So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in the stilt longhouse of Migāra’s mother in the Eastern Monastery. Then the brahmin Moggallāna the Accountant went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha:

“Worthy Gotama, in this stilt longhouse we can see gradual training, gradual progress, and gradual practice down to the last step of the staircase. Among the brahmins we can see gradual training, gradual progress, and gradual practice in recitation. Among archers we can see gradual training, gradual progress, and gradual practice in archery. Among us accountants, who earn a living by accounting, we can see gradual training, gradual progress, and gradual practice in mathematics. For when we get an apprentice we first make them count: ‘One one, two twos, three threes, four fours, five fives, six sixes, seven sevens, eight eights, nine nines, ten tens.’ We even make them count up to a hundred. Is it possible to similarly describe a gradual training, gradual progress, and gradual practice in this teaching and training?”