Nagasena the Arhat

Arhat Nagasena was renowned for his profound exposition on the purity of the faculty of hearing. He meticulously elucidated both the perfection and illusory nature of this sense faculty: ordinary beings grasp at sounds, instantly generating attachment or aversion—joy or anger arising in direct response to auditory stimuli—because the faculty of hearing chases after external sound-phenomena. Yet when the ‘earwax’ of delusion is thoroughly cleansed, sounds and forms no longer penetrate the mind, and true freedom is attained. His iconographic representation captures him seated leisurely, one hand holding an ear-cleaning tool as he cleans his ear, his countenance exuding transcendence and contentment—hence his popular epithet, 'The Ear-Cleaning Arhat'. Though ear-cleaning is an ordinary, mundane act, under the Arhat’s enlightened guidance it becomes a potent symbol for purifying all six sense faculties of their defilements: when the faculty of hearing ceases to chase after sound-phenomena, the mind naturally becomes clear and still, and afflictions spontaneously dissolve.