Really ?
There has never been an accurate translation of the fifth jhana in MN 59.
It looks like taboo among the empiricists.
Better to have these uncomprehensible translations.
While it should be the following (see the lexical notes at the end of the latter link) :
- sabbaso rūpasaññānaṃ samatikkamā,
- paṭighasaññānaṃ atthaṅgamā,
- nānattasaññānaṃ amanasikārā
- ‘ananto ākāso’ti
ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ upasampajja viharati.
- with the complete overstepping of perceptions of form (matter),
- with the vanishing of perceptions (based) upon the organs of senses (viz. ajjhattikāni āyatanāni [including mano]),
- not striving with the mind (manasa/mano) to perceptions of manifoldness (lit. (what is) differently than one),
- aware that ‘space is boundless,’
he attains and seizes distinctively, the field of boundless space.
The latter shows experiences out of matter and the sensory world.
With no Buddhist “I” (asmi’ti); but still with Buddhist consciousness (viññāṇa).