Cats who teach me to fly…

…quotes from the book…

The Deathless

The texts show the Buddha attaining the deathless at the moment of the realisation that made him a Buddha, rather than at the time of his passing away.

Like an old skin carried along and perhaps even cherished for a long time that now has lost all its former attraction, the desire for any realm or type of existence is to be abandoned in the deathless.

The complete realisation of the deathless stands for full liberation—that is, the complete removal of all defilements from the mind.

A use of the term “deathless” that is not confined to full awakening can also be seen in a set of Pali discourse without parallels, which name a range of lay practitioners who had come to know the deathless. Several of these are on record in other passages for having passed away at lower levels of realisation. It follows that the position of the texts in question is that the direct experience of the deathless is not the sole reserve of those who are arahants/arhats but is relevant also to stream-entry, once-return,  and nonreturn. As explained by Bodhi, the “terms used to describe these lay followers are descriptive of all noble ones from stream-entry on up. They all… are seers of nibbana, the deathless.”

Since the saint does not identify himself or herself with any of the khandhas(aggregates), the saint does not, in any way, participate in mortality… For at the so-called moment of death, what comes to an end is what does not belong to the saint… Strictly speaking the liberated saint does not die.

The early discourse distinguish five possible avenues for the breakthrough to awakening to take place. These are covered under the heading of “spheres of liberation”. Four of these relate to the teachings, namely by way of hearing them, communicating them to others, reciting them, and reflecting on them. The fifth is during actual meditation practice.

“Supported by seclusion, supported by dispassion, supported by cessation, leading to letting go.”

Presented in brief, a way of understanding this series is to take the first three to stand for seclusion from what is unwholesome, dispassion as fading away of craving, and an orientation toward the cessation of what is constructed (or what is dukkha/duhkha). Being supported by these three then leads to letting go in the sense of relinquishing, giving up, surrendering, and abandonment. Such letting go would have to comprise everything, without exception. For the plunge into the deathless to take place, the entire gamut of experience—based as it is on the central peg of construction in the form of an I-entity that is assumed to be at its centre and someone in control—would need to be relinquished, given up, surrendered, and abandoned.

The relevant Pali pericope relates the Dharma-eye to the understanding that all that is of a nature to arise is of a nature to cease.

Whatever there is, it is of a nature to arise; all of it having created, one attains the arising of the eye of Dharma that is free from any defilement.

Let go of what is before, let go of what is afterward, let go of what is in the middle, transcend becoming.

“What if I were neither to intend nor to construct?” So one neither intends nor constructs. For one who is not intending and not constructing, those very perception cease, other gross perceptions do not arise, and one experiences cessation.

In this way, the intending and constructing activity of the mind (that is, of the fourth aggregate in particular) comes to be subdued to such an extent that it becomes possible to step out of the process of perceiving, of connecting one perception with the next, as a result of which the experience of cessation becomes possible.

The discourse in question sets out on the contrast between a wild colt and a thoroughbred. A practitioner comparable to a wild colt is not free from the five hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness-and-worry, and doubt) and then meditates in dependence on various objects, such as the elements, the immaterial spheres, or what is experienced through the senses. In contrast, the way of practise for one comparable to a thoroughbred is based on the removal of the five hindrances. The actual practice then takes the following form in a Chinese version of the relevant passage:

One who meditates like this neither cultivates meditation in dependence on earth, nor cultivates meditation in dependence on water, fire, wind, space, consciousness, nothingness, neither-perception-not-nonprescription; neither cultivates meditation in dependence on this world, nor in dependence on that world, not [in dependence on] the sun and the moon, nor [in dependence on] what is seen, heard, experienced, and cognized, nor [in dependence on] what is attained, nor [in dependence on] what is accordingly realised, nor [in dependence on] what is accordingly contemplated.

“Such a form of meditation — if it can indeed be called such—goes beyond the whole range of objects a meditator could possibly take up and thereby beyond all known avenues of meditating. The parallels explain that any perception related to generally recognised objects of meditation “has disappeared,” with the practitioner has “subdued,” or else such perceptions are being seen as “false, not having a reality.”

This is peaceful, this is sublime, namely: the calming of all constructions, the letting go of all supports, the extinguishing of craving, dispassion, cessation,Nirvana.

(This is peaceful. This is sublime. That is the stilling of all activities. The relinquishing of all acquisition. The destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbana).

“Nibbana is not an experience as dry as a lot of wood, but a state of serene awareness of its true significance. It is a transcendence of the world by realisation of its cessation.”

