Viyahapannatti 8.3.398

8.3.398

aha bhaṃte! kumme, kummāvaliyā, gohā, gohāvaliyā, goṇā, goṇāvaliyā, manusse, manussāvaliyā, mahise, mahisāvaliyā–eesi ṇaṃ duhā vā tihā vā saṃkhejjahā vā chinnāṇaṃ je aṃtarā te vi ṇaṃ tehiṃ jīvapaesehiṃ phuḍā?
haṃtā phuḍā|
purise ṇaṃ bhaṃte! aṃtare hattheṇa vā pādeṇa vā aṃguliyāe vā salāgāe vā kaṭṭheṇa vā kiliṃceṇa vā āmusamāṇe vā saṃmusamāṇe vā ālihamāṇe vā vilihamāṇe vā annayaresu ṇa vā tikkheṇaṃ satthajāeṇaṃ āchiṃdamāṇe vā vichiṃdamāṇe vā, aganikāe vā samoḍahamāṇe tesiṃ jīvapaesāṇaṃ kiṃci ābāhaṃ vā vibāhaṃ vā uppāei? chavicchedaṃ vā karei?
no tiṇaṭṭhe samaṭṭhe, no khalu tattha satthaṃ kamai|

"Now, Venerable Sir, if a tortoise, a row of tortoises, an iguana, a row of iguanas, an ox, a row of oxen, a human, a row of humans, a buffalo, a row of buffaloes—if these are cut into two, or into three, or into a numerable [number of parts], are the intervals between them pervaded by those soul-units?"
"Yes, they are pervaded."
"Venerable Sir, if a man, touching or pressing, scratching or scraping the interval with a hand, or a foot, or a finger, or a probe, or a piece of wood, or a splinter, or cutting or cleaving it with any kind of sharp weapon, or burning it with fire, does he produce any affliction or pain to those soul-units? Or does he cause an incision of the flesh?"
"That meaning is not fit; indeed, no weapon operates there."