The Blessed One took up a few simsapā leaves in his hand and addressed the bhikkhus thus: "What do you think, bhikkhus, which is more numerous: these few simsapā leaves that I have taken up in my hand or those in the simsapā grove overhead?" "Venerable sir, the simsapā leaves that the Blessed One has taken up in his hand are few, but those in the simsapā grove overhead are numerous." "So too, bhikkhus, the things I have directly known but have not taught you are numerous, while the things I have taught you are few. And why, bhikkhus, have I not taught those many things? Because they are unbeneficial, irrelevant to the fundamentals of the holy life, and do not lead to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. Therefore I have not taught them. "And what, bhikkhus, have I taught? I have taught: 'This is suffering'; I have taught: 'This is the origin of suffering'; I have taught: 'This is the cessation of suffering'; I have taught: 'This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.' And why, bhikkhus, have I taught this? Because this is beneficial, relevant to the fundamentals of the holy life, and leads to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. Therefore I have taught this."

  Suppose, Mālunkyāputta, a man were wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends and companions, his kinsmen and relatives, brought a surgeon to treat him. 

  The man would say: 'I will not let the surgeon pull out this arrow until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble or a brahmin or a merchant or a worker.' 

  And he would say: 'I will not let the surgeon pull out this arrow until I know the name and clan of the man who wounded me;... 

  until I know whether the man who wounded me was tall or short or of middle height;... 

  until I know whether the man who wounded me was dark or brown or golden-skinned;... 

  until I know whether the bowstring that wounded me was fibre or reed or sinew or hemp or bark;... 

  until I know whether the shaft that wounded me was wild or cultivated;... 

  until I know with what kind of feathers the shaft that wounded me was fitted-whether those of a vulture or a heron or a hawk or a peacock or a stork;.... 

  until I know with what kind of sinew the shaft that wounded me was bound-whether that of an ox or a buffalo or a deer or a monkey;.... 

  until I know what kind of arrowhead it was that wounded me-whether spiked or razor-tipped or curved or barbed or calf-toothed or lancet-shaped.'

  “All this would still not be known to that man and meanwhile he would die. 

  So too, Malunkyāputta if anyone should say thus: 

  'I will not lead the holy life under the Blessed One until the Blessed One declares to me: 

  'the world is eternal' and 

  'the world is not eternal:

  'the world is finite' and 

  'the world is infinite'; 

  'the soul is the same as the body' and 

  'the soul is one thing and the body another' and 

  'after death a Tathāgata exists' and 

  'after death a Tathāgata does not exist' and 

  'after death a Tathāgata both exists and does not exist' and 

  'after death a Tathāgata neither exists nor does not exist, 

  'that would still remain undeclared by the Tathāgata and meanwhile that person would die. 

  "Therefore, Mālunkyāputta, remember what I have left undeclared as undeclared, and remember what I have declared as declared.

  And what have I left undeclared? 

  "the world is eternal... or 'after death a Tathāgata neither exists nor eternal does not exist,-I have left undeclared. 

  "And what have I declared? 

  'This is suffering.'

  'This is the origin of suffering.' 

  'This is the cessation of suffering.' 

  'This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering' 

  I have declared, "Why have I declared that? 

  Because it is beneficial, it belongs to the fundamentals of the holy life it leads to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. 

  That is why I have declared it.