[192] "There are, Sāriputta, some ascetics and brahmins whose doctrine and view is this: 'So long as this good man is young, a youth with jet-black hair, endowed with the blessing of youth, in the first stage of life, just so long is he endowed with supreme lucidity of wisdom (paññāveyyattiya). But when this good man is aged, old, elderly, advanced in years, arrived at the last stage of life—eighty, ninety, or a hundred years from birth—then he declines from that lucidity of wisdom.' But, Sāriputta, it should not be seen thus. I, Sāriputta, am now aged, old, elderly, advanced in years, arrived at the last stage of life; my age now runs to eighty years.
Suppose, Sāriputta, I had four disciples with a lifespan of a hundred years, living for a hundred years, endowed with supreme mindfulness, retentiveness (gati), and steadfastness (dhiti), and with supreme lucidity of wisdom. Just as, Sāriputta, a firm-bowed archer—trained, dexterous, and tested—might with a light arrow easily shoot across the shadow of a palm tree, even so, being possessed of such surpassing mindfulness, such surpassing retentiveness, such surpassing steadfastness, and endowed with such supreme lucidity of wisdom, they might question me again and again with questions concerning the four establishments of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna), and being asked again and again I would answer them; and what I answered they would remember as answered, and they would not question me a second time further; and except while eating, drinking, chewing, and tasting, except for attending to the needs of defecation and urination, and except for dispelling sleep and fatigue—still, Sāriputta, the Tathāgata's exposition of the Dhamma would not be exhausted, the Tathāgata's words and phrases of the Dhamma would not be exhausted, the Tathāgata's readiness in answering questions would not be exhausted. And then those four disciples of mine, having a lifespan of a hundred years, living for a hundred years, would die at the end of the hundred years. Even if you have to carry me about on a litter, Sāriputta, there will be no change whatsoever in the Tathāgata's lucidity of wisdom.
If, Sāriputta, speaking rightly, one could say of anyone: 'A being not subject to delusion has arisen in the world for the welfare of many people, for the happiness of many people, out of compassion for the world, for the good, the welfare, and the happiness of gods and humans'—it is of me alone that one, speaking rightly, should say this: 'A being not subject to delusion has arisen in the world for the welfare of many people, for the happiness of many people, out of compassion for the world, for the good, the welfare, and the happiness of gods and humans.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.