[578] When this was said, the Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta, looking around at his own assembly, said this: "Let the good sirs see this: how straight this Citta the householder is! how uncrafty this Citta the householder is! how undeceitful this Citta the householder is! One who might suppose that thought and examination (vitakka-vicāra) can be made to cease might as well suppose that the wind could be caught with a net; one who might suppose that thought and examination can be made to cease might as well suppose that the current of the Gaṅgā could be dammed with one's own fist."
"What do you think, venerable sir: which is more excellent — knowledge (ñāṇa) or faith (saddhā)?"
"Knowledge itself, householder, is more excellent than faith."
"Venerable sir, for as long as I wish, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I enter and dwell in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture (pīti) and pleasure born of seclusion. Venerable sir, for as long as I wish, with the subsiding of thought and examination … I enter and dwell in the second jhāna. Venerable sir, for as long as I wish, with the fading away of rapture … I enter and dwell in the third jhāna. Venerable sir, for as long as I wish, with the abandoning of pleasure … I enter and dwell in the fourth jhāna. Venerable sir, knowing thus and seeing thus, shall I go by faith in any other ascetic or brahmin, [claiming]: 'There is a concentration (samādhi) without thought and without examination; there is a cessation of thought and examination'?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.