The End of the World (Part 03) In Buddhist Perspective

 According to the Buddha, that end of the world where there is no birth, decay or death, in search of which Rohitassa walked for a hundred years, is not somewhere in outer space, but within this very fathom-long body. The cessation of the six sense-spheres constitutes, for the arahant, a transcendental sphere (āyatana) of experience in which he realizes, here and now, that he is free from all suffering connected with birth, decay and death, and indeed from all forms of existence (bhavanirodho). These aspects of Nibbanic bliss find expression

in such epithets as ajātam. ('non-born'), abhūtam. ('non-become'),

ajaram ('non-decaying') and amatam ('deathless').

"...With the utter fading away of ignorance, even that body is not there, dependent on which there arises for him inwardly happiness and unhappiness; that speech is not there... that mind is not there, dependent on which there arises for him inwardly happiness and unhappiness. That field does not exist, that ground does not exist, that sphere does not exist, that reason does not exist, dependent on which arises inwardly happiness and unhappiness." (A II 158f).When body, speech and mind, which are at the root of all discrimination and conceit, fade away in the jhanic experience of the arahant, he finds himself free from all suffering, mental as well as physical. Such epithets of Nibbana

as  khemam (security), dīpam  (island),  tānam (protection),

lenam(cave),  saran.am. (refuge)  and  parāyanam  (resort)

suggest this transcendence of worldly imperfections.

The culmination of the 'not-self' attitude is the eradication of the conceit, '(I) am':...the percipient of 'not-self attains to   the eradication of the conceit 'I am,' which is Nibbāna here and now," (A. V. 358). The removal of the subtle conceit, '(I) am' (asmimāna) is tantamount to a destruction of that delusive superimposed 'frame' from which all measurings and reckonings of the world were directed through the instrumentality of the sense-faculties, and by which the mass of relative concepts in the form of sense-data were so organized as to give a picture of 'the world' with 'self' mirrored on it. What we call the normal functioning of the five external senses, is but the outward manifestation of the notion 'I-am': "Given the notion 'I-am,' monks there set in then the five sense-faculties." * (S. III. 46).

When this 'frame' is dismantled, the conveyors — the senses — losing their provenance and sanction, become ineffective, and their usual objects too fade away into insignificance:

"Wherefore, monks, that sphere should be known wherein the eye ceases and the perception of forms fades away... wherein the ear ceases and the perception of sounds fades away... the nose ceases and the perception of smell fades away... the tongue ceases and the perception of tastes fades away... the body ceases and the perception of touch fades away... the mind ceases and the perception of ideas fades away. That sphere should be known; that sphere should be known." (S. IV. 98).

All percepts are  'signs'  (rupanimitta  saddanimitta etc.), and when signs cease to be 'significant,' they are as good as non-existent. The 'signless deliverance of the mind' (animitta cetovimutti) as one of the doorways-to-deliverance (vimokkha- mukha), points to this re-orientation of the  arahant's  mental  life. Thus, although he is wide awake when he is in this paradoxical samaadhi (D. II. 132; S. I. 126), although his sense-organs appear to be all intact, yet he is free from normal sense-experience.

"That very eye  will be there, those very visible forms will  be there, yet one will not experience the corresponding sphere of sense... that same body will be  there,  those  very tactile objects will be there, yet one will not experience the corresponding sphere of sense." (A. IV. 426f).

*This quotation provides the clue to that much-disputed passage in  Itiv.  (38f.) which defines the two 'Nibbāna-Elements' - the one with residual clinging or appendages ('Saupādisesā Nibbānadhātu') and the one without them ('Anupādisesā Nibbānadhātu'). "... And what, monks, is the Nibbāna element with residual clinging?

Herein, monks, a monk is an arahant, whose influxes are extinct, who has lived the Holy Life, accomplished the task, laid down the burden, reached    his Goal, whose fetters of existence are fully extinct, and who is freed  through right knowledge. His five sense-faculties still remain, which being undestroyed, he partakes of the pleasant and the unpleasant, and experiences the pleasurable and the painful. The extinction of lust, hatred and delusion in him - this, monks, is called the Nibbāna-Element with residual clinging

"He is not one with the normal perception, nor is his perception abnormal. He is not non-percipient, nor has he put an end to perception." ('na saññasaññi na visaññasaññi — no   pi asaññī na vibhūtasaññi' — Sn. 874). "In the case of a monk who is fully emancipated in mind, friends, though many forms cognizable by the eye may come within the range of the eye, they never obsess his mind, unalloyed is his mind, steady and become imperturbable and he sees its passing away. Though many sounds cognizable by the ear may come... many smells cognizable by the nose... many tastes cognizable by the tongue... many tangibles cognizable by the body... many ideas cognizable by the mind may come within the range of  the mind, they never obsess his mind, unalloyed is his mind, steady and become imperturbable and he sees  its  passing  away..."  (A. IV. 404).

