                               Chapter I
                               =========
                                          
                                          
                  "This fire that has gone out...
            in which direction from here has it gone?"
                                          
                                          
  
    The discourses report two instances where Brahmans asked the Buddha 
  about the nature of the goal he taught, and he responded with the 
  analogy of the extinguished fire.  There is every reason to believe 
  that, in choosing this analogy, he was referring to a concept of fire 
  familiar to his listeners, and, as they had been educated in the Vedic 
  tradition, that he probably had the Vedic concept of fire in mind.  
  This, of course, is not to say that he himself adhered to the Vedic 
  concept, or that he was referring to it in all its details.  He was 
  simply drawing on a particular aspect of fire as seen in the Vedas so 
  that his listeners could have a familiar reference point for making 
  sense of what he was saying.
  
    Now, although the Vedic texts contain several different theories 
  concerning the physics of fire, there is at least one basic point on 
  which they agree:  Fire, even when not manifest, continues to exist in 
  a latent form.  The Vedic view of all physical phenomena is that they 
  are the manifestation of pre-existent potencies inherent in nature.  
  Each type of phenomenon has its corresponding potency, which has both 
  personal & impersonal characteristics:  as a god and as the powers he 
  wields.  In the case of fire, both the god & the phenomenon are called 
  Agni:
  
  
  
       Agni, who is generated, being produced (churned) by men 
       through the agency of sahas.
                      
                      RV 6,48,5
  
  
  
    'Sahas' here is the potency, the power of subjugation, wielded by 
  Agni himself.  Jan Gonda, in discussing this passage, comments,  'The 
  underlying theory must have been...that a man and his physical 
  strength are by no means able to produce a god or potency of Agni's 
  rank.  Only the co-operation or conjunction of that special principle 
  which seems to have been central in the descriptions of Agni's 
  character, his power of subjugation, his overwhelming power, can lead 
  to the result desired, the appearance of sparks and the generation of 
  fire.'  Further, 'a divine being like Agni was in a way already 
  pre-existent when being generated by a pair of kindling sticks' (1957, 
  pp. 22-3).  As fire burns, Agni 'continues entering' into the fire (AV 
  4,39,9).  Scattered in many places--as many separate fires--he is 
  nevertheless one & the same thing (RV 3,55).  Other fires are attached 
  to him as branches to a tree (RV 8,19).
  
    When fire is extinguished, Agni and his powers do not pass out of 
  existence.  Rather, they go into hiding.  This point is expressed in a 
  myth, mentioned frequently in the Vedic texts, of Agni's trying to 
  hide himself from the other gods in places where he thought they would 
  never perceive him.  In the version told in RV 10,51, the gods finally 
  find the hidden Agni as an embryo in the water.
  
  
  
       (Addressed to Agni):  Great was the membrane and firm, that 
       enveloped you when you entered the waters....We searched for 
       you in various places, O Agni, knower of creatures, when you 
       had entered into the waters and plants.
                      
                      RV 10,51
  
  
  
    As Chauncey Blair notes, 'The concept of Agni in the waters does 
  not imply destruction of Agni.  He is merely a hidden, a potential 
  Agni, and no less capable of powerful action' (1961, p. 103).
    
    The implications of Agni's being an embryo are best understood in 
  light of the theories of biological generation held in ancient India:
  
  
  
       The husband, after having entered his wife, becomes an 
       embryo and is born again of her. 
                      
                      Laws of Manu, 9,8
  
  
  
    Just as ancient Indians saw an underlying identity connecting a 
  father & his offspring, so too did they perceive a single identity 
  underlying the manifest & embryonic forms of fire.  In this way, Agni, 
  repeatedly reborn, was seen as immortal; and in fact, the Vedas 
  attribute immortality to him more frequently than to any other of the 
  gods.
  
  
  
       To you, immortal!  When you spring to life, all the gods 
       sing for joy...By your powers they were made 
       immortal...(Agni), who extended himself over all the worlds, 
       is the protector of immortality. 
                      RV 6,7
  
  
  
    Not only immortal, but also omnipresent:  Agni in his manifest form 
  is present in all three levels of the cosmos--heaven, air, & earth--as 
  sun, lightning & flame-fire.  As for his latent presence, he states in 
  the myth of his hiding, 'my bodies entered various places'; a survey 
  of the Vedas reveals a wide variety of places where his embryos may be 
  found.  Some of them--such as stone, wood, plants, & kindling 
  sticks--relate directly to the means by which fire is kindled & 
  fueled.  Others relate more to fire-like qualities & powers, such as 
  brilliance & vitality, present in water, plants, animals, & all 
  beings.  In the final analysis, Agni fills the entire universe as the 
  latent embryo of growth & vitality.  As Raimundo Panikkar writes, 
  'Agni...is one of the most comprehensive symbols of the reality that 
  is all-encompassing' (1977, p.325).
  
