[270] "Bhikkhus, suppose a man were to come carrying a blazing grass torch, and he were to say: 'With this blazing grass torch I shall heat up and thoroughly scorch the river Gaṅgā.' What do you think, bhikkhus? Could that man, with a blazing grass torch, heat up and thoroughly scorch the river Gaṅgā?"
"No, venerable sir. Why is that? Because, venerable sir, the river Gaṅgā is deep and immeasurable; it is not easy to heat it up and thoroughly scorch it with a blazing grass torch — and in the end that man would only reap weariness and vexation."
"Even so, bhikkhus, there are these five courses of speech by which others, when speaking, might address you: timely or untimely … 'and, with that person as the object, we shall abide pervading the entire world with a mind (citta) like the river Gaṅgā — abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without enmity, without ill will (byāpāda).' Thus indeed, bhikkhus, should you train."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.