[294] "Bhikkhus, suppose there were a milk-sap tree — an assattha, a nigrodha, a milakkhu, or an udumbara — dried up, withered, several years old, and a man were to split it here and there with a sharp axe: would milk-sap come forth?"
"Surely not, venerable sir."
"Why is that?"
"Because, venerable sir, that milk-sap is not there."
"Even so, bhikkhus, for any bhikkhu or bhikkhunī in whom, with regard to forms cognizable by the eye, whatever lust (rāga) there might be is not present, whatever hatred there might be is not present, whatever delusion there might be is not present — in whom whatever lust there was has been abandoned, whatever hatred there was has been abandoned, whatever delusion there was has been abandoned — then even if powerful forms cognizable by the eye come into range of the eye, they do not overpower that one's mind (citta); how much less feeble ones! Why is that? Because whatever lust there might be is not present, whatever hatred there might be is not present, whatever delusion there might be is not present; whatever lust there was has been abandoned, whatever hatred there was has been abandoned, whatever delusion there was has been abandoned. …
"For any bhikkhu or bhikkhunī, bhikkhus, with regard to tastes cognizable by the tongue … For any bhikkhu or bhikkhunī, bhikkhus, with regard to mental phenomena (dhammas) cognizable by the mind, in whom whatever lust there might be is not present, whatever hatred there might be is not present, whatever delusion there might be is not present — in whom whatever lust there was has been abandoned, whatever hatred there was has been abandoned, whatever delusion there was has been abandoned — then even if powerful mental phenomena cognizable by the mind come into range of the mind, they do not overpower that one's mind; how much less feeble ones! Why is that? Because, bhikkhus, whatever lust there might be is not present, whatever hatred there might be is not present, whatever delusion there might be is not present; whatever lust there was has been abandoned, whatever hatred there was has been abandoned, whatever delusion there was has been abandoned."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.