“In that case, Anurādha, since a realized one is not found by you as a genuine fact in this very life, is it cogent for you to declare: ‘Reverends, when a Realized One is describing a realized one—a supreme person, highest of people, who has reached the highest point—they describe them other than these four ways: After death, a realized one still exists, or no longer exists, or both still exists and no longer exists, or neither still exists nor no longer exists’?” “No, sir.”
“Good, good, Anurādha! In the past, as today, what I describe is suffering and the cessation of suffering.”
Linked Discourses 22.87 9. Senior Mendicants With Vakkali
At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Now at that time Venerable Vakkali was staying in a potter’s shed, and he was sick, suffering, gravely ill. Then he addressed his carers, “Please, reverends, go to the Buddha, and in my name bow with your head to his feet. Say to him: ‘Sir, the mendicant Vakkali is sick, suffering, gravely ill. He bows with his head to your feet.’ And then say: ‘Sir, please go to the mendicant Vakkali out of sympathy.’” “Yes, reverend,” those monks replied. They did as he asked. The Buddha consented with silence.