In a chance meeting, the Buddha, unrecognized by the bhikkhu Pukkusāti, teaches him to deconstruct experience into six elements, six fields of contact, eighteen mental explorations, and four foundations. He further reveals that all notions of self—such as “I am this” or “I will be that”—are mere conceptions, inherently afflictive, and the peace of Nibbāna is realized by overcoming all conceptual proliferations.

The Buddha explains that while one can become detached from the decaying body, it is harder to detach from the mind, which is far more fleeting. He illustrates the principle of dependent co-arising with a specific example—just as fire arises from rubbing two sticks together and ceases when they are separated, so too feeling arises from contact and ceases with the cessation of contact.