[471] Then the Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One; having approached and paid homage to the Blessed One, he sat down to one side. Sitting to one side, the Venerable Ānanda said this to the Blessed One: "Venerable sir, might a bhikkhu obtain such a state of concentration (samādhi) that in this conscious body (saviññāṇake kāye) there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit (ahaṅkāra-mamaṅkāra-mānānusayā); that in all external signs (nimittesu) there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; and that he might enter and dwell in that liberation of mind (cetovimutti) and liberation by wisdom (paññāvimutti) in which, for one so dwelling, no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit occur?"
"He might, Ānanda. A bhikkhu might obtain such a state of concentration that in this conscious body there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; that in all external signs there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; and that he might enter and dwell in that liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom in which, for one so dwelling, no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit occur."
"But in what way, venerable sir, might a bhikkhu obtain such a state of concentration that in this conscious body there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; that in all external signs there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; and that he might enter and dwell in that liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom in which, for one so dwelling, no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit occur?"
"Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu thinks thus: 'This is peaceful, this is sublime, namely: the stilling of all formations (sabbasaṅkhārasamatho), the relinquishment of all acquisitions (upadhi), the destruction of craving (taṇhā), dispassion (virāga), cessation, Nibbāna.' It is in this way, Ānanda, that a bhikkhu might obtain such a state of concentration that in this conscious body there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; that in all external signs there would be no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit; and that he might enter and dwell in that liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom in which, for one so dwelling, no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit occur.
"And it was with reference to this, Ānanda, that I said in the Puṇṇaka Question of the Pārāyana:
'Having comprehended the high and the low in the world,
for whom there is no perturbation regarding anything in the world—
peaceful, fumeless, untroubled, wishless—
he has crossed over birth and aging, I declare.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.