{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn44.9/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn44.9","id":"suttacentral_sn44.9","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn44.9/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"Then the wanderer Vacchagotta went up to the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side, and said to the Buddha: \u201cWorthy Gotama, a few days ago several ascetics, brahmins, and wanderers who follow various other religions were sitting together in the debating hall, and this discussion came up among them: \u2018This P\u016bra\u1e47a Kassapa leads an order and a community, and tutors a community. He\u2019s a well-known and famous religious founder, deemed holy by many people. When a disciple passes away, he declares that this one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there. And as for a disciple who is a supreme person, highest of people, having reached the highest point, when they pass away he also declares that this one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there. This bamboo-staffed ascetic Gos\u0101la \u2026 the Jain ascetic of the \u00d1\u0101tika clan \u2026 Sa\u00f1jaya Bela\u1e6d\u1e6dhiputta \u2026 Pakudha Kacc\u0101yana \u2026 Ajita of the hair blanket leads an order and a community, and tutors a community. He\u2019s a well-known and famous religious founder, deemed holy by many people. When a disciple passes away, he declares that this one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there. And as for a disciple who is a supreme person, highest of people, having reached the highest point, when they pass away he also declares that this one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there. This ascetic Gotama leads an order and a community, and tutors a community. He\u2019s a well-known and famous religious founder, deemed holy by many people. When a disciple passes away, he declares that this one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there. But as for a disciple who is a supreme person, highest of people, having reached the highest point, when they pass away he doesn\u2019t declare that this one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there. Rather, he declares that they have cut off craving, cast off the fetters, and by rightly comprehending conceit have made an end of suffering.\u2019 I had doubt and uncertainty about that: \u2018How on earth can I understand the ascetic Gotama\u2019s teaching?\u2019\u201d \u201cVaccha, no wonder you\u2019re doubting and uncertain. Doubt has come up in you about an uncertain matter. I describe rebirth for someone who grasps fuel, not for someone who does not. It\u2019s like a fire which only burns with fuel, not without fuel. In the same way I describe rebirth for someone who grasps fuel, not for someone who doesn\u2019t grasp fuel.\u201d \u201cBut when a flame is blown away by the wind, what does the worthy Gotama say is its fuel then?\u201d \u201cAt such a time, I say that it\u2019s fueled by the wind. For the wind is its fuel then.\u201d \u201cBut when someone who is attached has laid down this body and has not been reborn in one of the realms, what does the worthy Gotama say is their fuel then?\u201d \u201cWhen someone who is attached has laid down this body, Vaccha, and has not been reborn in one of the realms, I say they\u2019re fueled by craving. For craving is their fuel then.\u201d","title":"The Debating Hall","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":533}