{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an9.34/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an9.34","id":"suttacentral_an9.34","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an9.34/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"At one time Venerable S\u0101riputta was staying near R\u0101jagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels\u2019 feeding ground. There he addressed the mendicants: \u201cReverends, extinguishment is bliss! Extinguishment is bliss!\u201d When he said this, Venerable Ud\u0101y\u012b said to him, \u201cBut Reverend S\u0101riputta, what\u2019s blissful about it, since nothing is felt?\u201d \u201cThe fact that nothing is felt is precisely what\u2019s blissful about it. Reverend, there are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. What five? Sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. Sounds known by the ear \u2026 Smells known by the nose \u2026 Tastes known by the tongue \u2026 Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation. The pleasure and happiness that arise from these five kinds of sensual stimulation is called sensual pleasure. First, take a mendicant who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures \u2026 enters and remains in the first absorption. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by sensual pleasures beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by sensual pleasures beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That\u2019s the way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, enters and remains in the second absorption. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by placing of the mind beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by placing of the mind beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, with the fading away of rapture, enters and remains in the third absorption. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by rapture beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by rapture beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, with the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, enters and remains in the fourth absorption. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by bliss with equanimity beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by bliss with equanimity beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that \u2018space is infinite\u2019, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite space. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by form beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by form beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that \u2018consciousness is infinite\u2019, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite consciousness. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by the dimension of infinite space beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by the dimension of infinite space beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that \u2018there is nothing at all\u2019, enters and remains in the dimension of nothingness. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by the dimension of infinite consciousness beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by the dimension of infinite consciousness beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, enters and remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by the dimension of nothingness beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by the dimension of nothingness beset them, that\u2019s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss. 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. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss.\u201d","title":"Extinguishment is Bliss","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":1026}