DN 7: With Jāliya

¹So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Kosambī in Ghosita’s monastery. Now at that time two renunciates— the wanderer Muṇḍiya and Jāliya, the pupil of the wood-bowl ascetic—came to the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, they stood to one side and said to the Buddha, “Reverend Gotama, are the soul and the body one and the same, or is the soul one thing, the body another?” “Well then, reverends, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, reverend,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

²“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 one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’?” “It would, reverend.” “But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: ‘The soul and the body are one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’. …

³They 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 one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’?” “It would, reverend.” “But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: ‘The soul and the body are one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’. …

⁴They project and extend 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 one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’?” “It would, reverend.” “But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: ‘The soul and the body are one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’. …

⁵They understand: ‘… there is nothing further for this place.’ When a mendicant knows and sees like this, would it be appropriate to say of them: ‘The soul and the body are one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’?” “It would not, reverend.” “But reverends, I know and see like this. Nevertheless, I do not say: ‘The soul and the body are one and the same’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body another’.” That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the two renunciates approved what the Buddha said.