ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 36.6

36.6

just as it should be, whereupon the brahmins and householders of Magadha thought, “The dreadlocked ascetic Venerable Uruvilvā Kāśyapa practices the ascetic Gautama’s code of conduct. It is certain, then, that the Great Ascetic does not practice Uruvilvā Kāśyapa’s code of conduct.”

Thereupon the Blessed One addressed King Bimbisāra of Magadha: “Great King, forms arise and decay, one after another. You should know the arising of forms, and you should know their decay. Great King, sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness likewise arise and decay, one after another. You should know their arising, and you should know their decay. Great King, knowing the nature of forms’ arising and decay, you will understand form. Great King, knowing also the nature of the arising and decay of sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness, you will understand consciousness.

“Great King, when you understand form, you do not grasp at it, thinking, ‘This is my self!’²²⁸ Nor do you appropriate it, dwell upon it, or continue your habitual adherence to it. Great King, when you understand sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness, you do not grasp at consciousness, thinking, ‘This is my self!’ Nor do you appropriate it, dwell upon it, or continue your habitual adherence to it.

“Great King, not grasping at form nor appropriating it, dwelling upon it, or habitually adhering to it—this I call ‘the infinite, the boundless, nirvāṇa.’ Great King, not grasping at sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness, nor appropriating them, dwelling upon them, or habitually adhering to them—this I call ‘the infinite, the unbounded, nirvāṇa.’ ”