evil or unwholesome actions? They are unwholesome physical and vocal actions like killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, telling lies, slandering people, making harsh speech, talking uselessly, and taking intoxicants.
One who has destroyed all his cankers or taints is also called a samaṇa [3].
From all these definitions it is clear that one who is on the path of refraining from unwholesome actions is a samaṇa and one who is completely free from them is also a samaṇa.

Categories of Samaṇa

There are, therefore, several categories of samaṇa. The first category is sotāpanna, who has entered into the stream that will ultimately take him to nibbāna
As soon as he becomes a sotāpanna, three of the fetters such as doubt, belief in a soul, and clinging to rites and rituals are abandoned. A sotāpanna is not subject to birth in lower worlds; he is firmly established in dhamma, and he is sure to attain nibbāna. He has to be born for not more than seven times to be free from all taints and become an arhat. Besides he develops other qualities such as he cannot conceal any of his wrong actions and he cannot commit any of the six heinous crimes such as killing his mother, killing his father, killing an arahant, causing schism in the saṅgha, wounding a Buddha, and upholding wrong views [4].
The second category is sakadāgāmī, i.e., once returner. It means that he will be born only once in this world and attain nibbāna. He dilutes and makes feeble the two other fetters, viz., sensuality (kāma rāga) and ill will (vyāpāda).
The third category is anāgāmī, i.e., he will not be born in this world and attain nibbāna in some other deva world. The most important characteristic of an anāgāmī is that he is completely free from the 5 lower fetters.
The fourth category is arahant, who has destroyed all his taints and attained nibbāna. He will never be born in any loka, and he is free from the cycle of birth and death. He becomes free from the 5 higher fetters such as craving for fine material existence (rūpa rāga), craving for immaterial existence (arūpa rāga), conceit (māna), restlessness (uddhacca), and ignorance (avijjā). He attains both the kinds of deliverance, deliverance of mind (ceto vimutti) and deliverance through wisdom (paññā vimutti). Deliverance of mind means to be free from rāga (craving) and dosa (aversion) and deliverance through paññā (wisdom) means deliverance from avijjā (ignorance) [5].

Buddha: A Mahāsamaṇa

The Buddha is called a mahāsamaṇa as is clear from what Assaji says to Sāriputta.
Ye dhammā hetuppabhavā, tesaṃ hetu Tathāgato āha/
Tesaṃ ca yo nirodho, evaṃvādī mahāsamaṇoti// [6]
The Great Samaṇa, the Tathāgata, explains the causes of those dhammas, which have causes to arise. He also explains how those causes can cease to be.
Many brāhmanas and others call the Buddha a samaṇa [7].
One can be a samaṇa if he walks on the Eightfold Path. If there is no Noble Eightfold Path in any Dhamma and Discipline, there is no samaṇa there [8].
The Buddha also says in the Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta that as there is the Noble Eightfold Path here, four kinds of samaṇas are found in his order, in his teaching. They cannot be found anywhere else. Why? Because others’ orders and teachings do not make a good field where seeds can grow. Just as mustard seeds cannot stay on the tip of an awl, nor can fire burn by the side of water, nor can seeds grow on a flat stone, in the same way all the four kinds of samaṇas can be found in the order of the Buddha, in the teachings of the Buddha, not in the teachings of other sectarian teachers because the Noble Eightfold Path is not there [9].
It has also been said here that just as a lion does not live in a cemetery, nor on the rubbish heap, but in the jeweled cave of the Himalayas, a six-tusked elephant is born in his own family and not in the nine ordinary elephant families, just as the dark horse king is not born in the family of ass or in the family of ordinary horse, but in a Saindhava family on the bank of the river Sindhu, just as an all pleasure fulfilling jewel is not found on the heap of rubbish or on the heap of dust but in the inside of mountain Vaipulla…so not even a single samaṇa is found in other sects but found only in the order of the Buddha where monks walk on the Eightfold Path [10].
A true samaṇa is endowed with eight kinds of pleasure. He has no desire for collecting riches; he earns his livelihood by pure means; what he eats, he eats without craving; he does not have to give trouble to anybody for his alms like a king; he has no attachment to the objects of the world; he does not fear thieves; he does not have the desire to meet the king and his ministers; and he is free to go in any direction

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