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Nirodha samapatti - cessation of all, or only clinging, perception and feeling?

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This is based on the comments below this answer . From this page , we find the commentary: > nirodha-samāpatti 'attainment of extinction' (S. XIV, 11), also called > saññā-vedayita-nirodha, 'extinction of feeling and perception', is the > temporary suspension of all consciousness and mental activity, > following immediately upon the semi-conscious state called 'sphere of > neither-perception-nor-non-perception' (s. jhāna, 8). And also this commentary : > According to the commentary, "seclusion" here stands for Unbinding. On > emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling, and having had > contact with emptiness/the signless/the undirected, the mind inclines > naturally to a direct experience of Unbinding. On the other hand, the sutta states: > Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond the dimension > of neither perception nor non-perception, enters and remains in the > cessation of perception and feeling. And, having seen with wisdom, > their defilements come to an end. To this extent the Buddha spoke of > progressive cessation in a definitive sense.” > AN 9.61 My question is: Does nirodha samapatti aka saññā-vedayita-nirodha refer to a super trance-like state beyond the 8th jhana in which the practitioner becomes completely unconscious without any mental activity (like what the commentary above suggests) with cessation of ALL perception and feeling? Or does nirodha samapatti aka saññā-vedayita-nirodha refer to Nibbana-element with residue aka Unbinding-property with fuel remaining of Iti 44 (please see Ven. Thanissaro's footnotes), where the arahant is fully conscious with mental activity, but has cessation of only the clinging (or tainted) perception and feeling? This is related to the clinging aggregates of SN 22.48 . The quoted passage from AN 9.61 can be interpreted in both these ways. The commentary suggests that after the practitioner comes out of the super trance-like state then he stays with Nibbana-element with residue. But the latter interpretation suggests that beyond the 8 jhanas, there is no super trance-like state. Rather, after experiencing Nibbana, it's directly Nibbana-element with residue in any state with mental activity present. In short, does nirodha samapatti aka saññā-vedayita-nirodha mean cessation of ALL perception and feeling, or cessation of the clinging-aggregates of perception and feeling? **Question: does nirodha samapatti refer to a super trance like state beyond 8th jhana OR does it refer to the state of arahantship (nibbana-element without residue i.e. without the clinging aggregates of perception and feeling)?**
Asked by ruben2020 (39432 rep)
Jul 3, 2021, 10:14 PM
Last activity: Jul 5, 2021, 03:24 AM