ཀན་ཏ་རྒྱ་བ་སན་རངས་ཀྱས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད intro.9

intro.9

Later in the text, Dīrghanakha, still a wandering tīrthika, meets with the Buddha (whom he seems to have met before), and engages in a conversation remarkably similar to that of the Pali sutta. In it Dīrghanakha states that “no self endures [after death],” to which the Buddha replies by summarizing the various views of ascetics and brahmins as they relate to the endurance or nonendurance of a self. He again teaches the way of contemplating impermanence rooted in the observation of physical sensation. Dīrghanakha immediately grasps the Dharma and, unlike in the Pali sutta, takes ordination as a monk. Here his story concludes with these words of the Buddha: “Monks, among my monk disciples who have gained the knowledge of perfect discernment, the monk Koṣṭhila is supreme.”⁹