"Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,
it remains a fact and the fixed and necessary constitution of being
that all conformations are transitory.
This fact a Buddha discovers and masters,
and when he has discovered and mastered it,
he announces, teaches, publishes,
proclaims, discloses, minutely explains
and makes it clear that all conformations are transitory. [2]

"Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,
it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of being,
that all conformations are suffering.
This fact a Buddha discovers and masters,
and when he has discovered and mastered it,
he announces, teaches, publishes,
proclaims, discloses, minutely explains
and makes it clear that all conformations are suffering. [3]

"Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,
it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of being,
that all conformations are lacking a self.
This fact a Buddha discovers and masters,
and when he has discovered and mastered it,
he announces, teaches, publishes,
proclaims, discloses, minutely explains and makes it clear that all conformations are lacking a self." [4]

And on another occasion the Blessed One dwelt at Savatthi
in the Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika. [5]

At that time the Blessed One edified,
aroused, quickened and gladdened the monks
with a religious discourse on the subject of Nirvana.
And these monks grasping the meaning, thinking it out,
and accepting with their hearts the whole doctrine, listened attentively.
But there was one brother who had some doubt left in his heart.
He arose and clasping his hands made the request:
"May I be permitted to ask a question?"
When permission was granted he spoke as follows: [6]

"The Buddha teaches that all conformations are transient,
that all conformations are subject to sorrow,
that all conformations and lacking a self.
How then can there be Nirvana, a state of eternal bliss?" [7]

And the Blessed One, in this connection, on that occasion,
breathed forth this solemn utterance: [8]

"There is, O monks, a state where there is neither earth,
nor water, nor heat, nor air;
neither infinity of space nor infinity of consciousness,
nor nothingness, nor perception nor non-perception;
neither this world nor that world, neither sun nor moon.
It is the uncreate. [9]

"That, O monks, I term
neither coming nor going nor standing;
neither death nor birth.
It is without stability, without change;
it is the eternal which never originates
and never passes away.
There is the end of sorrow. [10]

"It is hard to realize the essential,
the truth is not easily perceived;
desire is mastered by him who knows,
and to him who sees aright all things are naught. [11]

"There is, O monks,
an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed.
Were there not, O monks,
this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed,
there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. [12]

"Since, O monks,
there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and unformed,
therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created, formed." [13]