  
  
       Agni pervades & decks the heaven & earth...his forms are 
       scattered everywhere.
                      
                      RV 10,80
  
  
  
       He (Agni) who is the embryo of waters, embryo of woods, 
       embryo of all things that move & do not move.
                      
                      RV 1,70,2
  
  
  
       In plants & herbs, in all existent beings, I (Agni) have 
       deposited the embryo of increase.  I have engendered all 
       progeny on earth, and sons in women hereafter.
                      
                      RV 10,183,3
  
  
  
       You (Agni) have filled earth, heaven & the air between, and 
       follow the whole cosmos like a shadow.
                      
                      RV 1,73,8 
  
  
       
       We call upon the sage with holy verses, Agni Vaisvanara the 
       ever-beaming, who has surpassed both heaven & earth in 
       greatness.  He is a god below, a god above us.
                      
                      RV 10,88,14.
  
  
  
    This view that Agni/fire in a latent state is immortal & 
  omnipresent occurs also in the Upanishads that were composed circa 
  850-750 B.C. and later accepted into the Vedic Canon.  The authors of 
  these texts use this view to illustrate, by way of analogy, the 
  doctrines of a unitary identity immanent in all things, and of the 
  immortality of the soul in spite of apparent death.
  
  
  
       Now, the light that shines higher than this heaven, on the 
       backs of all, on the backs of everything, in the highest 
       worlds, than which there are no higher--truly that is the 
       same as the light which is here within a person.  There is 
       this hearing of it--when one closes one's ears and hears a 
       sound, a roar, as of a fire blazing.
                      
                      ChU 3.13.7-8
  
  
  
       Truly, this Brahma (the god that the Upanishads say is 
       immanent in the cosmos) shines when fire blazes, and 
       disappears when it does not blaze.  Its brilliance goes to 
       the sun; its vital breath to the wind.
       
       This Brahma shines when the sun is seen, and disappears when 
       it is not seen.  Its brilliance goes to the moon, its vital 
       breath to the wind.  (Similarly for moon & lightning.)
       
       Truly, all these divinities, having entered into wind, do 
       not perish when they die (disappear) in the wind; indeed, 
       from there they come forth again.
                      
                      KauU 2.12
  
  
  
    In the major non-canonical Upanishads--whose period of composition 
  is believed to overlap with the time of the Buddha--the analogy is 
  even more explicit:
  
  
       As the one fire has entered the world
       and becomes corresponding in form to every form,
       So the Inner Soul of all things
       corresponds in form to every form, 
            and yet is outside.
                      
                      KathU 2.2.9
  
  
  
       As the material form of fire, 
       when latent in its source,
            is not perceived--
       and yet its subtle form
            is not destroyed,
       but may be seized again 
            in its fuel-source--
       So truly both (the universal Brahma  
                     & the individual Soul)
            are (to be seized) in the body 
            by means of (the meditation word) AUM.
       Making one's body the lower friction stick,
            and AUM the upper stick,
       practicing the drill of meditative absorption,
            one may see the god, 
                 hidden as it were. 
                      
                      SvU 1.13-14
  
  
  
    One interesting development in this stratum of the Vedic literature 
  is the positive sense in which it comes to regard extinguished fire.  
  The Vedic hymns & earlier Upanishads saw burning fire as a positive 
  force, the essence of life & vitality.  These texts, though, see the 
  tranquillity & inactivity of the extinguished fire as an ideal image 
  for the soul's desired destination.
  
  
  
       To that God, illumined by his own intellect,
       do I, desiring liberation, resort for refuge--
            to him without parts, 
                 without activity,
                 tranquil,
            impeccable, spotless,
       the highest bridge to the deathless,
       like a fire with fuel consumed.
                      
                      SvU 6.18-19
  
  
  
       As fire through loss of fuel
            grows still (extinguished) in its own source,
       so thought by loss of activeness
            grows still in its own source...
       For by tranquillity of thought
        one destroys 
            good & evil karma.
       With tranquil soul, stayed on the Soul,
       one enjoys
             unending ease.
                      
