[274] [Paviṭṭha:] "Friend Nārada, apart from faith (saddhā), apart from personal preference (ruci), apart from oral tradition (anussava), apart from reasoned reflection (ākāraparivitakka), apart from acceptance of a view after consideration (diṭṭhinijjhānakkhanti) — does the Venerable Nārada have personal knowledge (ñāṇa) thus: 'The cessation (nirodha) of existence is Nibbāna'?"
[Nārada:] "Friend Paviṭṭha, apart from faith, apart from personal preference, apart from oral tradition, apart from reasoned reflection, apart from acceptance of a view after consideration, I know this, I see this: 'The cessation of existence is Nibbāna.'"
[Paviṭṭha:] "Then the Venerable Nārada is an arahant, one whose taints (āsava) are destroyed?"
[Nārada:] "Friend, 'The cessation of existence is Nibbāna' has been well seen by me with right wisdom as it really is, and yet I am not an arahant whose taints are destroyed. Suppose, friend, there were a well along a desert road, and it had neither a rope nor a bucket for drawing water. Then a man might come along, scorched by the heat, overcome by the heat, exhausted, parched, and thirsty. He would look down into that well, and the knowledge would arise in him: 'There is water'; yet he could not dwell having touched it with the body. In the same way, friend, 'The cessation of existence is Nibbāna' has been well seen by me with right wisdom as it really is, and yet I am not an arahant whose taints are destroyed."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.