http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn01/sn01.001.than.html
<!-- robots content="none" --> <!-- #H_meta -->
<!-- #H_billboard --> <!-- /robots -->
Translator's note: This discourse opens the
Samyutta Nikaya with a paradox. The Commentary informs us that the
Buddha teaches the devata in terms of the paradox in order to
subdue her pride. To give this paradox some context, you might want
to read other passages from the Canon that discuss right
effort.
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying
near Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's
monastery. Then a certain devata, in the far extreme of the night,
her extreme radiance lighting up the entirety of Jeta's Grove, went
to the Blessed One. On arrival, having bowed down to him, she stood
to one side. As she was standing there, she said to him, "Tell me,
dear sir, how you crossed over the flood."
"I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without
staying in place."[1]
"But how, dear sir, did you cross over the flood without pushing
forward, without staying in place?"
"When I pushed forward, I was whirled about. When I stayed in
place, I sank. And so I crossed over the flood without pushing
forward, without staying in place."
[The devata:]
That is what the devata said. The Teacher approved. Realizing
that "The Teacher has approved of me," she bowed down to him,
circumambulated him — keeping him to her right — and then vanished
right there.