Monastics, there is that sphere where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no wind, no sphere of infinite space, no sphere of infinite consciousness, no sphere of nothingness, no sphere of neither-perception-nor-nonperception, not this world, not a world beyond, and not both the moon and the sun. Monastics, i say that there is also no coming, no going, no staying, no passing away, and no re-arising; indeed, it is unestablished, unmovable, and unsupported. This itself is the end of dukkha.

This “Nirvana” is surely a very strange entity which differs greatly from anything that we have ever met before, and has nothing in common with objects about which assertion is possible. In order to do justice to it, one must withdraw from everything by which, of which or with which anything can be asserted.

Indications found elsewhere among the early discourses concord with the impression that the breakthrough to the deathless was conceived as an arrival at what is true and real. A verse extant in Pali expresses the matter in the following way:

Nirvana is of a nondeceptive nature, That noble ones have truly known; Through the breakthrough to truth, They have become stilled and cool.

Due to the influence of defilements, all unawakened experiences will inevitably be tinged by what is deceptive and of a false nature.

The liberation of such a one is unshakable, being established in truth… this is indeed the supreme noble truth… namely Nirvana, which is of a nondeceptive nature.

Friend, one devoid of conduct does not know and see as it really is. One endowed with conduct knows and sees as it really is. Knowing and seeing as it really is, one becomes an end-maker [of dukkha/duhkha].

That is, although neither conduct nor knowledge causes awakening, conduct provides the foundation for knowledge and knowledge in turn the required preparation for awakening to take place.

The same point comes to the fore in another Pali discourse and its two Chinese parallels. The relevant discussion clarifies that none out of a set of seven types of purification, ranging from mortality to knowledge and vision, can be identified with final Nirvana. Nevertheless, each of these seven purifications leads on to the next, and the part in turn leads on to the realisation of final Nirvana .

Of a monastic knows as it really is the arising of the six [spheres of] contact, their cessation, their advantage, their disadvantage, and the escape from them, then this is supreme and leads out of all those views.

This is indeed baseless talk:” When the six spheres of contact have been eradicated, faded away, ceased, appeased, and disappeared, is there a remainder?” This is indeed baseless talk:” Is there no remainder?” This is indeed baseless talk:” Is there a remainder and no  remainder?” This is indeed baseless talk:” Is there neither a remainder nor no remainder?” If one says:” When the six spheres of contact have been eradicated, faded away, ceased, appeased, and disappeared, one is apart from all that is baseless and false and attains Nirvana,” then this is indeed what the Buddha taught.

Like a flame flung away by the force of wind, Goes out and is beyond reckoning, So the sage, freed from the category of name, Goes out and is beyond reckoning.

There is no measurement of one gone to the end; That by which one might speak [of the sage] no longer exist [for the sage]. All things being removed, All pathways of language are removed as well.

Anuruddha/Aniruddha was reflecting on key requirements for progress on the path, which led him to the realisation that the Buddha’s teaching is for one who has few desires, is content, resorts to seclusion, is energetic, mindful, concentrated, and wise. The Buddha reportedly added an eighth quality: delight in nonproliferation.

The perpetual eradication of lustful desires, the perpetual eradication of anger, the perpetual eradication of delusion, and the perpetual eradication of any defilements: this is called Nirvana.

Experiencing the final feeling tones in life, one then knows to be experiencing the final tones in life. One knows that, with the breaking up of the body and the ending of life, the life span having come to be completed, all that is being felt will be extinguished and cease, becoming cool…

It is like, for example, a lamp that burns in dependence on oil and in dependence on a wick. If nobody adds further oil and also does not supply the wick, what was there previously, having come to an end, will not continue further, with nothing more to be experienced.

When the dustless and stainless Dharma-eye arises in a noble disciple, with the arising of vision… three fetters of the noble disciple are eradicated: the view of a[reified sense] of identity, doubt, dogmatic clinging to conduct and observances [as in themselves liberating].

“Proliferation originates from perception” (Chinese) or else that “perception” is the root of proliferation “

Placed in a wider context of the average mode of progress on the path, then, practices such as sense restraint, bare awareness, and signless concentration, together with regular contemplation of impermanence, can provide the ”gradual” training of perception that then has its “sudden” complement in the transformative breakthrough to the unconstructed. These two dimensions of transforming perception—gradually and suddenly —in conjunction lead to complete freedom of the mind from defilements. In fact, even just cultivating sense restraint well can provide a basis for stepping out of the world created by the six spheres of contact:

With [sense} doors guarded and well restrained. Having abandoned the six spheres of contact, Having vomited out the root of misery, The eradication of the influxes has been attained by me.

