​MN 108 Gopakamoggallana Sutta: With Gopaka Moggallana 

Thus have i heard.

On one occasion the venerable Ananda was living at Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary, not long after the Blessed One had attained to final Nibbana. Now on that occasion King Ajatasattu Vedehiputta of Magadha, being suspicious of King Pajjota, was having Rajagaha fortified. Then in the morning, venerable Ananda dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, went into Rajagaha for alms. Then the venerable Ananda thought: "It is still too early to wander for alms in Rajagaha. Suppose I went to the brahmin Gopaka Moggallana at his workplace."

The brahmin Gopaka Moggallana saw the venerable Ananda coming in the distance and said to him: "Let Master Ananda come! Welcome to Master Ananda! It is long since Master Ananda found an opportunity to come here. Let Master Ananda be seated; this seat is ready." The venerable Ananda sat down on the seat made ready. The brahmin Gopaka Moggallana took a low seat, sat down at one side, and asked the venerable Ananda: "Master Ananda, is there any single bhikkhu who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by Master Gotama, accomplished and fully enlightened?"

Venerable Ananda: "There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. For the Blessed One was the arouser of the un-arisen path, the producer of the un-produced path, the declarer of the undeclared path; he was the knower of the path, the finder of the path, the one skilled in the path. But his disciples now abide following that path and become possessed of it afterwards."
​But this discussion between the venerable Ananda and the brahmin Gopaka Moggallana was interrupted; for then the brahmin Vassakara, the minister of Magadha  while supervising the work at Rajagaha, went to the venerable Ananda. He exchanged greetings with the venerable Ananda and asked the venerable Ananda: "For what discussion are you sitting together here now, Master Ananda? And what was your discussion that was interrupted?"

Venerable Ananda: "Brahmin, the brahmin Gopaka Moggallana asked me: 'Master Ananda, is there any single bhikkhu who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by Master Gotama, accomplished and fully enlightened?' I replied to the brahmin Gopaka Moggallana: 'There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened.....' This was our discussion that was interrupted when you arrived."

Brahmin: "Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who was appointed by Master Gotama thus: 'He will be your refuge when I am gone,' and whom you now have recourse to?"
Venerable Ananda: "There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who was appointed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, thus: 'He will be your refuge when I am gone,' and whom we now have recourse to."
Brahmin: "But is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who has been chosen by the Sangha and appointed by a number of elder bhikkhus thus: 'He will be our refuge after the Blessed One has gone,' and whom you now have recourse to?"
​
Venerable Ananda: "There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who has been chosen by the Sangha and appointed by a number of elder bhikkhus thus: 'He will be our refuge after the Blessed One has gone,' and whom we now have recourse to."
Brahmin: "But if you have no refuge, Master Ananda, what is the cause for your concord?" 
Venerable Ananda: "We are not without a refuge, brahmin. We have a refuge; we have the Dhamma as our refuge." Brahmin: "But when you were asked: 'Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who was appointed by Master Gotama thus: "He will be your refuge when I am gone," and whom you now have recourse to?' you answered: 'There is no such single bhikkhu... whom we now have recourse to.' When you were asked: 'Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who has been chosen by the Sangha and appointed by a number of elder bhikkhus thus: "He will be our refuge after the Blessed One has gone," and whom you now have recourse to?' you answered: "There is no such single bhikkhu......whom we now have recourse to.' When you were asked: 'But if you have no refuge, Master Ananda, what is the cause for your concord?' you answered: 'We are not without a refuge, brahmin. We have a refuge; we have the Dhamma as our refuge.' Now how should the meaning of these statements be regarded, Master Ananda?"

Venerable Ananda: "Brahmin, the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, has prescribed the course of training for bhikkhus and he has laid down the Patimokkha. On the Uposatha day as many of us as live in dependence upon a single village district meet together in unison, and when we meet we ask one who knows the Patimokkha to recite it. If a bhikkhu remembers an offence or a transgression while the Patimokkha is being recited, we deal with him according to the Dhamma in the way we have been instructed. It is not the worthy ones who deal with us; it is the Dhamma that deals with us."

