3.
The Discourse on Confluent Waters
76.
He was dwelling at Sāvatthī, etc.
"Just as, monks, where these great rivers flow together and meet, as follows -
the Ganges, the Yamunā, the Aciravatī, the Sarabhū, the Mahī - from there a man might draw up two or three drops of water.
What do you think, monks, which is more, the two or three drops of water drawn up or the water at the confluence?"
"This indeed, venerable sir, is more, that is to say, the water at the confluence; the two or three drops of water drawn up are trifling. They do not amount to a hundredth fraction, they do not amount to a thousandth fraction, they do not amount to a hundred-thousandth fraction - compared with the water at the confluence, the two or three drops of water drawn up." "So too, monks, etc. the attainment of the eye of the teaching." The third.