In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [178]
“Whatever ascetics and brahmins, having thus directly known form, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, are practicing for the purpose of disenchantment with form, for its fading away and cessation, they are practicing well. Those who are practicing well have gained a foothold in this Dhamma and Discipline.24
“And whatever ascetics and brahmins, having thus directly known form, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, through disenchantment with form, through its fading away and cessation, are liberated by nonclinging, they are well liberated. Those who are well liberated are consummate ones. As to those consummate ones, there is no round for their manifestation.25
“And what, monks, is feeling? There are these six classes of feeling: feeling born of eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, feeling born of nose-contact, feeling born of tongue-contact, feeling born of body-contact, feeling born of mind-contact. This is called feeling. With the arising of contact there is the arising of feeling. With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of feeling. This Noble Eightfold Path is the way leading to the cessation of feeling; that is, right view ... right concentration.
“Whatever ascetics and brahmins, having thus directly known feeling, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, are practicing for the purpose of disenchantment with feeling, for its fading away and cessation, they are practicing well. Those who are practicing well have gained a foothold in this Dhamma and Discipline.
“And whatever ascetics and brahmins, having thus directly known feeling ... and the way leading to its cessation … As to those consummate ones, there is no round for their manifestation.
“And what, monks, is perception? There are these six classes of perception: perception of forms, perception of sounds, perception of odors, perception of tastes, perception of tactile objects, perception of mental phenomena. This is called perception. With the arising of contact there is the arising of perception. With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of perception. This Noble Eightfold Path is the way leading to the cessation of perception; that is, right view ... right concentration.
“Whatever ascetics and brahmins … As to those consummate ones, there is no round for their manifestation.
“And what, monks, are volitional formations? There are these six classes of volition:26 volition regarding forms, volition regarding sounds, volition regarding odors, volition regarding tastes, volition regarding tactile objects, volition regarding mental phenomena. These are called volitional formations. With the arising of contact there is the arising of volitional formations. With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of volitional formations. This Noble Eightfold Path is the way leading to the cessation of volitional formations; that is, right view … right concentration.
“Whatever ascetics and brahmins … As to those consummate ones, there is no round for their manifestation.
“And what, monks, is consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness. This is called consciousness. With the arising of name-and-form there is the arising of consciousness.27 With the cessation of name-and-form there is the cessation of consciousness. This Noble Eightfold Path is the way leading to the cessation of consciousness; that is, right view ... right concentration.
“Whatever ascetics and brahmins, having thus directly known consciousness, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation, are practicing for the purpose of disenchantment with consciousness, for its fading away and cessation, they are practicing well.