Brahmin: "Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu whom you now honor, respect, revere, and venerate, and on whom you live in dependence honoring and respecting him?"
Venerable Ananda: "There is a single bhikkhu, brahmin, whom we now honor, respect, revere, and venerate, and on whom we live in dependence honoring and respecting him."
Brahmin: "But when you were asked: 'Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who was appointed by Master Gotama...?' you answered 'There is no such single bhikkhu...' When you were asked: 'Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu who has been chosen by the Sangha...?' you answered: 'There is no such single bhikkhu...' When you were asked: 'Is there, Master Ananda, any single bhikkhu whom you honor, respect, revere, and venerate, and on whom you live in dependence honoring and respecting him?' you answered: 'There is such a single bhikkhu whom we now honour...and on whom we live in dependence honoring and respecting him.' Now how should the meaning of these statements be regarded, Master Ananda?" 
Venerable Ananda: "There are, brahmin, ten qualities inspiring confidence that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. When these qualities are found in anyone among us, we honor, respect, revere, and venerate him, and live in dependence on him honoring and respecting him. What are the ten?
(1) "Here, brahmin, a bhikkhu is virtuous, he dwells restrained with the restraint of the Patimokkha, he is perfect in conduct and resort, and seeing fear in the slightest faults, he trains himself by undertaking the framing precepts. 
(2) "He has learned much, remembers what he has learned, and consolidates what he has learned. Such teachings as are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, and which affirm a holy life that is utterly perfect and pure - such teachings as these he has learned much of, remembered, mastered verbally, investigated with the mind, and penetrated well by view.
(3) "He is contented with his robes, alms food, resting place, and medicinal requisites.
(4) "He obtains at will, without trouble or difficulty, the four jhanas that constitute the higher mind and provide a pleasant abiding here and now.
(5) "He wields the various kinds of super-normal power: having been one, he becomes many; having been many, he becomes one; he appears and vanishes; he goes unhindered through a wall, through an enclosure, through a mountain as though through space; he dives in and out of the earth as though it were water; he walks on water without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, he travels in space like a bird; with his hand he touches and strokes the moon and sun so powerful and mighty; he wields bodily mastery even as far as the Brahma-world. (6) "With the divine ear element, which is purified and surpasses the human, he hears both kinds of sounds, the divine and the human, those that are far as well as near. 
(7) "He understands the minds of other beings, of other persons, having encompassed them with his own mind. He understands a mind affected by lust as affected by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as unaffected by lust; he understands a mind affected by hate as affected by hate and a mind unaffected by hate as unaffected by hate; he understands a mind affected by delusion as affected by delusion and a mind unaffected by delusion as unaffected by delusion; he understands a contracted mind as contracted and a distracted mind as distracted; he understands an exalted mind as exalted and an un-exalted mind as un-exalted; he understands a surpassed mind as surpassed and an unsurpassed mind as unsurpassed; he understands a concentrated mind as concentrated and an un-concentrated mind as un-concentrated; he understands a liberated mind as liberated and an un-liberated mind as un-liberated.
(8) "He recollects his manifold past lives.....(as Sutta 51)...Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives.
(9) "With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing, 'inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass on according to their actions.
(10) "By realizing for himself with direct knowledge, he here and now enters upon and abides in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that are taint-less with the destruction of the taints.

"These, brahmin, are the ten qualities inspiring confidence that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. When these qualities are found in anyone among us, we honor, respect, revere, and venerate him, and live in dependence on him honoring and respecting him."

When this was said, the brahmin Vassakara, the minister of Magadha, said to General Upananda: "What do you think, general? When these worthy ones honor one who should be honored, respect one who should be respected, revere one who should be revered, and venerate one who should be venerated, surely they honor one who should be honored.. .and venerate one who should be venerated. For if these worthy ones did not honor, respect, revere, and venerate such a person, then whom could they honor, respect, revere, and venerate, and on whom could they live in dependence honoring and respecting?" 
Then the brahmin Vassakara, the minister of Magadha, said to the venerable Ananda: "Where is Master Ananda living now?"
Venerable Ananda: "Now I am living in the Bamboo Grove, brahmin."
Brahmin: "I hope, Master Ananda, that the Bamboo Grove is pleasant, quiet and undisturbed by voices, with an atmosphere of seclusion, remote from people, favorable for retreat."
Venerable Ananda: "Indeed, brahmin, that the Bamboo Grove is pleasant... favorable for retreat is because of such guardian protectors as yourself."

