This one time, Mahāli, I was staying near Kosambi, in Ghosita’s Monastery. Then two renunciates—the wanderer Muṇḍiya and Jāliya the pupil of Dārupattika—came and exchanged greetings with me. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, they stood to one side and said to me: ‘Reverend Gotama, are the soul and the body the same thing, or they are different things?’

‘Well then, reverends, listen and pay close attention, I will speak.’

‘Yes, reverend,’ they replied.

I said this: ‘Take the case when a Realized One arises in the world, perfected, a fully awakened Buddha … That’s how a mendicant is accomplished in ethics. …

They enter and remain in the first absorption. When a mendicant knows and sees like this, would it be appropriate to say of them: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”?’

‘It would, reverend.’

‘But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”. …

They enter and remain in the second absorption … third absorption … fourth absorption. When a mendicant knows and sees like this, would it be appropriate to say of them: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”?’

‘It would, reverend.’

‘But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”. …

They extend and project the mind toward knowledge and vision … When a mendicant knows and sees like this, would it be appropriate to say of them: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”?’

‘It would, reverend.’

‘But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”. …

They understand: “… there is no return to any state of existence.” When a mendicant knows and sees like this, would it be appropriate to say of them: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”?’

‘It would not, reverend.’

‘But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: “The soul and the body are the same thing” or “The soul and the body are different things”.’”

That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, Oṭṭhaddha the Licchavi was happy with what the Buddha said.