There is, brahmin, a sense in which you could rightly say that I’m a teacher of annihilationism. For I teach the annihilation of greed, hate, and delusion, and the many kinds of unskillful things.

The brahmin Verañja rebukes the Buddha for his lack of respect for senior brahmins. He levels a series of criticisms, each of which the Buddha deflects by redefining terms. The Buddha affirms that his claim to superiority is because he was the first to achieve awakening.