Rightly seeing and knowing the arising of the world as it really is, there is no supposing that the world does not exist. Rightly seeing and knowing the ceasing of the world as it really is, there is no supposing that the world exists.

This is called being on the middle path taught apart from those two extremes; that is, because this is, that is; because of the arising of this, that arises; that is, conditioned by ignorance there are volitional construction…up to…the whole great mass of dukkha/duhkha arises. Because of the cessation of ignorance, volitional construction cease…up to…the whole great mass of dukkha/duhkha creates.

[A Tathāgata] has known that bodily form has been abandoned, has known that feeling time, perception, volitional constructions, and consciousness have been abandoned, abandoned at their root, like cutting off the head of a palm tree that will not grow any further branches and in the future will never arise again. It is thus not as if [a Tathāgata] were to reach the eastern direction, the southern, the western, or the northern direction; [instead, a Tathāgata] is extremely profound, vast, immeasurable, beyond reckoning, having forever ceased.

The self is the body, with its four elements and six sever spheres…which is indeed impermanent and will certainly fall apart, and this is correctly reckoned becoming completely annihilated.

Recluses and brahmins misrepresent my by falsely saying what is untrue:”The recluse Gotama proclaims what leads to annihilation; he proclaims the cutting off and destruction of truly existent sentient beings.” Yet, I make no statements about what herein does not exist. I do state that here and now the Tathāgata is free of sorrow.

“one who seeks happiness gains happiness,”

“happiness has been reached through happiness,”

“happiness has been gained through happiness,”

“very happy indeed is Nirvana,”

“the wise obtain happiness,”

“happily I shall delight in the happiness of liberation,”

“happily I lie down [or] stand; happily I live my life,”

“I meditate happily, [thinking:]’ oh happiness,”

“there is nothing superior to the happiness of Nirvana .”

The Buddha himself is no exception to this, being on record for indicating that he even sleeps happily. When getting no food, he is on record for proclaiming that he nevertheless lives on happiness, just feeding on meditative joy.

Having nothing, taking up nothing: This is the unsurpassable island. I call it “Nirvana,” The destruction of old age and death.

Monastics, there is that where there is no birth, where nothing has come into existence, where nothing is made, where nothing  constructed. Monastics, if there were not that where there is no birth, where nothing has come into existence, where nothing is made, where nothing is constructed, an escape from what is born, what has come into existence, what is made, and what is constructed would not be discernible here. But since there is that where there is no birth, monastics, where nothing has come into existence, where nothing is made, where nothing is constructed, therefore an escape from what is born, what has come into existence, what is made, and what is constructed is discernible .

The peaceful escape from that, Which is beyond the reach of reasoning and stable. Without birth and without an arising. Being a sorrowless and stainless track, The cessation of state of dukkha/duhkha, The stilling of constructions: [this is] happiness.

Whatever dukkha/duhkha manifests, It all depends on consciousness; With the cessation of consciousness, There is no [more] manifestation of dukkha/duhkha.

The body disintegrated, perception ceased, All feeling tones became cool, Constructions were stilled And consciousness came to an end.

Similarly, of those completely liberated, Who have transcended the flood of bandage to sensuality, Of those who have attained unshakable happiness, There is no designating their destiny.

Apart from letting go of everything, I see no safety for sentient beings.

Much can be said in praise of nibbāna to encourage the seeker, especially if it is in the form of simile or metaphor. Such we find frequently. But there must be nothing so concrete as to encourage attachment.

What is called the Nirvana element without residue? That is, monastics who have become arahants, have eradicated all the influxes, have established the holy life, have done what had to be done, have shed the heavy burden, have realised their own aim, have eradicated the fetter of becoming, have rightly understood, have been well liberated, and have gained penetrative knowledge. In the present, because there are no more impulsions and no more longings, which have all forever been extinguished, all that is being felt comes to be finally at peace, ultimately becomes cool, disappears, and no longer manifests.

Only purity is still there in the absence of what is of the substance of conceptual proliferation. Purity like this in the absence of what is of the substance of conceptual proliferation cannot be reckoned as “it exists,” cannot be reckoned as “it does not exist,” cannot be reckoned as “that exists as well as does not exist,” and cannot be reckoned as “that neither exists not does not exist.” It can only be called what cannot be designated, the ultimate, Nirvana. This is called the Nirvana element without a residue.

