and pleasantries were over, he sat down to one side. Seated to one side, Citta the householder said to the naked ascetic Kassapa: "Sir, is it true that in thirty years you have achieved no superhuman distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones, no comfortable meditation, only nudity, baldness, and pokes in the buttocks?" "It's true, householder." "What do you think, sir? When you have spent thirty years in the holy life and have achieved no superhuman distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones, could you have achieved any wholesome quality in this holy life?" "Householder, why do you tell me this? For thirty years I've been exposed to wind and sun and rain, I've plucked out my hair and beard, I've not taken food except what was put in my bowl, I've not taken food except what was given to me." "What do you think, sir? Are these things the path to the deathless, or are they the deathless itself?" "Householder, these things are not the path to the deathless, nor the deathless itself." "Sir, have you ever heard, from the Jains or from their order, of any Jain who, after the death of the body, has appeared in a spiritual body, as a god in the heavens?" "Householder, I have not." "Sir, I have heard of a certain monk, a disciple of the Blessed One, who was sick, suffering, and gravely ill. And the Blessed One came to him and taught him the Dhamma. After being taught the Dhamma by the Blessed One, the monk abandoned the five lower fetters. That is incredible and amazing, sir!" Thereupon the naked ascetic Kassapa said to Citta the householder: "It is incredible and amazing, householder, how well explained the teaching is. It would be good if I could go forth in the Dhamma and Discipline of the Blessed One." And Citta the householder arranged for the naked ascetic Kassapa to go forth in the teaching and discipline of the Blessed One. Not long after his ordination, Venerable Kassapa, dwelling alone, withdrawn, heedful, ardent,