The king said: ‘Is a man, Nāgasena, who will not be reborn, aware of the fact?’

‘Yes, O king.’

‘And how does he know it

‘By the cessation of all that is cause, proximate or remote, of rebirth.’

‘Give me an illustration.’

‘Suppose a farmer, great king, had ploughed and sown and filled his granary; and then for a period should neither plough nor sow, but live on the stored-up grain, or dispose of it in barter, or deal with it as he had need. Would the farmer be aware, great king, that his granary was not getting filled?’

‘Yes, he ought to know it.’

‘But how?’

‘He would know that the cause, proximate and remote, of the filling of the granary had ceased.’

‘Just so with the man you spoke of. By the cessation of all that leads to rebirth, he would be conscious of having escaped his liability to it.’

‘Well explained, Nāgasena!’