Kutadanta replied: "In one sense it is a different flame, in another it is not."
The Teacher asked: "Has the time that elapsed during the extinction of the flame anything to do with its identity or non-identity?"
Kutadanta said: "It has not. There is a difference and an identity, whether many years elapsed or only a second; and whether the lamp has been extinguished in the meantime or not."
"Then," said the Teacher, "the flame of to-day is, in a certain sense, the same as the flame of yesterday; and in another sense, at every moment it is different. Also the flames of the same kind, illuminating with equal power the same kind of rooms, are in a certain sense the same."
"True," said Kutadanta.
"Then," said the Teacher, "dost thou deny that the same reasoning holds good for thee that holds good for the things of the world?"
"No," answered Kutadanta, "I do not; the same reasoning holds good universally; but there is that about my self which makes it different from other things, as well as from other selves. There may be another who feels like me, thinks like me, and acts like me; but though he had my name, he would not be me."
"True," replied the Teacher, "he would not be thee. But tell me, is he who goes to school one, and when he has finished his schooling another? Is it one who commits a crime, and another who is punished?"