                      MaiU 6.34
  
  
  
    Whether this re-evaluation of the image of fire--seeing its 
  extinguishing as preferable to its burning--predated the founding of 
  Buddhism, was influenced by it, or simply paralleled it, no one can 
  say for sure, as there are no firm dates for any of the Upanishads.  
  At any rate, in both stages of the Vedic attitude towards fire, the 
  thought of a fire going out carried no connotations of going out of 
  existence at all.  Instead, it implied a return to an omnipresent, 
  immortal state.  This has led some scholars to assume that, in using 
  the image of an extinguished fire to illustrate the goal he taught, 
  the Buddha was simply adopting the Vedic position wholesale and meant 
  it to carry the same implications as the last quotation above:  a 
  pleasant eternal existence for a tranquil soul.
  
    But when we look at how the Buddha actually used the image of 
  extinguished fire in his teachings, we find that he approached the 
  Vedic idea of latent fire from another angle entirely:  If latent fire 
  is everywhere all at once, it is nowhere in particular.  If it is 
  conceived as always present in everything, it has to be so loosely 
  defined that it has no defining characteristics, nothing by which it 
  might be known at all.  Thus, instead of using the subsistence of 
  latent fire as an image for immortality, he uses the diffuse, 
  indeterminate nature of extinguished fire as understood by the Vedists 
  to illustrate the absolute indescribability of the person who has 
  reached the Buddhist goal.
  
  
  
       Just as the destination of a glowing fire
            struck with a (blacksmith's) iron hammer,
            gradually growing calm,
                 is not known:
       Even so, there is no destination to describe
            for those who are rightly released
                 --having crossed over the flood
                      of sensuality's bonds--
            for those who have attained 
                 unwavering ease.
                      
                      Ud viii.10
  
  
  
       'But, Venerable Gotama (the Brahman, Aggivessana 
       Vacchagotta, is addressing the Buddha), the monk whose mind 
       is thus released:  Where does he reappear?'
       
       '"Reappear," Vaccha,  doesn't apply.'
       
       'In that case, Venerable Gotama, he does not reappear.'
       
       '"Does not reappear," Vaccha,  doesn't apply.'
       
       '...both does & does not reappear.'
       
       '...doesn't apply.'
       
       '...Neither does nor does not reappear.'
       
       '...doesn't apply.'...
       
       'At this point, Venerable Gotama, I am befuddled; at this 
       point, confused.  The modicum of clarity coming to me from 
       your earlier conversation is now obscured.'
       
       'Of course you're befuddled, Vaccha.  Of course you're 
       confused.  Deep, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, 
       hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of 
       conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise.  For 
       those with other views, other satisfactions, other aims, 
       other teachers, it is difficult to know.  That being the 
       case, I will now put some questions to you.  Answer as you 
       see fit.  How do you construe this, Vaccha:  If a fire were 
       burning in front of you, would you know that, "This fire is 
       burning in front of me"?'
       
       '...yes...'
       
       'And suppose someone were to ask you, Vaccha, "This fire 
       burning in front of you, dependent on what is it burning?"  
       Thus asked, how would you reply?'
       
       '...I would reply, "This fire burning in front of me is 
       burning dependent on grass & timber as its sustenance."'
       
       'If the fire burning in front of you were to go out, would 
       you know that, "This fire burning in front of me has gone 
       out"?'
       
       '...yes...'
       
       'And suppose someone were to ask you, "This fire that has 
       gone out in front of you, in which direction from here has 
       it gone?  East?  West?  North?  Or south?"  Thus asked, how 
       would you reply?'
       
       'That doesn't apply, Venerable Gotama.  Any fire burning 
       dependent on a sustenance of grass and timber, being 
       unnourished--from having consumed that sustenance and not 
       being offered any other--is classified simply as "out" 
       (nibbuto).'
       
       'Even so, Vaccha, any physical form  by which one describing 
       the Tathagata would describe him:  That the Tathagata has 
       abandoned,  its root destroyed, like an uprooted palm tree, 
       deprived of the conditions of existence, not destined for 
       future arising.  Freed from the classification of form, 
       Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard-to-fathom, 
       like the sea.  "Reappears" does not apply.  "Does not 
       reappear" does not apply.  "Both does & does not reappear" 
       does not apply.  "Neither reappears nor does not reappear" 
       does not apply.  
       
       'Any feeling...Any perception...Any mental process... 
       
       'Any act of consciousness  by which one describing the 
       Tathagata would describe him:  That the Tathagata has 
       abandoned...Freed from the classification of consciousness, 
       Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard-to-fathom, 
       like the sea.'
       
