Suppose a man was to build a ladder at the crossroads for climbing up to a stilt longhouse.

They’d say to him, ‘Mister, that stilt longhouse that you’re building a ladder for—do you know whether it’s to the north, south, east, or west? Or whether it’s tall or short or medium?’

Asked this, he’d say, ‘No.’

They’d say to him, ‘Mister, are you building a ladder for a longhouse that you’ve never even known or seen?’

Asked this, he’d say, ‘Yes.’

What do you think, Vāseṭṭha? This being so, doesn’t that man’s statement turn out to have no demonstrable basis?”

“Clearly that’s the case, sir.”

“In the same way, doesn’t the statement of those brahmins turn out to have no demonstrable basis?”

“Clearly that’s the case, Master Gotama.”

“Good, Vāseṭṭha. For it is impossible that they should teach the path to that which they neither know nor see.