Dighanikaya 3.258

3.258

Yathā kathaṃ panāhaṃ, bho, tanti ettha kathaṃ panāhaṃ bho taṃ bhavantaṃ gotamaṃ jānissāmi, yathā sakkā so ñātuṃ, tathā me ācikkhāhīti attho. Yathāti vā nipātamattamevetaṃ. Kathanti ayaṃ ākārapucchā. Kenākārenāhaṃ taṃ bhavantaṃ gotamaṃ jānissāmīti attho. Evaṃ vutte kira naṃ upajjhāyo ‘‘kiṃ tvaṃ, tāta, pathaviyaṃ ṭhito, pathaviṃ na passāmīti viya; candimasūriyānaṃ obhāse ṭhito, candimasūriye na passāmīti viya vadasī’’tiādīni vatvā jānanākāraṃ dassento āgatāni kho, tātātiādimāha.

‘How then, sir, shall I [know] him?’ (yathā kathaṃ panāhaṃ, bho, taṃ): here, the meaning is, ‘How then, sir, shall I know that venerable Gotama? Just as he can be known, tell me in that manner.’ Or ‘yathā’ is merely a particle. ‘Kathaṃ’ is a question about manner. The meaning is: ‘In what manner shall I know that venerable Gotama?’ When this was said, his preceptor, saying such things as, ‘Why do you, dear boy, speak like one standing on the earth who says, "I do not see the earth," or like one standing in the radiance of the moon and sun who says, "I do not see the moon and sun"?’, and showing the manner of knowing, said ‘They have come down, dear boy...’ and so on.