{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an9.37/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an9.37","id":"suttacentral_an9.37","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an9.37/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"At one time Venerable \u0100nanda was staying near Kosamb\u012b in Ghosita\u2019s monastery. There \u0100nanda addressed the mendicants: \u201cReverends, mendicants!\u201d \u201cReverend,\u201d they replied. \u0100nanda said this: \u201cIt\u2019s incredible, reverends, it\u2019s amazing! How this Blessed One who knows and sees, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha, has found an opening amid confinement. It\u2019s in order to purify sentient beings, to get past sorrow and crying, to make an end of pain and sadness, to discover the system, and to realize extinguishment. The eye itself is actually present, and so are those sights. Yet one will not experience that sense-field. The ear itself is actually present, and so are those sounds. Yet one will not experience that sense-field. The nose itself is actually present, and so are those smells. Yet one will not experience that sense-field. The tongue itself is actually present, and so are those tastes. Yet one will not experience that sense-field. The body itself is actually present, and so are those touches. Yet one will not experience that sense-field.\u201d When he said this, Venerable Ud\u0101y\u012b said to Venerable \u0100nanda: \u201cReverend \u0100nanda, is one who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field actually percipient or not?\u201d \u201cReverend, one who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field is actually percipient, not non-percipient.\u201d \u201cBut what does one who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field perceive?\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s when a mendicant, 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. One who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field perceives in this way. Furthermore, a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that \u2018consciousness is infinite\u2019, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite consciousness. One who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field perceives in this way. Furthermore, a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that \u2018there is nothing at all\u2019, enters and remains in the dimension of nothingness. One who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field perceives in this way. Reverend, this one time I was staying near S\u0101keta in the deer park in A\u00f1jana Wood. Then the nun Ja\u1e6dilag\u0101hik\u0101 came up to me, bowed, stood to one side, and said to me: \u2018Honorable \u0100nanda, regarding the immersion that does not lean forward or pull back, and is not held in place by forceful suppression. Being free, it\u2019s stable. Being stable, it\u2019s content. Being content, one is not anxious. What did the Buddha say was the fruit of this immersion?\u2019 When she said this, I said to her: \u2018Sister, regarding the immersion that does not lean forward or pull back, and is not held in place by forceful suppression. Being free, it\u2019s stable. Being stable, it\u2019s content. Being content, one is not anxious. The Buddha said that the fruit of this immersion is enlightenment.\u2019 One who doesn\u2019t experience that sense-field perceives in this way, too.\u201d","title":"By \u0100nanda","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":478}