[315] "Then, chieftain (rājañña), I shall give you a simile; for by means of a simile some discerning persons here understand the meaning of what is said. Once in the past, chieftain, a certain conch blower took his conch and went to a border country. He approached a certain village, and standing in the middle of the village he sounded the conch three times, laid the conch on the ground, and sat down to one side. Then, chieftain, this thought occurred to the people of that border country: 'Sirs, whose sound is this, so arousing, so agreeable, so intoxicating, so binding, so entrancing?' Gathering together, they said to that conch blower: 'Sir, whose sound is this, so arousing, so agreeable, so intoxicating, so binding, so entrancing?' 'Sirs, this is what is called a conch, whose sound is so arousing, so agreeable, so intoxicating, so binding, so entrancing.' They laid that conch on its back, saying: 'Speak, good conch! Speak, good conch!' But the conch made no sound. They laid the conch face down, laid it on one side, laid it on the other side, stood it upright, set it upside down; they struck it with the hand, struck it with a clod, struck it with a stick, struck it with a blade; they shook it down, shook it about, and shook it thoroughly, saying: 'Speak, good conch! Speak, good conch!' But the conch made no sound.
Then, chieftain, this thought occurred to the conch blower: 'How foolish indeed are these people of the border country! For how can they seek the sound of a conch so unwisely?' And while they looked on, he took up the conch, sounded the conch three times, and departed, taking the conch with him. Then, chieftain, this thought occurred to those people of the border country: 'It seems, sirs, that when this thing called a conch is accompanied by a person, accompanied by effort, and accompanied by wind, then this conch makes a sound; but when this conch is neither accompanied by a person, nor accompanied by effort, nor accompanied by wind, then this conch makes no sound.'
Even so, chieftain, when this body is accompanied by life (āyu), accompanied by warmth (usmā), and accompanied by consciousness (viññāṇa), then it goes forward and steps back, stands and sits, and lies down; it sees forms with the eye, hears sounds with the ear, smells odors with the nose, tastes flavors with the tongue, touches tangibles with the body, and cognizes dhammas with the mind. But when this body is neither accompanied by life, nor accompanied by warmth, nor accompanied by consciousness, then it neither goes forward nor steps back, neither stands nor sits, nor lies down; it does not see forms with the eye, does not hear sounds with the ear, does not smell odors with the nose, does not taste flavors with the tongue, does not touch tangibles with the body, does not cognize dhammas with the mind. By this method too, chieftain, let it be established for you thus: 'There is another world; there are spontaneously reborn beings (opapātikā); there is fruit and result of deeds well done and ill done.'"
End of the first recitation section (paṭhamabhāṇavāra).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.