                      M 72
  
  
  
    The person who has attained the goal is thus indescribable because 
  he/she has abandoned all things by which he/she could be described.  
  This point is asserted in even more thoroughgoing fashion in a pair of 
  dialogues where two inexperienced monks who have attempted to describe 
  the state of the Tathagata after death are cross-examined on the 
  matter by Sariputta & the Buddha himself.
  
  
  
     Sariputta:  How do you construe this, my friend Yamaka:  Do 
       you regard form as the Tathagata?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  Do you regard feeling as the Tathagata?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  ...perception...?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  ...mental processes...?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  ...consciousness...?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  Do you regard the Tathagata as being in form? 
       Elsewhere than form?  In feeling?  Elsewhere than feeling?  
       In perception?  Elsewhere than perception?  In mental 
       processes?  Elsewhere than mental processes?  In 
       consciousness?  Elsewhere than consciousness?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  Do you regard the Tathagata as 
       form-feeling-perception-mental processes-cognizance?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is 
       without form, without feeling, without perception, without 
       mental processes, without cognizance?
     
     Yamaka:  No, sir.
     
     Sariputta:  And so, my friend Yamaka--when you do not 
       ascertain the Tathagata even in the present life--is it 
       proper for you to declare, 'As I understand the Teaching 
       explained by the Exalted One, a monk with no more (mental) 
       effluents, on the break-up of the body, is annihilated, 
       perishes & does not exist after death'?
     
     Yamaka:  Previously, friend Sariputta, I did foolishly hold 
       that evil supposition.  But now, having heard the Venerable 
       Sariputta's explanation of the Teaching, I have abandoned 
       that evil supposition, and the Teaching has become clear.
     
     Sariputta:  Then, friend Yamaka, how would you answer if you 
       are thus asked:  A monk, a worthy one, with no more mental 
       effluents, what is he on the break-up of the body, after 
       death?
     
     Yamaka:  Thus asked, I would answer, 'Form...feeling... 
       perception...mental processes...consciousness are 
       inconstant.  That which is inconstant is stressful.  That 
       which is stressful has stopped and gone to its end.'
       
                      S xxii.85
  
  
  
    The Buddha puts the same series of questions to the monk Anuradha 
  who--knowing that the Tathagata after death could not be described in 
  terms of existence, non-existence, both or neither--had attempted to 
  describe the Tathagata in other terms.  After receiving the same 
  answers as Yamaka had given Sariputta, the Buddha concludes:
  
  
  
       'And so, Anuradha--when you do not ascertain the Tathagata 
       even in the present life--is it proper for you to declare, 
       "Friend, the Tathagata--the supreme man, the superlative 
       man, attainer of the superlative attainment--being 
       described, is described otherwise than with these four 
       positions:  The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist 
       after death, both does & does not exist after death, neither 
       exists nor does not exist after death"?'
       
       'No, venerable sir.'
       
       'Very good, Anuradha.  Both formerly & now, Anuradha, it is 
       only stress that I describe, and the stopping of stress.'
       
                      S xxii.86 
  
  
  
    Thus none of the four alternatives--reappearing/existing, not 
  reappearing/existing, both, & neither--cannot apply to the Tathagata 
  after death, because even in this lifetime there is no way of defining 
  or identifying what the Tathagata is.
    
    To identify a person by the contents of his or her mind--such 
  things as feelings, perceptions, or mental processes--there would have 
  to be a way of knowing what those contents are.  In ordinary cases, 
  the texts say, this is possible through either of two cognitive skills 
  that a meditator can develop through the practice of meditation, and 
  that beings on higher planes of existence can also share:  the ability 
  to know where a living being is reborn after death, and the ability to 
  know another being's thoughts.   
    
    In both skills the knowledge is made possible by the fact that the 
  ordinary mind exists in a state of dependency on its objects.  When a 
  being is reborn, its consciousness has to become established at a 
  certain point:  This point is what a master of the first skill 
  perceives.   When the ordinary mind thinks, it needs a mental object 
  to act as a prop or support (arammana) for its thoughts:  This support 
  is what a master of the second skill perceives.  The mind of a person 
  who has attained the goal, though, is free from all dependencies, and 
  so offers no means by which a master of either skill can perceive it.
    
