[Upasiva:] Alone, Sakyan, & with nothing to rely on, I can't venture across the great flood. Tell me, All-around Eye, the support to rely on for crossing over this flood. [The Buddha:] Mindfully focused on nothingness,(1) relying on 'There isn't,' you should cross over the flood. Abandoning sensual pleasures, abstaining from conversations, keep watch for the ending of craving, night & day. [Upasiva:] One free from passion for all sensual pleasures relying on nothingness, letting go of all else, released in the highest emancipation of perception: Does he stay there unaffected? [The Buddha:] One free from passion for all sensual pleasures relying on nothingness, letting go of all else, released in the highest emancipation of perception: He stays there unaffected. [Upasiva:] If he stays there, O All-around Eye, unaffected for many years, right there would he be cooled & released? Would his consciousness be like that? [The Buddha:] As a flame overthrown by the force of the wind goes to an end that cannot be classified,(2) so the sage free from naming activity goes to an end that cannot be classified. [Upasiva:] He who has reached the end: Does he not exist, or is he for eternity free from dis-ease? Please, sage, declare this to me as this phenomenon has been known by you. [The Buddha:] One who has reached the end has no criterion(3) by which anyone would say that — for him it doesn't exist. When all phenomena are done away with,(4) all means of speaking are done away with as well.