This is an excerpt from a long sutta which records the days leading to the Buddha's Parinibbana. Here the Buddha tells Ven Ananda of his conversation with Mara, and of the mission he had set for himself just after his Enlightenment. It also makes clear that the Buddha intended that the teaching and preservation of the Dhamma is not the responsibility of the sangha alone but of all his disciples.
"Then, Ananda, I answered Mara, the Evil One, saying: 'I shall not come to my final passing away, Evil One, until my bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, laymen and laywomen, have come to be true disciples — wise, well disciplined, apt and learned, preservers of the Dhamma, living according to the Dhamma, abiding by appropriate conduct and, having learned the Master's word, are able to expound it, preach it, proclaim it, establish it, reveal it, explain it in detail, and make it clear; until, when adverse opinions arise, they shall be able to refute them thoroughly and well, and to preach this convincing and liberating Dhamma
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