{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/snp/snp5-14.htm","path":"bud/snp/snp5-14.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/snp/snp5-14.htm","text":"To one who reveals the past\n-- unperturbed,\nhis doubts cut through --\nwho has gone to the beyond\nof all phenomena,\nI've come with a question.\nI ask the Sakyan about the knowledge [1]\nof one devoid of perception of forms,\nwho has abandoned all the body,\nevery body,\nwho sees, within & without,\n'There is nothing':\nHow is he\nto be led further on?\nThe Tathagata, knowing directly\nall stations of consciousness, [2]\nknows for one stationed in them\nrelease\n& the steps leading there.\nKnowing directly\nthe origin of nothingness\nto be the fetter of delight,\none then sees there clearly.\nThat's his genuine knowledge --\nthe brahmin who has lived\nto fulfillment.\n1. Posala's question concerning the knowledge of the person in the sphere of nothingness has a double meaning: He is asking about the Buddha's knowledge about that person, and also what a person in that sphere of attainment should do to develop his/her knowledge even further. The Buddha's answer deals with the question in both its senses. [Go back]\n2. On the seven stations of consciousness, see D.15. The sphere of nothingness, discussed in this dialogue, is the seventh and most refined. [Go back]","title":"Sn V.14: Posala-manava-puccha","type":"page"}