The brahmin Unnabha asked Venerable Ananda: “What is the aim of living the holy life under the monk Gotama?”
“It is for the sake of abandoning desire.”
“Is there a way, a practice by which to abandon this desire?”
“There is a way. It is by means of the psychic powers of desire, of energy, of thought and of consideration together with concentration and effort.”
“If that is so, Venerable Ananda, then it is a task without end. Because to get rid of one desire by means of another is impossible.”
“Then I will ask you a question Unnabha. Answer as you like. Before, did you not have the desire, the energy, the thought and consideration to come to this park? And having arrived, did not that desire, that energy, that thought and that consideration cease?”
“Yes, it did.”
“Well, for one who has destroyed the defilements, once he has won enlightenment, that desire, that energy, that thought and that consideration he had for enlightenment ceases.”