an.4.173 Aṅguttara Nikāya (Numbered Discourses)

To Kotthita

Then Ven. Maha Kotthita went to Ven. Sariputta and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to Ven. Sariputta, “With the remainderless stopping & fading of the six contact-media [vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, & intellection] is it the case that there is anything else?”

[Sariputta:] “Don’t say that, my friend.”

[Maha Kotthita:] “With the remainderless stopping & fading of the six contact-media, is it the case that there is not anything else?”

[Sariputta:] “Don’t say that, my friend.”

[Maha Kotthita:] “…is it the case that there both is & is not anything else?”

[Sariputta:] “Don’t say that, my friend.”

[Maha Kotthita:] “…is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?”

[Sariputta:] “Don’t say that, my friend.”

[Maha Kotthita:] “Being asked if, with the remainderless stopping & fading of the six contact-media, there is anything else, you say, ‘Don’t say that, my friend.’ Being asked if … there is not anything else … there both is & is not anything else … there neither is nor is not anything else, you say, ‘Don’t say that, my friend.’ Now, how is the meaning of your words to be understood?”

[Sariputta:] “The statement, ‘With the remainderless stopping & fading of the six contact-media [vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, & intellection] is it the case that there is anything else?’ objectifies non-objectification. The statement, ‘… is it the case that there is not anything else … is it the case that there both is & is not anything else … is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?’ objectifies non-objectification. However far the six contact-media go, that is how far objectification goes. However far objectification goes, that is how far the six contact media go. With the remainderless fading & stopping of the six contact-media, there comes to be the stopping, the allaying of objectification.

- Translator: Thanissaro Bhikkhu

- Editor: Gabriel Laera

With Mahākoṭṭhita

Then Venerable Mahākoṭṭhita went up to Venerable Sāriputta, and exchanged greetings with him.
When the greetings and polite conversation were over, Mahākoṭṭhita sat down to one side, and said to Sāriputta:
“Reverend, when the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over, does something else exist?”
“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
“Does nothing else exist?”
“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
“Do both something else and nothing else exist?”
“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
“Do neither something else nor nothing else exist?”
“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
“Reverend, when asked whether—when the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over—something else exists, you say ‘don’t put it like that’.
When asked whether nothing else exists,
you say ‘don’t put it like that’.
When asked whether both something else and nothing else exist,
you say ‘don’t put it like that’.
When asked whether neither something else nor nothing else exist,
you say ‘don’t put it like that’.
How then should we see the meaning of this statement?”
“If you say that, ‘When the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over, something else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated.
If you say that ‘nothing else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated.
If you say that ‘both something else and nothing else exist’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated.
If you say that ‘neither something else nor nothing else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated.
The scope of proliferation extends as far as the scope of the six fields of contact.
The scope of the six fields of contact extends as far as the scope of proliferation.
When the six fields of contact fade away and cease with nothing left over, proliferation stops and is stilled.”