I’ve gone up to the Jain ascetics who say this and said, ‘Is it really true that this is the venerables’ view?’ They admitted that it is.

I said to them, ‘But reverends, do you know for sure that you existed in the past, and it is not the case that you did not exist?’ ‘No we don’t, reverend.’ ‘But reverends, do you know for sure that you did bad deeds in the past?’ ‘No we don’t, reverend.’ ‘But reverends, do you know that you did bad deeds of this type or that?’ ‘No we don’t, reverend.’ ‘But reverends, do you know that so much suffering has already been worn away? Or that so much suffering still remains to be worn away? Or that when so much suffering is worn away all suffering will have been worn away?’ ‘No we don’t, reverend.’ ‘But reverends, do you know about giving up unskillful qualities in this very life and embracing skillful qualities?’ ‘No we don’t, reverend.’