Then Venerable Mahākoṭṭhita went up to Venerable Sāriputta, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, Mahākoṭṭhita sat down to one side, and said to Sāriputta:

“Reverend, when the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over, does something else exist?”

“Not so, reverend.”

“Does nothing else exist?”

“Not so, reverend.”

“Do both something else and nothing else exist?”

“Not so, reverend.”

“Do neither something else nor nothing else exist?”

“Not so, reverend.”

“Reverend, when asked whether—when the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over—something else exists, you say ‘not so’. When asked whether nothing else exists, you say ‘not so’. When asked whether both something else and nothing else exist, you say ‘not so’. When asked whether neither something else nor nothing else exist, you say ‘not so’. How then should we see the meaning of this statement?”

“If you say that, ‘When the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over, something else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. If you say that ‘nothing else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. If you say that ‘both something else and nothing else exist’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. If you say that ‘neither something else nor nothing else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. The scope of the six fields of contact extends as far as the scope of proliferation. The scope of proliferation extends as far as the scope of the six fields of contact. When the six fields of contact fade away and cease with nothing left over, proliferation stops and is stilled.”