[225] On one occasion a number of elder bhikkhus were dwelling at Kosambī, in Ghosita's Park (Ghositārāma). Now on that occasion the Venerable Khemaka was dwelling at Badarikārāma, afflicted, suffering, gravely ill. Then, in the evening, the elder bhikkhus, having emerged from seclusion, addressed the Venerable Dāsaka: "Come, friend Dāsaka, go to the bhikkhu Khemaka, and having approached him, say to the bhikkhu Khemaka thus: 'Friend Khemaka, the elders say this to you: We hope, friend, that you are bearing up; we hope that you are keeping going; we hope that your painful feelings (vedanā) are subsiding and not increasing, and that their subsiding, not their increasing, is discernible.'"
"Yes, friends," the Venerable Dāsaka replied to the elder bhikkhus, and he went to the Venerable Khemaka, and having approached him, he said this to the Venerable Khemaka: "Friend Khemaka, the elders say this to you: We hope, friend, that you are bearing up; we hope that you are keeping going; we hope that your painful feelings are subsiding and not increasing, and that their subsiding, not their increasing, is discernible."
"Friends, I am not bearing up; I am not keeping going. Strong painful feelings are increasing in me, not subsiding; their increasing, not their subsiding, is discernible."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.