[545] "What do you think, great king — is General Viḍūḍabha dear to you?"
"So it is, Mallikā; General Viḍūḍabha is dear to me."
"What do you think, great king — through change and alteration in General Viḍūḍabha, would sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise in you?"
"Mallikā, through change and alteration in General Viḍūḍabha there would be alteration even in my very life. How then would sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair not arise in me?"
"It was with reference to this, great king, that the Blessed One — who knows, who sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Self-Awakened One — spoke thus: 'Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are born from what is dear, they spring from what is dear.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.