When he said this, the wanderer Poṭṭhapāda said to the Buddha, “Sir, leave aside what we were sitting talking about just now. It won’t be hard for you to hear about that later.

Sir, a few days ago several ascetics and brahmins who follow various other paths were sitting together at the debating hall, and this discussion came up among them: ‘How does the cessation of perception happen?’

Some of them said: ‘A person’s perceptions arise and cease without cause or reason. When they arise, you become percipient. When they cease, you become non-percipient.’ That’s how some describe the cessation of perception.

But someone else says: ‘That’s not how it is, gentlemen ! Perception is a person’s self, When it enters, you become percipient. When it departs, you become non-percipient.’ That’s how some describe the cessation of perception.

But someone else says: ‘That’s not how it is, gentlemen ! There are ascetics and brahmins of great power and might. They insert and extract a person’s perception. When they insert it, you become percipient. When they extract it, you become non-percipient.’ That’s how some describe the cessation of perception.

But someone else says: ‘That’s not how it is, gentlemen ! There are deities of great power and might. They insert and extract a person’s perception. When they insert it, you become percipient. When they extract it, you become non-percipient.’ That’s how some describe the cessation of perception.

That reminded me of the Buddha: ‘Surely it must be the Blessed One, the Holy One who is so skilled in such matters.’ The Buddha is skilled and well-versed in the cessation of perception. How does the cessation of perception happen?”