  
  
       Then the Blessed One went with a large number of monks to 
       the Black Rock on the slope of Isigili.  From afar he saw 
       Ven. Vakkali lying dead on a couch.  Now at that time a 
       smokiness, a darkness was moving to the east, moved to the 
       west, moved to the north, the south, above, below, moved to 
       the intermediate directions.  The Blessed One said, 'Monks, 
       do you see that smokiness, that darkness...?'
       
       'Yes, Lord.'
       
       'That is Mara*, the Evil One.  He is searching for the 
       consciousness of Vakkali the Clansman:  "Where is the 
       consciousness of Vakkali the Clansman established?"  But, 
       monks, it is through unestablished consciousness that 
       Vakkali the Clansman has attained total nibbana.'
  
                      S xxii.87
  
  
  
    (The Buddha describes the meditative state of a person who has 
  achieved the goal and is experiencing a foretaste of nibbana after 
  death while still alive.  We will discuss the nature of this 
  meditative state below.  Here, though, we are interested in how this 
  person appears to those who would normally be able to fathom another 
  person's mind.)
  
       There is the case, Sandha, where for an excellent 
       thoroughbred of a man the perception of earth with regard to 
       earth has ceased to exist; the perception of liquid with 
       regard to liquid...the perception of heat with regard to 
       heat...the perception of wind with regard to wind...the 
       perception of the sphere of the infinitude of space with 
       regard to the sphere of the infinitude of space...the 
       perception of the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness 
       with regard to the sphere of the infinitude of 
       consciousness...the perception of the sphere of nothingness 
       with regard to the sphere of nothingness...the perception of 
       the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception with 
       regard to the sphere of neither perception nor 
       non-perception...the perception of this world with regard to 
       this world...the next world with regard to the next 
       world...and whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, 
       attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect:  the 
       perception with regard even to that has ceased to exist.
       
       Meditating in this way, the excellent thoroughbred of a man 
       meditates dependent neither on earth, liquid, heat, wind, 
       the sphere of the infinitude of space, the sphere of the 
       infinitude of consciousness, the sphere of nothingness, the 
       sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, this world, 
       the next world, nor on whatever is seen, heard, sensed, 
       cognized, attained, sought after or pondered by the 
       intellect--and yet he does meditate.  And to this excellent 
       thoroughbred of a man, meditating in this way, the gods, 
       together with Indra, the Brahmas & their chief queens, pay 
       homage even from afar:
  
       Homage to you, O thoroughbred man.
       Homage to you, O superlative man--
       of whom we have no direct knowledge
            even by means of what it is
                 you meditate dependent on.
  
                      A xi.9
  
  
  
    Thus the mind that has attained the goal cannot be known or 
  described from the outside because it is completely free of any 
  dependency--any support or object inside it--by which it might be 
  known.  This point forms the context for the dialogue in which the 
  Brahman Upasiva asks the Buddha about the person who attains the goal.
  
  
  
       Upasiva: 
         And does he stand firm there, unaffected
           All-seeing for many years?
           Right there would he be cooled & released?
           Would (his) consciousness be of such a sort?
       
       The Buddha: 
         As a flame overthrown by the force of the wind
           Goes to an end that cannot be classified,
         So the sage freed from naming (mental) activity
           Goes to an end that cannot be classified.
       
       Upasiva:
         He who has reached the end:
           Does he not exist,
           Or is he for eternity free from affliction?
         Please, sage, declare this to me
            as this phenomenon has been known by you.
       
       The Buddha:
         One who has reached the end has no criterion
         By which anyone would say that--
                it does not exist for him.
         When all phenomena are done away with
         All means of speaking are done away with as well.
  
                      Sn v.6
  
  
  
    The important term in the last verse is pamana:  'criterion'.  It 
  is a pregnant term, with meanings both in philosophical and in 
  ordinary usage.  In philosophical discourse, it refers to a means of 
  knowledge or a standard used to assess the validity of an assertion or 
  object.  In the Buddha's time, and later, various schools of thought 
  specialized in discussing the nature and role of such criteria, and 
  the Maitri Upanishad contains one of their basic tenets:
  
  
  
       Because of its precision, this (the course of the sun 
       through the zodiac) is the criterion for time. For without a 
       criterion, there is no ascertaining the things to be 
       assessed.
                      MaiU 6.14
  
  
  
    Thus when a mind has abandoned all phenomena, there is no means or 
  criterion by which anyone else could know or say anything about it.  
  This much is obvious.  But the verse also seems to be saying that the 
  goal is indescribable from the inside--for the person experiencing 
  it--as well.  First, the verse is in answer to Upasiva's inquiry into 
  the goal as the Buddha has known it.  Secondly, the line, 'it does not 
  exist for him,' can mean not only that the person experiencing the 
  goal offers no criteria to the outside by which anyone else might 
  describe him/her, but also that the experience offers no criteria from 
  the inside for describing it either.  And as we have already noted, 
  the outside criteria by which a person might be described are 
  determined precisely by what is there inside that person's mind.  
  Thus, for the person experiencing the goal, there would not even be 
  any means of knowing whether or not there was a person having the 
  experience.  There would simply be the experience in & of itself. 
    
