[802] Then, not long after the wanderer (paribbājaka) Vacchagotta had departed, the Venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One: "Venerable sir, why did the Blessed One, when asked a question by the wanderer Vacchagotta, not answer?"
"If, Ānanda, when asked by the wanderer Vacchagotta, 'Does the self (attā) exist?' I had answered, 'The self exists,' this would have been siding with those ascetics and brahmins who are proponents of eternalism (sassatavāda). And if, Ānanda, when asked by the wanderer Vacchagotta, 'Does the self not exist?' I had answered, 'The self does not exist,' this would have been siding with those ascetics and brahmins who are proponents of annihilationism (ucchedavāda). If, Ānanda, when asked by the wanderer Vacchagotta, 'Does the self exist?' I had answered, 'The self exists' — would that, Ānanda, have been in accordance with the arising of the knowledge (ñāṇa) that 'all dhammas are non-self (anattā)'?"
"Surely not, venerable sir."
"And if, Ānanda, when asked by the wanderer Vacchagotta, 'Does the self not exist?' I had answered, 'The self does not exist,' then for the wanderer Vacchagotta, already confused, there would have been still greater confusion: 'It seems the self that I formerly had does not exist now.'"
The tenth [sutta].
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.