Not Knowing I

1. I heard thus. At one time the Blessed One was living in the monastery offered by Anāthapiṇḍika in Jeta's grove in Sāvatthi.

2. Then the wandering ascetic Vacchagotta approached the Blessed One exchanged friendly greetings and sat on a side.

3. Sitting, the wandering ascetic Vacchagotta said to the Blessed One: “Good Gotama, why do these various views arise, `The world is eternal, not eternal, the world is limited, not limited, there is the soul and the body, the soul is different from the body, the Thus Gone One is after death, the Thus Gone One is not after death, the Thus Gone One is and is not after death, the Thus Gone One neither is, nor is not after death'?”

4. “Vaccha, not knowing matter, the arising of matter, the cessation of matter, and the method for the cessation of matter, these various views arise, `The world is eternal ... re ... is not after death'.”