So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time several ascetics, brahmins, and wanderers who followed various other religions were residing in Sāvatthī, holding different views, beliefs, and opinions, relying on different views.
There were some ascetics and brahmins who had this doctrine and view: “The self and the cosmos are eternal. This is the only truth, anything else is futile.”
Others held views such as the following, each regarding their own view as true and others as silly. “The self and the cosmos are not eternal.”
“The self and the cosmos are both eternal and not eternal.”
“The self and the cosmos are neither eternal nor not eternal.”
“The self and the cosmos are made by oneself.”
“The self and the cosmos are made by another.”
“The self and the cosmos are made by both oneself and another.”
“The self and the cosmos have arisen anomalously, not made by oneself or another.”
“Pleasure and pain are eternal, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain are not eternal, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain are both eternal and not eternal, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain are neither eternal nor not eternal, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain are made by oneself, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain are made by another, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain are made by both oneself and another, and the self and the cosmos.”
“Pleasure and pain have arisen anomalously, not made by oneself or another, and the self and the cosmos.”
They were fighting, quarreling, and disputing, continually wounding each other with barbed words: “Such is Truth, such is not Truth! Such is not Truth, such is Truth!”
Then several mendicants robed up in the morning and, taking their bowls and robes, entered Sāvatthī for alms. Then, after the meal, when they returned from almsround, they went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him what was happening.
Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
“Folk are fixated on the I-maker, which is tied up with the other-maker. There are some who do not realize this, they do not see the dart.
But when they see this dart, they do not think, ‘I make it’, nor ‘another makes it’.
These folk are caught up in conceit, tied by conceit, shackled by conceit. Vehemently defending their views, they don’t escape transmigration.”