Staying at Savatthi. “Monks, there once was a time when the Dasarahas had a large drum called ‘Summoner.’ Whenever Summoner was split, the Dasarahas inserted another peg in it, until the time came when Summoner’s original wooden body had disappeared and only a conglomeration of pegs remained. [1]

“In the same way, in the course of the future there will be monks who won’t listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — are being recited. They won’t lend ear, won’t set their hearts on knowing them, won’t regard these teachings as worth grasping or mastering. But they will listen when discourses that are literary works — the works of poets, elegant in sound, elegant in rhetoric, the work of outsiders, words of disciples — are recited. They will lend ear and set their hearts on knowing them. They will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.

“In this way the disappearance of the discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — will come about.

“Thus you should train yourselves: ‘We will listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness — are being recited. We will lend ear, will set our hearts on knowing them, will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.”

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“Reverend Kumara, I maintain that kamma does not have effects. I believe that there is no life after death, no world beyond our own. I think that angels and demons are things from a child’s dream.”

“Your point of view is unique, for I’ve never encountered one who bandied about so. Hmm. I think I should put some questions about this to you. What do you think, Prince? Does the Sun and Moon exist in this world, or apart from it? Are they humans? Or are they some celestial non-human beings?”

“Ahh. Prince, imagine a man who was born without sight. He had never experienced Light and Dark, Blue and Red, Moon and Sun. This man might very well say, “Light and Dark are an unreal thing, they cannot exist, they are the things of a child’s dream.” Or “Color? The very idea is completely beyond the realm of possibility! I am not aware of these things, therefore, they cannot exist.” Would he be correct, Prince?”

“What? No. There is light and darkness in the very room we’re in now. Color exists all around us. Such a man would be incorrect.”

“You, Prince, are like that Blind man. The other worlds cannot be seen as you believe, through the physical eye.

It is those Holy men, the ascetics who go into retreat and develop themselves spiritually who gain access to the Purified Eye. This purified eye is stronger than the physical eye……..

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