Such a form of deathlessness is still considered attainable while still alive, the first realisation of which already happens with steam-entry.

One of the approaches to inclining the mind toward the deathless, involves the perception that Nirvana is the cessation of “becoming” or “existence”. This conveniently encapsulates the basic principle that any holding on to some form of becoming or existence is diametrically opposed to the inclination towards Nirvana. In other words, any desire to become like this or like that, and any hope for an existence in this way or another way, stand a good chance of preventing the letting go required for the actual breakthrough to the deathless to the deathless to occur.

…the event of full awakening is considered to have very clear and directly evident repercussions: the fires of defilements of the mind have been quenched forever, and their ability to act as makers of signs during the process of perception has been nullified.

Nibbana is an island, yet that island is having nothing and taking up nothing. There is that where there is no birth, although to reify it as an unborn would be going too far. Light and darkness are both absent, all five aggregates cease, including consciousness, yet the destiny of those who have attained that much is beyond being disignated.

One way of trying to make practical sense of the instruction could be to assume that, based on being established in bare awareness, by letting go of one’s involvement with the content of experience and instead attending to its process character, ideally also to its constructed nature, one will not be thereby. Based on that, by letting go of the sense “I am” as some sort of epicenter that is in charge of experience, one will not be therein. By then letting go of any reference point whatsoever, one will be neither here, nor beyond, nor between the two. Such a successive deepening of letting go would be sufficient for actualizing the potential of liberating insight in regard to the six sense spheres, without any need to get involved with further details

Whose pasture is emptiness

And signless concentration

Their track is hard to trace,

Like that birds in the sky.

Below are the quotes from the book that I find them inspiring.

The Signless

The word “sign” renders the Pāli and Sanskrit term nimitta which stands for the characteristics mark of things: that which on a way “sign”-als to the perceiver what that thing is, thereby enabling its recognition.

According to this teacher(a young Brahmin teacher), one should just refrain from seeing forms with the eyes and hearing sound with the ears. Yet, the critical reply to this proposal clarifies that the solution is not to pretend to be blind or deaf. Instead, anything happening at a sense door needs to be monitored with mindfulness to avoid any grasping at signs that may cause unwholesome mental repercussion.

Your perception are so vivid and immediate that they compel you to believe that you experience the world as it is, when you actually experience a world of your own construction. Much of what you experience as the outside world begins inside your head.

“In that case, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In what is seen there must be only what is seen, in what is heard there must be only what is heard, in what is sensed there must be only what is sensed, in what is cognized there must be only what is cognized. This is the way, Bāhiya, you should train yourself.

“And since for you, Bāhiya, in what is seen there will be only what is seen, in what is heard there will be only what is heard, in what is sensed there will be only what is sensed, in what is cognized there will be only what is cognized, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be with that; and since, Bāhiya, you will not be with that, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be in that; and since, Bāhiya, you will not be in that, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be here or hereafter or in between the two—just this is the end of suffering.” 

Just seeing what is actually being seen, without adding any further elaboration to that. This points to a bare noting of what is being perceived, leaving a sustained pause before taking any other step in the mental realm, in particular avoiding any reification of what is experienced.

[If] on seeing a form one does not grasp its sign,

And the mind conforms to right mindfulness 

Craving will not defile the mind with what is detrimental,

And the bandage of attachment will also not arise.

Not giving rise to cravings

For the countless forms that manifest,

Thoughts of lustful desire, ill will, and harming

Will be able to afflict the mind.

Diminishing [what] fosters a host of afflictions,

One gradually draws close to Nirvana.

My body is just like an old cart which, by being expediently patched up and adjusted, reaches the place to which it is going; by expedient strength I can maintain it alive a little [longer], through my own strength and effort, putting up with these painful feelings. When I do not give attention to any signs and enter signless concentration, then my body is at ease and there are no afflictions.

“with the cessation of certain feeling tones, by way of not giving attention to any signs, he dwelled having attained the signless concentration of the mind.”

The mind being well settled in the four establishments of mindfulness or dwelling in concentration on the signless, cultivating it, cultivating it much, bad and unwholesome states will thereby cease and be forever eradicated without remainder.

