The king said: ‘Your people, Nāgasena, say that it is possible to suppress the inhaling and exhaling (of one’s breath).’

‘Yes, that can be done.’

‘But how?’

‘Tell me, O king. Have you ever heard of a man snoring ?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, would not that sound stop if he bent his body?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then surely if that sound would stop at the mere bending of the body of one who is untrained alike in body, in conduct, in mind, and in wisdom—why should it not be possible for the breathing of one trained in all these respects, and who has besides reached up to the fourth stage of the ecstatic contemplation, to be suppressed?’

‘Very good, Nāgasena!’