At one time the venerables Ānanda and Udāyī were staying near Kosambī in Ghosita’s monastery.
Then in the late afternoon, Venerable Udāyī came out of retreat, went to Venerable Ānanda, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to Ānanda:
“Reverend Ānanda, the Buddha has explained, opened, and revealed in many ways how this body is not-self. Is it possible to explain consciousness in the same way? To teach, assert, establish, clarify, analyze, and reveal how consciousness is not-self?”
“It is possible, Reverend Udāyī.
Does eye consciousness arise dependent on the eye and sights?”
“Yes, reverend.”
“If the cause and reason that gives rise to eye consciousness were to totally and utterly cease without remainder, would eye consciousness still be found?”
“No, reverend.”
“In this way, too, it can be understood how consciousness is not-self.
Does ear … nose … tongue … body … mind consciousness arise dependent on the mind and ideas?”
“Yes, reverend.”
“If the cause and reason that gives rise to mind consciousness were to totally and utterly cease without remainder, would mind consciousness still be found?”
“No, reverend.”
“In this way, too, it can be understood how consciousness is not-self.
Suppose there was a person in need of heartwood. Wandering in search of heartwood, they’d take a sharp axe and enter a forest. There they’d see a big banana trunk, straight and young and grown unskewed. They’d cut it down at the base, cut off the root, cut off the top, and unroll the coiled sheaths. But they wouldn’t even find sapwood, much less heartwood.
In the same way, a mendicant sees these six fields of contact as neither self nor belonging to self. So seeing, they don’t grasp anything in the world. Not grasping, they’re not anxious. Not being anxious, they personally become extinguished.
They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’”