Brahmin: "Indeed, Master Ananda, that the Bamboo Grove is pleasant... favourable for retreat is because of the worthy ones who are meditators and cultivate meditation. The worthy ones are meditators and cultivate meditation. On one occasion, Master Ananda, Master Gotama was living at Vesali in the Hall with the Peaked Roof in the Great Wood. Then I went there and approached Master Gotama, and in many ways he gave a talk about meditation. Master Gotama was a meditator and cultivated meditation, and he praised every type of meditation."

Venerable Ananda: "The Blessed One, brahmin, did not praise every type of meditation, nor did he condemn every type of meditation. What kind of meditation did the Blessed One not praise? Here, brahmin, someone abides with his mind obsessed by sensual lust, a prey to sensual lust, and he does not understand as it actually is the escape from arisen sensual lust. While he harbors sensual lust within, he meditates, premeditates, out-meditates, and mismeditates. He abides with his mind obsessed by ill will, a prey to ill will.. .with his mind obsessed by sloth and torpor, a prey to sloth and torpor...with his mind obsessed by restlessness and remorse, a prey to restlessness and remorse...with his mind obsessed by doubt, a prey to doubt, and he does not understand as it actually is the escape from arisen doubt. While he harbors doubt within, he meditates, premeditates, out-meditates, and mismeditates. The Blessed One did not praise that kind of meditation."
(The blessed one does not praise meditation filled with the five hindrances : sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse and doubt)

"And what kind of meditation did the Blessed One praise? Here, brahmin, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first jhana...With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, he enters upon and abides in the second jhana...With the fading away as well of rapture...he enters upon and abides in the third jhana...With the abandoning of pleasure and pain...he enters upon and abides in the fourth jhana...The Blessed One praised that kind of meditation."

Brahmin: "It seems, Master Ananda, that Master Gotama censured that kind of meditation that should be censured and praised that kind of meditation that should be praised. And now, Master Ananda, we depart. We are busy and have much to do."
Venerable Ananda: "Now is the time, brahmin, to do as you think fit."

Then the brahmin Vassakara, the minister of Magadha, having delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Ananda's words, rose from his seat and departed. Soon after he had left, the brahmin Gopaka Moggallana said to the venerable Ananda: "Master Ananda has not yet answered what we asked him."
Venerable Ananda: "Did we not tell you, brahmin: 'There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. For the Blessed One was the arouser of the unarisen path, the producer of the unproduced path, the declarer of the undeclared path; he was the knower of the path, the finder of the path, the one skilled in the path. But his disciples now abide following that path and become possessed of it afterwards'?" 
In summary, soon after the Buddha's death, Venerable Ananda, on his way to Rājagaha visited Brahmin Gopaka Moggallāna. Moggallāna asked him if there were any monk who has qualities and accomplished and enlightened like the Buddha, and received a negative answer from venerable Ananada. Brahmin Vassakāra arrives during the conversation and, on being told the topic of conversation, asks the same question and is told by Ananda that the monks regard the Dhamma as their protector and Buddha did not name any successor. Ananda responds to questions about how the order can maintain harmony without a designated leader as Buddha had laid down the patimokka.

The brahmin asked Venerable Ananda: ' You said there is such a single bhikkhu whom we now honor, respect, venerate and on whom we live in dependence honoring and respecting him.' Now how should the meaning of this statement be regarded, Master Ananda?" Venerable Ananda replied: "There are, brahmin, ten qualities inspiring confidence that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. When these qualities are found in anyone among us, we honor, respect, revere, and venerate him, and live in dependence on him honoring and respecting him. ..."
References: 
1. www.accesstoinsight.org
2. https://suttacentral.net/
3. The middle length discourses of the Buddha (Bhikkhu Bodhi)