And what, monks, is the Nibbāna-Element without residual clinging? Herein, monks, a monk is an arahant whose influxes are extinct... and is freed through right knowledge. All his feelings, monks, will, even here, cool down, not having been delighted in. This, monks, is called the Nibbāna Element without residual clinging." Once he has experienced within his own sensorium that transcendence which results from the removal of the latent conceit 'I-am,' all his influxes are extinguished and he gains mastery over the 'mechanism' of the sixfold sense-sphere in its five aspects - the arising, the passing away, the satisfaction, the misery and the escape. For him, the sense-spheres become detachable, since he now knows the principle on which they function - the law of Dependent Arising in its direct and indirect order, which pivots upon Ignorance, involving the notion 'I-am.' While Saupādidesā Nibbānadhātu enables the Arahant to live 'in the world,' Anupādisesā Nibbānadhātu ensures that he is 'not of the world.' 'Once crossed  over,  the  such-like One  comes not back.'(Sn.V. 803) 'To the farther shore they go not twice.' (Sn.V. 714)

This 'non-manifestative consciousness' (anidassana viññān. a) of  the  arahant,  which  is  uninfluenced  by  extraneous forces and is steady and imperturbable, is, perhaps, the 'Inertial Frame' in search of which Relativity Physics has, in modern times, set out. As the scientist gradually awoke to the truths of relativity, he too longed for a 'state-of-rest' from the ever- deepening conflict of view-points.' But his search for this imaginary laboratory was unsuccessful for, like Rohitassa, he searched outside relying on the demonstrative apparatus known to science. The Buddha's exhortation to  Rohitassa  is,  therefore, of refreshing relevance to the modern age, in that it implies that the sphere (āyatana) wherein one transcends the labyrinths of relativity is not somewhere in outer space but within this very fathom-long physical frame.

As an interesting sidelight, it may be mentioned that according to the Theory of Relativity, light is the top-velocity in the universe, it propagates even in vacuum, its velocity is constant and it propagates in all directions. Now,  that non- manifestative consciousness of the arahant is described

in  the  suttas  as  infinite  and  'lustrous  all-round'  (viññān.am.

anidassanam anantam  sabbato pabham — D. I. 213; M. I. 329).*

The arahant's consciousness is untrammelled by name-and- form (Dhp. V. 221), and has no object as its point of focus (anārammanam.. - Ud.. 80). Hence it is infinite, and he is one of infinite range ('anantagocara' — Dhp. vr. 179, 180) as regards his mental compass.

Wisdom (paññā), according to the Buddha, is a light which excels all other forms of light known to the world (natthi paññasamā ābhā' — 'no lustre like unto that of wisdom' — S. I. 6; A.

II. 139f). It has the property of penetration 'paññāpativedha';' nibbedhikā paññā) and its function is comprehension of the consciousness, which is called an illusion ('māyā' — S. III. 142). Hence  in  that  illumination  through  wisdom, consciousness

becomes infinite and 'lustrous-all-round.' The mind, thus 'lustre-

become and gone to the Fruit of Arahantship' ('obhāsajātam.

phalagam.. cittam' — Thag. V. 1. 3.5) lights up, in its turn, the five

external senses.

The sense-objects, which are but the denizens of the dark world of ignorance, fade away before the penetrative all- encompassing lustre. The illusion of consciousness — the magic of the senses — thereby becomes fully exposed to the light of wisdom. The s ix spheres of sense cease altogether ('salāyatananirodha') and the arahant is now conscious merely of  the  cessation  of  existence  which  is  Nibbana itself

(bhavanirodho  nibbānam.  —  A. v.  9). He is  conscious,  in other

words, of the voidness of the world ('suñño loko' — S. IV. 54) which the scientist might prefer to call the 'vacuum' which this light-of-wisdom now pervades.