[372] "What do you think, Vāseṭṭha? The brahmins versed in the three Vedas (tevijjā brāhmaṇā) see the moon and the sun, as do many other people too; and from where the moon and the sun rise and where they set, they supplicate them, extol them, and, revering them with joined palms, follow them around in their course. Are the brahmins versed in the three Vedas able to teach the path to companionship even with the moon and the sun, saying: 'This alone is the straight path, this is the direct way, leading onward, leading the one who practices it to companionship with the moon and the sun'?"
"No, worthy Gotama."
"So it seems, Vāseṭṭha, that although the brahmins versed in the three Vedas see the moon and the sun, as do many other people too, and although, from where the moon and the sun rise and where they set, they supplicate them, extol them, and, revering them with joined palms, follow them around in their course, they are not able to teach the path to companionship even with the moon and the sun, saying: 'This alone is the straight path, this is the direct way, leading onward, leading the one who practices it to companionship with the moon and the sun.' What then? It seems that Brahmā has not been seen face to face by the brahmins versed in the three Vedas; nor, it seems, has Brahmā been seen face to face by the teachers of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas; nor, it seems, has Brahmā been seen face to face by the teachers' teachers of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas; nor, it seems, has Brahmā been seen face to face by those up to the seventh generation of teachers of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas. And even the ancient seers of the brahmins versed in the three Vedas, the composers of the hymns, the propagators of the hymns, whose ancient hymnal—sung, proclaimed, and compiled—the brahmins versed in the three Vedas nowadays still sing after and recite after, repeating what was spoken and reciting what was recited—namely, Aṭṭhaka, Vāmaka, Vāmadeva, Vessāmitta, Yamataggi, Aṅgirasa, Bhāradvāja, Vāseṭṭha, Kassapa, and Bhagu—even they did not speak thus: 'We know this, we see this: where Brahmā is, by what way Brahmā is, or in what place Brahmā is.' Yet those very brahmins versed in the three Vedas say: 'We teach the path to companionship with that which we do not know and do not see, saying: this alone is the straight path, this is the direct way, leading onward, leading the one who practices it to companionship with Brahmā.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.