[90] "Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu is practising thus: 'It might not be, and it might not be mine; it will not be mine; what exists, what has come to be — that I abandon' — thus he obtains equanimity. He delights in that equanimity, welcomes it, and remains holding to it. As he delights in that equanimity, welcomes it, and remains holding to it, his consciousness becomes dependent upon it, with that as its clinging (upādāna). Ānanda, a bhikkhu with clinging does not attain final Nibbāna (parinibbāyati)."
"But where, venerable sir, does that bhikkhu, when clinging, cling?"
"To the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (nevasaññānāsaññāyatana), Ānanda."
"Venerable sir, it seems, then, that when that bhikkhu clings, he clings to the best object of clinging!"
"When that bhikkhu clings, Ānanda, he clings to the best object of clinging; for this, Ānanda, is the best object of clinging, namely the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception."
[Editorial apparatus in the Siam Raṭṭha edition: (1) The Burmese and PTS editions read "na bhavissati [na me bhavissati]"; so to be understood throughout. (2) The Burmese and PTS editions insert the word "evaṃ" here; so to be understood throughout. (3) In the PTS edition the phrase "parinibbāyeyya nu kho ... na vā parinibbāyeyya" is absent.]
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.