    This is where the ordinary meaning of pamana--as limit or 
  measurement--comes in.  This meaning goes back to the Vedic hymns.  
  There, the act of measuring is seen as an essential part of the 
  process of the creation (or 'building,' like a house) of the cosmos.  
  In one Rg Vedic hymn (X.129), for example, the creation of mind is 
  followed by the appearance of a horizontal limit or measuring line 
  separating male from female (heaven from earth).  From this line, the 
  rest of the cosmos is laid out.  
    
    So to say that no criterion/measurement/limit exists for the person 
  experiencing the goal means that the person's experience is totally 
  free of all the most elementary perceptions & distinctions that 
  underlie our knowledge of the cosmos.  And the word "free"--one of the 
  few the Buddha uses in a straightforward way to describe the mind that 
  has attained the goal--thus carries two meanings:  free from 
  dependency, as we have already seen, and free from limitations, even 
  of the most abstruse & subtlest sort.
    
    This second reading of the verse--dealing with the limitlessness & 
  undescribability of the goal for the person experiencing it--is 
  supported by a number of other passages in the Pali Canon referring 
  explicitly to the inner experience of the goal.
  
  
  
       Consciousness without feature, without end
            luminous all around:
       Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing.
       Here  long & short
            coarse & fine
             fair & foul
             name & form
       are all brought to an end.
       With the stopping 
       of (the activity of) consciousness,
            each is here brought to an end.
                      
                      D 11
  
  
  
       There is, monks, that sphere where there is neither earth 
       nor water, nor fire nor wind, nor sphere of the infinitude 
       of space, nor sphere of the infinitude of consciousness, nor 
       sphere of nothingness, nor sphere of neither perception nor 
       non-perception, nor this world, nor the next world, nor sun, 
       nor moon.  And there, I say, there is neither coming nor 
       going nor stasis, nor passing away nor arising: without 
       stance, without foundation, without support (mental object).  
       This, just this, is the end of stress.
  
                      Ud viii.1
  
  
  
       Where water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing:
       There the stars do not shine,
            the sun is not visible,
            the moon does not appear,
            darkness is not found.
       And when a sage, a worthy one, through sagacity
            has known (this) for himself,
       Then from form & formless,
            from pleasure & pain,
                He is freed.
                      
                      Ud ii.10
  
  
  
       Consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all 
       around, does not partake of the solidity of earth, the 
       liquidity of water, the radiance of fire, the windiness of 
       wind, the divinity of devas (and so on through a list of the 
       various levels of godhood to) the allness of the All.
  
                      M 49
  
    The phrase 'does not partake of the allness of the All' can best be 
  understood with reference to the following three passages:
  
  
  
       What is the All?  Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose 
       & odors, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, 
       intellect & ideas.  This, monks, is termed the All.  Anyone 
       who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe 
       another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds 
       for his statement, would be unable to explain, and 
       furthermore, would be put to grief.  Why?  Because it lies 
       beyond range.
  
                      S xxxv.23
  
  
  
    If the six senses & their objects--sometimes called the six spheres 
  of contact--constitute the All, is there anything beyond the All?
  
  
  
     MahaKotthita:  With the remainderless stopping & fading of 
       the six spheres of contact (vision, hearing, smell, taste, 
       touch, & intellection) is it the case that there is anything 
       else?
     
     Sariputta:  Do not say that, my friend.
     
     MahaKotthita:  With the remainderless stopping & fading of 
       the six spheres of contact, is it the case that there is not 
       anything else?
     
     Sariputta:  Do not say that, my friend.
     
     MahaKotthita:  ...is it the case that there both is & is not 
       anything else?
     
     Sariputta:  Do not say that, my friend.
     
     MahaKotthita:  ...is it the case that there neither is nor is 
       not anything else?
     
     Sariputta:  Do not say that, my friend.
     
