There are some ascetics and brahmins who say there is life after death, and assert that the self lives on after death in a percipient form on sixteen grounds. And what are the sixteen grounds on which they rely?

They assert: ‘The self is sound and percipient after death, and it is physical …

non-physical …

both physical and non-physical …

neither physical nor non-physical …

finite …

infinite …

both finite and infinite …

neither finite nor infinite …

of unified perception …

of diverse perception …

of limited perception …

of limitless perception …

experiences nothing but happiness …

experiences nothing but suffering …

experiences both happiness and suffering …

experiences neither happiness nor suffering.’

These are the sixteen grounds on which those ascetics and brahmins assert that the self lives on after death in a percipient form. Any ascetics and brahmins who assert that the self lives on after death in a percipient form do so on one or other of these sixteen grounds. Outside of this there is none. The Realized One understands this … And those who genuinely praise the Realized One would rightly speak of these things.