[256] **Would he remain there, not drifting away?** (tiṭṭhe nu so tattha anānuyāyī): "Would he remain?" (tiṭṭhe nu) — this is a question of doubt,¹ a question of perplexity, a question that is not one-sided: "Is it thus, or is it not thus? What, indeed, is it? How, indeed, is it?" — thus, "would he remain?"
**There** (tattha): in the sphere of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana).
**Not drifting away** (anānuyāyī): not drifting away, not wavering,² not departing, not vanishing, not falling away.³ Or else: not becoming lustful, not becoming hateful, not becoming deluded, not becoming defiled⁴ — thus, "would he remain there, not drifting away?"
Therefore that brahmin said:
One who is devoid of lust for all sensual pleasures
(thus said the venerable Upasīva),
relying on nothingness, having abandoned all else,
resolved upon the supreme liberation through perception (saññāvimokkha) —
would he remain there, not drifting away?
[Editorial footnotes of the Siam Raṭṭha edition: ¹ Myanmar ed.: vimatipucchā. ² Myanmar ed.: aviccamāno; so too below. ³ Myanmar ed.: aparihāyamāno; so too below. ⁴ Myanmar ed.: akilissamāno ti; so too below. A further note (Myanmar ed.: tadadhipateyyo ti; so too below) pertains to an adjacent passage.]
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.