     MahaKotthita:  Being asked...if there is anything else, you 
       say, 'Do not say that, my friend'.  Being asked...if there 
       is not anything else...if there both is & is not anything 
       else... if there neither is nor is not anything else, you 
       say, 'Do not say that, my friend'.  Now, how is the meaning 
       of this statement to be understood?
     
     Sariputta:  Saying...is it the case that there is anything 
       else... is it the case that there is not anything else...is 
       it the case that there both is & is not anything else...is 
       it the case the there neither is nor is not anything else, 
       one is differentiating non-differentiation.  However far the 
       six spheres of contact go, that is how far differentiation 
       goes.  However far differentiation goes, that is how far the 
       six spheres of contact go.  With the remainderless fading & 
       stopping of the six spheres of contact, there comes to be 
       the stopping, the allaying of differentiation.
     
                      A iv.173
  
  
  
    The sphere of non-differentiation, although it may not be 
  described, may be realized through direct experience.
  
  
  
       Monks, that sphere should be realized where the eye (vision) 
       stops and the perception (mental noting) of form fades.  
       That sphere is to be realized where the ear stops and the 
       perception of sound fades...where the nose stops and the 
       perception of odor fades...where the tongue stops and the 
       perception of flavor fades...where the body stops and the 
       perception of tactile sensation fades...where the intellect 
       stops and the perception of idea/phenomenon fades:  That 
       sphere should be realized.
  
                      S xxxv.116
  
  
  
    This experience of the goal--absolutely unlimited freedom, beyond 
  classification and exclusive of all else--is termed the elemental 
  nibbana property with no 'fuel' remaining (anupadisesa-nibbana-dhatu).  
  It is one of two ways in which nibbana is experienced, the distinction 
  between the two being expressed as follows:
  
  
  
       Monks, there are these two forms of the nibbana property.  
       What two?  The nibbana property with fuel remaining, and the 
       nibbana property with no fuel remaining.  
       
       And what is the nibbana property with fuel remaining?  There 
       is the case where a monk is a worthy one devoid of mental 
       effluents, who has attained completion, finished the task, 
       laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the 
       bonds of becoming, and is released through right knowledge.  
       His five sense faculties still remain, and owing to their 
       being intact, he is cognizant of the pleasant & the 
       unpleasant, and is sensitive to pleasure & pain.  That which 
       is the passing away of passion, aversion, & delusion in him 
       is termed the nibbana property with fuel remaining. 
       
       And what is the nibbana property with no fuel remaining?  
       There is the case where a monk is a worthy one...released 
       through right knowledge.  All that is sensed by him, being 
       unrelished, will grow cold right here.  This is termed the 
       nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
  
                      Iti 44
  
  
  
    The phrase referring to the range of feeling as 'growing cold right 
  here' is a set expression describing death as experienced by one who 
  has reached the goal.  The verse following this passage states 
  explicitly that this is what is meant here.
  
  
  
       These two           
       nibbana properties  
       proclaimed by the one with vision
            the one independent
            the one who is Such:
       one property, here in this life
       with fuel remaining 
            from the ending of craving,
            the guide to becoming
       and that with no fuel remaining    
       after this life
       in which all becoming 
            stops completely.
       
       Those who know this state uncompounded
       their minds released     
       through the ending of craving,
            the guide to becoming,
       
       they, attaining the Teaching's core, 
            delighting in the depletion of craving,
       have abandoned all becoming:
                 They, the Such.
                      
                      Iti 44
  
  
  
    The Verses of the Elder Udayin suggest a simile to illustrate the 
  distinction between these two nibbana properties:
  
  
  
       A great blazing fire
            unnourished grows calm
       And while its embers exist
            is said to be out:
       Conveying a meaning,
       this image is taught by the cognizant.
       Great Nagas* will recognize
            the Naga as taught by the Naga
       As free from passion
            free from aversion
                 free from delusion
                      without mental effluent.
       His body discarded, the Naga
            will go totally out
                 without effluent.
                      
                      Thag xv.2
  
  
  
    Here Ven. Udayin compares the nibbana property with fuel 
  remaining--the state of being absolutely free from passion, aversion, 
  & delusion--to a fire whose flames have died out, but whose embers are 
  still glowing.  Although he does not complete the analogy, he seems to 
  imply that the nibbana property without fuel remaining--when the 
  Worthy One discards his body at death--is like a fire so totally out 
  that its embers have grown cold.
    
    Thus the completely free & unadulterated experience we have been 
  discussing is that of nibbana after death.  There are, though, states 
  of concentration which give a foretaste of this experience in the 
  present life and which enabled the Buddha to say that he taught the 
  goal on the basis of direct knowledge.
  