A particular significant aspect of this indication, found similarly in the Pali parallel, is that this type of practice is not just a temporary remedy, a way of getting out of or avoiding the arising of unwholesome reactions in the mind. Instead, the present passage envisages the eradication of such thoughts, based on the mind being “well settled” in the four establishments of mindfulness (or “well established” according to the Pali parallel) or else by way of cultivating concentration on signlessness.

The Chinese discourse translated above continues by indicating that someone who “cultivates concentration on the signless, having cultivated it, cultivated it much, dwells at the door of the deathless and proceeds to the supreme deathless of Nirvana.”

Cultivate the signless,

Quell the underlying tendency to conceit.

Fully understand conceit,

The end of dukkha/dukkha will be achieved.

In addition to cultivating signlessness, a method to counter conceit, presented in a Pali discourse and its Chinese parallel, is perception of impermanence.

If one mindfully notices that conceit has arisen in one’s physical appearance, a reminder of its impermanence becoming manifest with the onset of old age can help set things into perspective.

The ability to gain signless concentration is not itself a mark of being a liberated person. Evident in Pali and Chinese discourse:

Suppose there is a person who attains signless concentration of the mind. Having attained signless concentration of the mind, they in turn dwell being at ease themselves and do not strive further with a wish to attain what has not yet been attained, with a wish to gain what has not been gained, with a wish to realise what has not been realised.

At a later time, they in turn associate much with secular people, make fun, become conceited, and engage in all sorts of boisterous talk. As they associate much with secular people, make fun, become conceited, and engage in all sorts of boisterous talk, sensual desire in turn arise in the mind. Sensual desire having arisen in their mind, the body becomes  in turn heated up[with passion] and the mind becomes heated up[with passion], they in turn abandon the moral precepts and stop[practising] the path.

Although signless concentration can become a powerful tool for accomplishing such removal, it does not ensure freedom from defilements on its own.

In fact , even the Buddha and his fully awakened disciples are on record for having continue their regular practise of meditation. Meditation is not just a means to gain some attainment or other; it is a way of life, and for one who has reached the acme of inner purification this way of life is natural, even inevitable.

There are two causes, two conditions for arousing signless concentration. What are the two? The first is not being mindful of any sign, and the second is being mindful of the element of signlessness.

If not rising up and not sinking down [when being in ] signless concentration of the mind, having become freed, one is stable, and having become stable, one is freed.

The same works explains that the outcome to be expected from such meditation is liberation and the destruction of the influxes, adding that Ananda’s reply served as an encouragement of the nun that she will soon attain lofty goal.

Not leaning forward and leaning backward, concentration it’s reached without exertion by holding in check and restraining. Through being freed, one is stable; through being stable, one is contented; and through being contented, one is not agitated.

Although the early Buddhist meditative path can lead to some extraordinary experiences, progress to liberation requires above all insight into the way perception constructs the world. Even the attainment of the most refined of the four immaterial spheres is subordinate to such insight, which the key factor of leading to liberation.

Because consciousness is not established anywhere, it does not increase; because of not increasing, it is not active anywhere; because of not active anywhere, it is stable; because of being stable, it is contented; because of being contented, it is freed; because of being freed, there is no clinging anything in the whole world; because of not clinging anything, there is no being attached to anything. Because of not being attached to anything, one personally realises Nirvana.

Yet, even consciousness is impermanent, arisen from conditions, and hence to be let go of as well.

“there is no grasping at signs, there is no direction or expectation,  the absence of which, existence ceases to appear substantial.”

One reflects: “I am based on the signless concentration of the mind, which is based on being volitionally constructed and based on being intended. What is based on being volitionally constructed and based on being intended, I do not delight in that, do not seek that; I should not become establish in that.”

One reflects: ”Yet, the signless element is constructed and produced by the mind. It is not suitable to delight in what is constructed and produced by the mind, to approve of it, to become attached to it, or to remain attached to it.”

One understands: “Even this signless concentration of the mind is constructed and produced by volition; whatever is constructed and produced by volition is impermanent and of a nature to cease.”

Remaining empty of defilements is the key aspect underlying meditation on emptiness in early Buddhist thought and at the same time also serve as the orientation point for a cultivation of signless concentration.

The practise of signless concentration does not appear to require previous mastery of the absorptions, although the ability to collect the mind will certainly be much benefit. The basic task required to enter and remain in signless concentration is not paying attention to any signs, which thus necessitates a high degree of continuity of mindfulness.

At this point, the tendency of the three root poisons to act as makers of signs has been overcome for good, together with conceit and self-referentiality as other dimensions often activated when the unawakened mind takes up signs.