“Yes, sir,” replied those mendicants. They did as the Buddha asked, then returned to the Buddha and said, “Sir, Bāhiya’s corpse has been cremated and a monument built for him. Where has he been reborn in his next life?” “Mendicants, Bāhiya was astute. He practiced in line with the teaching, and did not trouble me about the teachings. Bāhiya of the Bark Cloth has become fully quenched.”

Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:

“Where water and earth, fire and air have no footing—there no star does shine, nor does the sun shed its light; there the moon glows not, yet no darkness is found.

And when a sage, a brahmin, finds understanding through their own sagacity, then, from forms and formless, from pleasure and pain they are released.”

This too is a heartfelt saying that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.

Heartfelt Sayings 2.1 With Mucalinda