The king said: ‘What, Nāgasena, is the characteristic mark of wisdom ?’

‘I have already told you, O king, how cutting off, severance, is its mark, but enlightenment is also its mark.’

‘And how is enlightenment its mark?’

‘When wisdom springs up in the heart, O king, it dispels the darkness of ignorance, it causes the radiance of knowledge to arise, it makes the light of intelligence to shine forth, and it makes the Noble Truths plain. Thus does the recluse who is devoted to effort perceive with the clearest wisdom the impermanency (of all beings and things), the suffering (that is inherent in individuality), and the absence of any soul.’

‘Give me an illustration.’

‘It is like a lamp, O king, which a man might introduce into a house in darkness. When the lamp had been brought in it would dispel the darkness, cause radiance to arise, and light to shine forth, and make the objects there plainly visible. Just so would wisdom in a man have such effects as were just now set forth.’

‘Well put, Nāgasena!’