Dighanikaya 24.9

24.9

Tenupasaṅkamīti kasmā upasaṅkami? So kira cintesi ‘‘avasesaṃ tāva samaṇassa gotamassa vacanaṃ sameti, matassa pana uṭṭhāya aññena saddhiṃ kathanaṃ nāma natthi, handāhaṃ gantvā pucchāmi. Sace katheti, sundaraṃ. No ce katheti, samaṇaṃ gotamaṃ musāvādena niggaṇhissāmī’’ti iminā kāraṇena upasaṅkami. Ākoṭesīti pahari. Jānāmi āvusoti matasarīraṃ uṭṭhahitvā kathetuṃ samatthaṃ nāma natthi, idaṃ kathaṃ kathesīti? Buddhānubhāvena. Bhagavā kira korakkhattiyaṃ asurayonito ānetvā sarīre adhimocetvā kathāpesi. Tameva vā sarīraṃ kathāpesi, acinteyyo hi buddhavisayo.

“He approached him”: why did he approach? He thought: “The rest of the ascetic Gotama’s statement agrees, but a dead person getting up and conversing with someone else does not happen. Come, let me go and ask! If he speaks, that is fine. If he does not speak, I will refute the ascetic Gotama as a liar!” For this reason he approached. “He tapped”: he struck. “I know, friend”: a dead body is incapable of getting up and speaking; how did this one speak? Through the power of the Buddha. The Blessed One, having brought Korakkhattiya from the asura realm and applied him to the corpse, made him speak. Or else he made that very corpse speak; for the sphere of a Buddha is unthinkable.