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with the Venerable Ānanda. Having concluded the courteous and memorable talk, he sat down to one side. Sitting to one side, the Venerable Udāyī said to the Venerable Ānanda: “Just as, friend Ānanda, this body has been declared by the Blessed One in many ways, opened up, made manifest— ‘Thus this body is not-self’— is it possible in the same way to declare, teach, proclaim, establish, open up, analyze, make clear this consciousness— ‘Thus this consciousness is not-self’?” “Just as, friend Udāyī, this body has been declared by the Blessed One in many ways, opened up, made manifest— ‘Thus this body is not-self’— it is possible in the same way to declare, teach, proclaim, establish, open up, analyze, make clear this consciousness— ‘Thus this consciousness is not-self’.” “Dependent on the eye, friend, and forms And eye-consciousness arises? "Yes, friend." And friend, if the cause, and the condition for eye-consciousness to arise, that cause and that condition were to cease completely, entirely, without remainder. Would eye-consciousness then be discerned? "No, friend." By this method too, friend, the Blessed One has declared, revealed, proclaimed: "Thus, this consciousness is non-self." ... And friend, dependent on the tongue and tastes, tongue-consciousness arises? "Yes, friend." And friend, if the cause, and the condition for tongue-consciousness to arise, that cause and that condition were to cease completely, entirely, without remainder. Would tongue-consciousness then be discerned? "No, friend." By this method too, friend, the Blessed One has declared, revealed, proclaimed: "Thus, this consciousness is non-self." ... And friend, dependent on the mind and mental phenomena, mind-consciousness arises? "Yes, friend." And friend, if the cause, and the condition for mind-consciousness to arise, that cause and that condition were to cease completely, entirely, without remainder. Would mind-consciousness then be discerned? "No, friend." By this method too, friend, the Blessed One has declared, revealed, proclaimed: "Thus, this consciousness is non-self." Just as, friend, a man in search of heartwood, seeking heartwood, looking for heartwood, taking a sharp axe, would enter a forest. He would see there a large banana trunk, straight, fresh, without a core. He would cut it at the root; having cut it at the root, he would cut it at the top; having cut it at the top, he would peel off the leaf-sheaths. He would not find even sapwood there, much less heartwood! Even so, friend, A monk does not perceive self or anything belonging to self in the six sense bases. Not perceiving thus, he grasps nothing in the world. Not grasping, he is not agitated. Not agitated, he attains Nibbāna within himself. He understands: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.’ The Seventh. 8. The Discourse on the Burning "Monks, I will teach you the discourse on the burning. Listen to it. And what, monks, is the discourse on the burning? It would be better, monks, for the eye faculty to be pierced by a heated, blazing, glowing iron stake, rather than to grasp at signs in forms cognizable by the eye, by way of their details. For if, monks, consciousness remains entangled with the taste of a sign, or entangled with the taste of a detail, and at that time one were to die, it is possible that one would go to one of two destinations – hell or the animal realm. Seeing this danger, monks, I speak thus. "It would be better, monks, for the ear faculty to be pierced by a sharp, heated, blazing, glowing iron spear, rather than to grasp at signs in sounds cognizable by the ear, by way of their details. For if, monks, consciousness remains entangled with the taste of a sign, or entangled with the taste of a detail, and at that time one were to die, it is possible that one would go to one of two destinations – hell or the animal realm. Seeing this danger, monks, I speak thus. "It would be better, monks, for the nose faculty to be pierced by a sharp, heated, blazing, glowing nail-clipper, rather than to grasp at signs in odors cognizable by the nose, by way of their details. in tastes, by features, the grasping of signs. Or, monks, consciousness, bound by the delight in signs, might persist; or bound by the delight in features. And if at that time one were to die, it is possible that one would go to one of two destinations— either hell or the animal realm. Seeing this danger, monks, I speak thus. Better, monks, that the tongue faculty be scraped with a sharp razor, ablaze, burning, glowing, rather than the grasping of signs by features in tastes cognizable by the tongue. Or, monks, consciousness, bound by the delight in signs, might persist; or bound by the delight in features. And if at that time one were to die, it is possible that one would go to one of two destinations— either hell or the animal