“But how could this be?”

“Ānanda, it’s when a mendicant perceives: ‘This is peaceful; this is sublime—that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment.’ That’s how a mendicant might gain a state of immersion like this. They wouldn’t perceive earth in earth … And they wouldn’t perceive what is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, or explored by the mind. And yet they would still perceive.”

“It’s incredible, it’s amazing! How the meaning and the phrasing of the Teacher and the disciple fit together and agree without conflict when it comes to the chief matter! Just now I went to the Buddha and asked him about this matter. And the Buddha explained it to me in this manner, with these words and phrases, just like Venerable Sāriputta. It’s incredible, it’s amazing! How the meaning and the phrasing of the Teacher and the disciple fit together and agree without conflict when it comes to the chief matter!”

Numbered Discourses 11.8 1. Dependence Focus

Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: