Said the Blessed One: "Suppose the flame of the first watch had been extinguished during the second watch, would you call it the same if it burns again in the third watch?" 37 Replied Kūtadanta: "In one sense it is a different flame, in another it is not." 38 The Tathāgata asked again: "Has the time that elapsed during the extinction of the flame anything to do with its identity or non-identity?" 39 "No, sir," said the Brahman, "it has not. There is a difference and an identity, whether many years elapsed or only one second, and also whether the lamp has been extinguished in the meantime or not." 40 "Well, then, we agree that the flame of to-day is in a certain sense the same as the flame of yesterday, and in another sense it is different at every moment. Moreover, the flames of the same kind, illuminating with equal power the same land of rooms, are in a certain sense the same." 41 "Yes, sir," replied Kūtadanta. 42 The Blessed One continued: "Now, suppose there is a man who feels like thyself, thinks like thyself, and acts like thyself, is he not the same man as thou?" 43 "No, sir," interrupted Kūtadanta. 44 Said the Buddha: "Dost thou deny that the same logic holds good for thyself that holds good for the things of the world?" 45 Kūtadanta bethought himself and rejoined slowly: "No, I do not. The same logic holds good universally; but there is a peculiarity about my self which renders it altogether different from everything else and also from other selves. There may be another man who feels exactly like me, thinks like me, and acts like me; suppose even he had the same name and the same kind of possessions, he would not be myself." 46 "True, Kūtadanta," answered Buddha, "he would not be thyself. Now, tell me, is the person who goes to school one, and that same person when he has finished his schooling another? Is it one who commits a crime, another who is punished by having his hands and feet cut off?" 47 "They are the same," was the reply. 48 "Then sameness is constituted by continuity only?" asked the Tathāgata. 49 "Not only by continuity," said Kūtadanta, "but also and mainly by identity of character." 50