The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [185]
“Heat stands in dependence on vitality.”
“Just now, friend, we understood the venerable Sāriputta to have said: ‘Vitality stands in dependence on heat’; and now we understand him to say: ‘Heat stands in dependence on vitality.’ How should the meaning of these statements be regarded?”
“In that case, friend, I shall give you a simile, for some wise men here understand the meaning of a statement by means of a simile. Just as when an oil-lamp is burning, its radiance is seen in dependence on its flame and its flame is seen in dependence on its radiance; so too, vitality stands in dependence on heat and heat stands in dependence on vitality.”
(VITAL FORMATIONS)
23. “Friend, are vital formations things that can be felt or are vital formations one thing and things that can be felt another?” [296]
“Vital formations, friend, are not things that can be felt.446 If vital formations were things that can be felt, then a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception and feeling would not be seen to emerge from it. Because vital formations are one thing and things that can be felt another, a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception and feeling can be seen to emerge from it.”
24. “Friend, when this body is bereft of how many states is it then discarded and forsaken, left lying senseless like a log?”447
“Friend, when this body is bereft of three states—vitality, heat, and consciousness—it is then discarded and forsaken, left lying senseless like a log.”
25. “Friend, what is the difference between one who is dead, who has completed his time, and a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception and feeling?”
“Friend, in the case of one who is dead, who has completed his time, his bodily formations have ceased and subsided, his verbal formations have ceased and subsided, his mental formations have ceased and subsided, his vitality is exhausted, his heat has been dissipated, and his faculties are fully broken up. In the case of a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception and feeling, his bodily formations have ceased and subsided, his verbal formations have ceased and subsided, his mental formations have ceased and subsided, but his vitality is not exhausted, his heat has not been dissipated, and his faculties become exceptionally clear.448 This is the difference between one who is dead, who has completed his time, and a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception and feeling.”
(DELIVERANCE OF MIND)
26. “Friend, how many conditions are there for the attainment of the neither-painful-nor-pleasant deliverance of mind?”
“Friend, there are four conditions for the attainment of the neither-painful-nor-pleasant deliverance of mind: here, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the fourth jhāna, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. These are the four conditions for the attainment of the neither-painful-nor-pleasant deliverance of mind.”
27. “Friend, how many conditions are there for the attainment of the signless deliverance of mind?”
“Friend, there are two conditions for the attainment of the signless deliverance of mind: non-attention to all signs and attention to the signless element. These are the two conditions for the attainment of the signless deliverance of mind.”449
28. “Friend, how many conditions are there for the persistence of the signless deliverance of mind?”
“Friend, there are three conditions for the persistence of the signless deliverance of mind: [297] non-attention to all signs, attention to the signless element, and the prior determination [of its duration]. These are the three conditions for the persistence of the signless deliverance of mind.”
29. “Friend, how many conditions are there for emergence from the signless deliverance of mind?”
“Friend, there are two conditions for emergence from the signless deliverance of mind: attention to all signs and non-attention to the