[64] When this was said, Dīghatapassī the Nigaṇṭha said to the Blessed One: "But you, friend Gotama — how many rods (daṇḍa) do you declare for the doing of an evil deed (kamma), for the perpetration of an evil deed?"
"Tapassī, it is not the custom of the Tathāgata to declare 'rod, rod'; it is the custom of the Tathāgata, Tapassī, to declare 'deed, deed.'"
"But you, friend Gotama — how many deeds do you declare for the doing of an evil deed, for the perpetration of an evil deed?"
"Tapassī, I declare three deeds for the doing of an evil deed, for the perpetration of an evil deed, namely: bodily deed, verbal deed, and mental deed."
"But, friend Gotama, is bodily deed one thing, verbal deed another, and mental deed another?"
"Tapassī, bodily deed is one thing, verbal deed another, and mental deed another."
"But of these three deeds, friend Gotama, thus analyzed, thus distinguished, which deed do you declare the more greatly blameworthy for the doing of an evil deed, for the perpetration of an evil deed — the bodily deed, the verbal deed, or the mental deed?"
"Tapassī, of these three deeds, thus analyzed, thus distinguished, I declare the mental deed the more greatly blameworthy for the doing of an evil deed, for the perpetration of an evil deed; not so the bodily deed, not so the verbal deed."
"Do you say 'the mental deed,' friend Gotama?"
"I say 'the mental deed,' Tapassī." …
"Do you say 'the mental deed,' friend Gotama?"
"I say 'the mental deed,' Tapassī."
Thus Dīghatapassī the Nigaṇṭha, having made the Blessed One stand by this point of discussion up to the third time, rose from his seat and approached Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.