realm. Seeing this danger, monks, I speak thus. Better, monks, that the body faculty be scraped with a sharp spear, ablaze, burning, glowing, rather than the grasping of signs by features in tangibles cognizable by the body. Or, monks, consciousness, bound by the delight in signs, might persist; or bound by the delight in features. And if at that time one were to die, it is possible that one would go to one of two destinations— either hell or the animal realm. Seeing this danger, monks, I speak thus. Better, monks, is the ear. Indeed, monks, I declare the ear to be barren of life, to be fruitless of life, to be deluded of life, rather than one should entertain such thoughts by the power of which thoughts one would break the Sangha. Seeing this danger, monks, this barrenness of life, I speak thus. There, monks, a well-instructed noble disciple reflects thus: ‘Let alone the heated iron stake When the eye faculty is afflicted by a burning, blazing, glowing. Come now, I attend to this very thing: The eye is impermanent, forms are impermanent, eye-consciousness is impermanent, eye-contact is impermanent, and whatever feeling arises dependent on eye-contact— whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant— that too is impermanent. Let it stand for now: the ear faculty is afflicted by a sharp iron stake, burning, blazing, glowing. Come now, I attend to this very thing: The ear is impermanent, sounds are impermanent, ear-consciousness is impermanent, ear-contact is impermanent, and whatever feeling arises dependent on ear-contact— whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant— that too is impermanent. Let it stand for now: the nose faculty is afflicted by a sharp nail-clipper, burning, blazing, glowing. Come now, I attend to this very thing: The nose is impermanent, odors are impermanent, nose-consciousness is impermanent, nose-contact is impermanent, and whatever feeling arises dependent on nose-contact— whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant— that too is impermanent. Let it stand for now: the tongue faculty is afflicted by a sharp razor, burning, blazing, glowing. Come now, I attend to this very thing: The tongue is impermanent, flavors are impermanent, tongue-consciousness is impermanent, tongue-contact is impermanent, and whatever feeling arises dependent on tongue-contact— whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant— that too is impermanent. Let it stand for now: the body faculty is afflicted by a sharp spear, burning, blazing, glowing. Come now, I attend to this very thing: The body is impermanent, tangibles are impermanent, body-consciousness is impermanent, body-contact is impermanent, and whatever feeling arises dependent on body-contact— whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant— that too is impermanent. Let the ear stand for now. Come now, I attend to this very thing: The mind is impermanent, mental phenomena are impermanent, mind-consciousness is impermanent, mind-contact impermanent. Whatever feeling arises dependent on mind-contact, be it pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, that too is impermanent.” “Seeing thus, bhikkhus, the instructed noble disciple becomes disenchanted with the eye, becomes disenchanted with forms, becomes disenchanted with eye-consciousness, becomes disenchanted with eye-contact… becomes disenchanted with whatever feeling arises dependent on mind-contact, be it pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant. Being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is the knowledge: ‘Liberated.’ He understands: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.’ This, bhikkhus, is the Discourse on Burning, the Discourse on the Dhamma.” The Eighth. 9. The First Discourse on the Simile of Hands and Feet “When there are hands, bhikkhus, taking and putting down are discerned. When there are feet, going forward and turning back are discerned. When there are joints, bending and stretching are discerned. When there is a belly, hunger and thirst are discerned. In the same way, bhikkhus, when there is an eye, dependent on eye-contact, internal pleasure and pain arise… when there is a tongue, dependent on tongue-contact, internal pleasure and pain arise… when there is a mind, dependent on mind-contact, internal pleasure and pain arise… When there are no hands, bhikkhus, taking and putting down are not discerned. When there are no feet, going forward and turning back are not discerned. When there are no joints, bending and stretching are not discerned. When there is no belly, hunger and thirst are not discerned. In the same way, bhikkhus, when there is no eye, dependent on eye-contact, internal pleasure and pain do not arise… when there is no tongue, dependent on tongue-contact, they do not arise… when there is no mind, dependent on mind-contact, internal pleasure and pain do not arise.” The Ninth.