When venerable Sāriputta meets venerable Puṇṇa Mantāṇiputta, he asks whether the spiritual life is lived for the sake of various purifications—of conduct, mind, view, overcoming doubt, knowing the path, knowing the practice, and knowledge and vision. Venerable Mantāṇiputta explains, with the simile of seven relay chariots, that each stage of purification serves only as a step toward the next, culminating in final Nibbāna without clinging—the true goal of the spiritual life.

In the Gosiṅga Sal wood park, Sāriputta asks several elder disciples what kind of monk illuminates the place. Each answers based on their personal strength — learning, seclusion, divine eye, asceticism, Dhamma dialogue and mastery over mind. They present their answers to the Buddha, who affirms that all have spoken well and then shares his own answer.

Whoever has let go of passion, aversion, and illusion is called one who has crossed beyond the ocean—with its waves, currents, whirlpools, lurking with fierce animals and monsters.

The formless element is more peaceful than the form realm. Yet, cessation is more peaceful than the formless element.

The Buddha describes the five signs that appear when a deity is about to pass away, and the three blessings that the gods give to the deity.

The Buddha instructs that one should examine experience in such a way that consciousness does not become scattered among external sense objects, fixated internally, or entangled through grasping.

The Buddha, after walking back and forth in the open air for much of the night, lies down in the lion's posture. Māra approaches him and taunts him for sleeping.

Eight verses on overcoming the mire of delusion by avoiding attachment to sensory pleasures, discerning their causes, and practicing for being free of ‘mine’.

Eight verses on overcoming the mire of delusion by avoiding attachment to sensory pleasures, discerning their causes, and practicing for being free of ‘mine’.

The Buddha explains the nature of a corrupted mind and the consequences of holding onto views in these verses.

The Buddha answers step-by-step to a series of questions starting with the source of quarrels and disputes, followed by the arising of various things such as hopes, aims, desires, possessions; leading all the way to the description of the ultimate purity of the spirit.

Among those entrenched in views, arguing “This alone is truth,” the Buddha calls praise won by such to be a small matter. Seeing safety in the ground of non-dispute, the wise do not seek purity by precepts and vows or by what is seen, heard, or sensed. The sage ends craving for various states of existence and stands equanimous.