v.l. Gomaya Sutta.– Taught at Jetavana.

A monk asks the Buddha whether there is anybody or anything at all that is permanent and stable. The Buddha takes a pellet of cow dung in his hand and tells him that the personality in any one span of life (attabhāva) even as small as that pellet is unstable. The Buddha then tells the monk of the great luxuries he had enjoyed as king (Mahā-Sudassana) of Kusāvātī, and of how they all perished (S.iii.143 f).

This sutta was taught by Mahinda at the Nandanavana, on the sixth day after his arrival in Sri Lanka. Mhv.xv.197.