[289] "I am confident in the worthy Gotama thus: the worthy Gotama is able to teach me the Dhamma in such a way that I might know health (ārogya) and see Nibbāna."
"Māgaṇḍiya, suppose there were a man blind from birth. He could not see dark and light forms, could not see blue forms, could not see yellow forms, could not see red forms, could not see crimson forms, could not see the even and the uneven, could not see the stars, could not see the moon and the sun. His friends and companions, relatives and kinsmen, would engage a physician-surgeon to treat him. That physician-surgeon would prepare medicine for him; yet relying on that medicine, he would not recover his eyes, would not have his eyes made clear. What do you think, Māgaṇḍiya — would that physician not thereby partake merely of weariness and vexation?"
"So it is, worthy Gotama."
"Even so, Māgaṇḍiya, if I were to teach you the Dhamma, saying, 'This is that health, this is that Nibbāna,' and you might not know health, might not see Nibbāna — that would be weariness for me, that would be vexation for me."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.