[373] "Udāyī, this statement of yours could be drawn out at great length: you say, 'Venerable sir, that splendor compared to which there is no other splendor higher or more excellent — that is the ultimate splendor,' and yet you do not point out that splendor.
"Suppose, Udāyī, a man were to say thus: 'I desire, I long for whoever is the most beautiful woman in this land.' They would say to him: 'Good man, as to that most beautiful woman in the land whom you desire and long for — do you know whether that most beautiful woman in the land is a khattiya woman, a brahmin woman, a vessa woman, or a sudda woman?' Asked thus, he would say: 'No.' They would say to him: 'Good man, as to that most beautiful woman in the land whom you desire and long for — do you know whether that most beautiful woman in the land is of such an appearance, of such a clan …' [elided in the Pali] '… whether she is tall, short, or of medium height; whether she is dark, brown, or golden-skinned; or in what village, town, or city she dwells?' Asked thus, he would say: 'No.' They would say to him: 'Good man, do you then desire and long for one whom you neither know nor have ever seen?' Asked thus, he would say: 'Yes.'
"What do you think, Udāyī? This being so, does not that man's talk turn out to be without demonstrable basis (appāṭihīrakata)?"
"Certainly, venerable sir, this being so, that man's talk turns out to be without demonstrable basis."
"In just the same way, Udāyī, you say, 'Venerable sir, that splendor compared to which there is no other splendor higher or more excellent — that is the ultimate splendor,' and yet you do not point out that splendor."
"Venerable sir, just as a beryl gem — beautiful, lustrous, eight-faceted, well cut — when placed upon a pale woolen cloth, shines and glows and radiates: of such splendor is the self (attā), free from disease after death."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.