  
  
     Ananda:  In what way, venerable sir, might a monk attain 
       concentration of such a form that he would have neither the 
       perception of earth with regard to earth, nor of water with 
       regard to water, nor of fire...wind...the sphere of the 
       infinitude of space...the sphere of the infinitude of 
       consciousness...the sphere of the infinitude of 
       nothingness... the sphere of neither perception nor 
       non-perception...this world...nor of the next world with 
       regard to the next world, and yet he would still be 
       percipient?
     
     The Buddha:  There is the case, Ananda, where he would be 
       percipient of this:  'This is peace, this is exquisite--the 
       resolution of all mental processes; the relinquishment of 
       all the paraphernalia of becoming; the ending of craving; 
       dispassion; stopping; nibbana.'
  
                      A x.6
  
  
  
    (Ananda puts the same question to Sariputta, who responds that he 
  himself once had experienced such a concentration.)
  
  
  
     Ananda:  But what were you percipient of at that time?
     
     Sariputta:  'The stopping of becoming--nibbana--the stopping 
       of becoming--nibbana':  One perception arose in me as 
       another perception stopped.  Just as in a blazing woodchip 
       fire, one flame arises as another flame disappears, even so, 
       'The stopping of becoming--nibbana--the stopping of 
       becoming--nibbana':   One perception arose in me as another 
       one stopped.  I was percipient of the stopping of 
       becoming--nibbana.
  
                      A x.7
  
     Ananda:  It is amazing, my friend, it is marvelous, how the 
       Master has attained & recognized the opportunity for the 
       purification of beings...and the direct realization of 
       nibbana, where the eye will be, and forms, and yet one will 
       not be sensitive to that sphere; where the ear will be, and 
       sounds...where the nose will be, and odors...where the 
       tongue will be, and flavors...where the body will be, and 
       tactile sensations...where the intellect will be, and ideas, 
       and yet one will not be sensitive to that sphere.
     
     Udayin:  Is one insensitive to that sphere with or without a 
       perception in mind?
  
     Ananda:  ...with a perception in mind...
     
     Udayin:  ...what perception?
     
     Ananda:  There is the case where with the complete 
       transcending of perceptions dealing with form, and the 
       passing away of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding 
       perceptions of diversity, thinking, 'infinite space,' one 
       remains in the sphere of the infinitude of space:  Having 
       this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that 
       sphere.  
     
       Further, with the complete transcending of the sphere of the 
       infinitude of space, thinking, 'infinite consciousness,' one 
       remains in the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness:  
       Having this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that 
       sphere.  
       
       Further, with the complete transcending of the sphere of the 
       infinitude of consciousness, thinking, 'There is nothing,' 
       one remains in the sphere of nothingness:  Having this 
       perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that sphere.
       
       Once, friend, when I was staying in Saketa at the Game 
       Refuge in the Black Forest, the nun Jatila Bhagika went to 
       where I was staying, and on arrival--having bowed to 
       me--stood to one side.  As soon as she had stood to one 
       side, she said to me:  'The concentration whereby--neither 
       pressed down nor forced back, nor with mental processes kept 
       blocked or suppressed--still as a result of release, 
       contented as a result of stillness, and as a result of 
       contentment one is not agitated:  This concentration is said 
       by the Master to be the fruit of what?'  
       
       I said to her, '...This concentration is said by the Master 
       to be the fruit of gnosis (the knowledge of Awakening).'  
       Having this sort of perception, friend, one is not sensitive 
       to that sphere.
  
                      A ix.37
  
  
  
    In this extraordinary state of mental poise--neither pressed, 
  forced, blocked, or suppressed--nibbana in the present life is 
  experienced as freedom from all perception dealing with the six 
  sensory spheres & the spheres of meditative absorption.  Although one 
  is conscious, and these spheres are present, one does not partake of 
  them.
    
    On the level of ordinary sensory experience, however, nibbana in 
  the present life is experienced by the Worthy One as the passing away 
  of passion, aversion, & delusion.  This implies that these three 
  states are analogous to fire; and as we saw in the Introduction, they 
  are directly referred to as fires at various points in the Canon.  On 
  the surface, the notion of passion & aversion as fires hardly requires 
  explanation, but in order to gain a fuller appreciation of the 
  analogies that the Canon draws between fire on the one hand, and 
  passion, aversion, & delusion on the other, we first need some 
  background on the specifically Buddhist views on fire it contains.
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