The main difference between the cessation of the five khandhas when the arahant passes away and the meditative attainment of cessation, known in the suttas as saññāveditanirodhā, is that the latter is brought about deliberately. To attain saññāveditanirodhā you have to incline your mind in that direction, that is, you require an initial intention or volition to attain it. You can think of this as a certain “momentum of peace” that drives the mind to the desired state. Just like any momentum, however, this particular mental inclination only has a limited effect.
Think of this way. If you set a wheel rolling, but add not further impetus to it after the initial push, then it will keep on rolling only as long as the initial energy is able to sustain it. In a similar way, the cessation of the mind is supported by the strength of the original inclination. And just as the wheel must eventually fall over, so the momentum of that original inclination of the mind will have a certain time limit, after which the mind will emerge from cessation.
When the arahant dies, however, the situation is quite different. In this case the cessation is not dependent on a momentum, but is the natural ending of phenomena. And thus there is no return to any pre-cessation state.
I think this question is very similar to asking where is kamma stored up. Some things are undeclared by the Blessed One. Possibly because it lies out of our range, that is; we can’t have a direct experience of that reality even if we tried. And probably not needed for Enlightenment.
We may not be able to see where kamma is stored up, but possibly we can by wisdom understand how present consciousness is effected by the past. Perhaps by continuing a similar line of thinking we can come at a guess about emergence from saññāveditanirodhā.
Yes, I think this is probably the best way to think about this.
I still wonder how this process of inclination and momentum is preserved once all mentation has ceased, however I can see the reasoning behind it and it could probably be said to be a natural process sustained by the metabolism of the body and other mind-body processes, as others suggested.
Amazing simile. If we take the opposite of this, the wheel will just continue rolling on, when there is repeated addition of new impetus. This image seems to nicely fit the Pali- ‘hetuppabhavā’. Can you coin a new English term for this? ( ‘Dependant origination’ doesn’t quite seem to convey this idea)
I’ll just add one beautiful EBT quote here from an especially badass Bhikkhuni:
“A mendicant who is entering such an attainment does not think: ‘I will enter the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I am entering the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I have entered the cessation of perception and feeling.’ Rather, their mind has been previously developed so as to lead to such a state.”
“But ma’am, which cease first for a mendicant who is entering the cessation of perception and feeling: physical, verbal, or mental processes?”
“Verbal processes cease first, then physical, then mental.”
“But ma’am, how does someone emerge from the cessation of perception and feeling?”
“A mendicant who is emerging from such an attainment does not think: ‘I will emerge from the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I am emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I have emerged from the cessation of perception and feeling.’ Rather, their mind has been previously developed so as to lead to such a state.”
“But ma’am, which arise first for a mendicant who is emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling: physical, verbal, or mental processes?”
“Mental processes arise first, then physical, then verbal.”
“But ma’am, when a mendicant has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling, how many kinds of contact do they experience?”
“They experience three kinds of contact: emptiness, signless, and undirected contacts.”
“But ma’am, when a mendicant has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling, what does their mind slant, slope, and incline to?”
“Their mind slants, slopes, and inclines to seclusion.”
The sense that I meant, courtesy of the Oxford Dictionary, is:
a formidably impressive person; excellent [as in skilled]
The term became internet-famous as a meme of Neil deGrasse Tyson reacting to the fact that Sir Isaac Newton invented calculus before his 26th birthday: a “formidably impressive” accomplishment.
Colloquially, a badass inspires speechless awe. As the Buddha said,
MN44:30.4: “The nun Dhammadinnā is astute, Visākha, she has great wisdom. MN44:30.5: If you came to me and asked this question, I would answer it in exactly the same way as the nun Dhammadinnā.
The Buddha himself is “beyond badass”, which is the superlative of superlatives.
My impression from the suttas is that it’s like waking up one morning with a completely different state of mind. A very clear and contented state of mind, free from all the usual wanting and not wanting.
“Reverend, they speak of a person called ‘freed both ways’. What is the one freed both ways that the Buddha spoke of?”
“First, take a mendicant who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures … enters and remains in the first absorption. They meditate directly experiencing that dimension in every way. And they understand that with wisdom. To this extent the Buddha spoke of the one freed both ways in a qualified sense. …
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. They meditate directly experiencing that dimension in every way. And they understand that with wisdom. To this extent the Buddha spoke of the one freed both ways in a definitive sense.”
Actually, MN44 has emergence as spontaneous and conditioned:
MN44:18.1: “A mendicant who is emerging from such an attainment does not think: ‘I will emerge from the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I am emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I have emerged from the cessation of perception and feeling.’ Rather, their mind has been previously developed so as to lead to such a state.”
I believe “every way” refers to distinct approaches such as those described here by Venerable Sāriputta:
MN43:29.5: “The limitless heart’s release, and the heart’s release through nothingness, and the heart’s release through emptiness, and the signless heart’s release: do these things differ in both meaning and phrasing? Or do they mean the same thing, and differ only in the
phrasing?”
