[371] "What do you think, Vāseṭṭha? This being so, does not the statement of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas turn out to be without demonstrable basis (appāṭihīrakata)?"
"Assuredly, Master Gotama, this being so, the statement of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas turns out to be without demonstrable basis."
"Good, Vāseṭṭha. That brahmins versed in the three Vedas should teach the path to companionship with that which they do not know, which they do not see, saying: 'This alone is the straight path, this the direct way, leading onward, leading the one who practices it to companionship with Brahmā' — this is not possible. Just as, Vāseṭṭha, a file of blind men attached one to another in succession — the first one does not see, the middle one does not see, and the last one does not see — even so, Vāseṭṭha, the statement of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas is, I think, comparable to a file of blind men: the first one does not see, the middle one does not see, and the last one does not see. This statement of those brahmins versed in the three Vedas turns out to be merely laughable, turns out to be mere words, turns out to be merely empty, turns out to be merely hollow.
"What do you think, Vāseṭṭha? Do the brahmins versed in the three Vedas — and many other people as well — see the moon and the sun; and, from where the moon and sun rise and where they set, do they supplicate them, extol them, and follow their course, revering them with joined palms?"
"So it is, Master Gotama: the brahmins versed in the three Vedas — and many other people as well — see the moon and the sun; and, from where the moon and sun rise and where they set, they supplicate them, extol them, and follow their course, revering them with joined palms."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.