[1725] On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Feeding Ground. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus, once in the past a certain man set out from Rājagaha, thinking, 'I shall engage in contemplation of the world (lokacintā),' and approached the Sumāgadhā lotus pond; having approached, he sat down on the bank of the Sumāgadhā lotus pond contemplating the world. Then, bhikkhus, that man saw on the bank of the Sumāgadhā lotus pond a fourfold army (caturaṅginī senā) entering a lotus stalk and root. Having seen this, he thought: 'I must be mad! I must be out of my mind! I have seen what does not exist in the world.' Then, bhikkhus, that man entered the city and announced to a great crowd of people: 'I must be mad, sirs! I must be out of my mind, sirs! I have seen what does not exist in the world.'
"'But how is it, good man, that you are mad? How are you out of your mind? And what have you seen that does not exist in the world?'
"'Here, sirs, I set out from Rājagaha, thinking, "I shall engage in contemplation of the world," and approached the Sumāgadhā lotus pond; having approached, I sat down on the bank of the Sumāgadhā lotus pond contemplating the world. And I saw, sirs, on the bank of the Sumāgadhā lotus pond a fourfold army entering a lotus stalk and root. That is how I am mad, sirs; that is how I am out of my mind; and this that I have seen does not exist in the world.'
"'Surely, good man, you are mad; surely you are out of your mind; and this that you have seen does not exist in the world.'
"But, bhikkhus, what that man saw was in fact real, not unreal."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.