The Buddha states that he has no quarrel with the world; the world quarrels with him. He teaches only what is upheld by the world of sages and proceeds to describe what this teaching is. Like a lotus which, though it arises and grows in the water, is yet unspotted by it, so a Tathāgata, arisen and grown in the world, is yet unspotted by it. S.iii.138f.