Sutta on the mind of an Arahanth

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I would like to know which suttas describe the mind of an arahanth? What is it like?

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“Sensing a feeling of pleasure, [the arahant] senses it disjoined from it. Sensing a feeling of pain, he senses it disjoined from it. Sensing a feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain, he senses it disjoined from it. This is called a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones disjoined from birth, aging, & death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is disjoined, I tell you, from suffering & stress.”

—Samyutta Nikaya 36.6, [Thanissaro]

“Monks, is there a manner of reckoning whereby a monk who is a learner, standing at the level of a learner, can discern that ‘I am a learner,’ and whereby a monk who is an adept,[1] standing at the level of an adept, can discern that ‘I am an adept’?”

Samyutta Nikaya 48.53, [Thanissaro]

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Here’s a small selection, mostly from the MN:

  • They have abandoned ignorance, future existence, craving, the five lower fetters, and the conceit ‘I am’ at the root, so that they can no longer arise again. Their consciousness is not dependent on anything. (MN 22)
  • Their āsavas are destroyed, they have laid down the burden, reached the goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and are completely liberated through correct knowledge. (MN 22)
  • They have seen every kind of form, feeling, perception, saáč…khāra, and consciousness, anywhere, at any time, as it actually is with correct wisdom like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self,’ and through not clinging they are liberated. (MN 35, I 235)
  • They are perfect in true knowledge (refers to triple knowledge) and conduct (seven good qualities + four jhānas) (MN 53, I 358)
  • Some gain liberation of mind and some gain liberation by wisdom, depending on their faculties. (MN 64, I 437)
  • They have understood that attachment (upadhi) is the root of suffering; they divest themselves of attachments and are freed through the destruction of attachments (contrasted with one who practices letting go of attachments but is still fettered). (MN 66, I 454)
  • They have done their work with diligence; they are no more capable of being negligent. (MN 70, I 477)
  • They side with none and dispute with none; they use the speech currently used in the world without adhering to it. (MN 74, I 500)
  • Knowledge and vision that āsavas are destroyed isn’t continuously present to them, but they know it when they reviews this fact. (MN 76, I 523)
  • They possess each path factor of one beyond training, plus have right knowledge and right deliverance of one beyond training. (MN 78, II 29)
  • They have understood that attachment (upadhi) is the root of suffering; being without attachments, liberated in the destruction of attachments, it is not possible that they would direct their body or arouse their mind toward any attachment. (MN 105, II 261)
  • They do not conceive anything, do not conceive in regard to anything, do not conceive in any way. (MN 113, III 45)
  • If they feel a pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling, they understand: ‘It is impermanent; there is no holding to it; there is no delight in it.’ They feel each feeling detached. When they feel a feeling terminating with the body, they understand: ‘I feel a feeling terminating with the body.’ When they feel a feeling terminating with life, they understand: ‘I feel a feeling terminating with life.’ They understand: ‘On the dissolution of the body, with the ending of life, all that is felt, not being delighted in, will become cool right here.’ (MN 140, III 244)
  • An arahant’s liberation, being founded on truth, is unshakeable. (MN 140, III 245)
  • They have abandoned acquisitions (upadhÄ«), cut them off at the root, done away with them so they are no longer subject to future arising. (MN 140, III 245)
  • They have cut off covetousness, desire, lust, anger, ill will, hate, ignorance, delusion—done away with them so they are no longer subject to future arising. (MN 140, III 245)
  • By overcoming all conceivings, they are a sage at peace, and they are not born, do not age, do not die, are not shaken, and are not agitated. For there is nothing present in them by which they might be born. Not being born, they can’t age. Not aging, they can’t die. Not dying, they can’t be shaken. Not being shaken, they can’t be agitated. (MN 140, III 246)
  • Though the wise one has transcended the conceived, they still might say, ‘I speak’; they might say too, ‘They speak to me.’ Skillful, knowing the world’s parlance, they use such terms as mere expressions. (SN 1.25, I 15)
  • Arahants always sleep well because they don’t cling to sensual pleasures, have no attachments, and have attained peace of mind. (SN 10.8, I 212)
  • They have comprehended the Dhamma by seeing as it has come to be with correct wisdom, ‘This has come to be’, ‘Its origination occurs with that as fuel’, ‘With the cessation of that fuel, what has come to be is subject to cessation.’ Through disenchantment, dispassion, and cessation towards what has come to be, towards its origination through fuel, towards what is subject to cessation, they are liberated through not grasping. (SN 12.31, II 48)
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Was there a sutta where the Buddha says arahanths will find it impossible to break the precepts? That their three trainings are complete?

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The precepts are ‘training rules,’ the stream winner having developed experiential knowledge to verify the second and third noble truths and enable independence:

"As he attends appropriately in this way, three fetters are abandoned in him: identity-view, doubt, and grasping at precepts & practices. "

—Majhima Nikaya 2, Thanissaro

The arahant is able to abandon the entire path.

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From AN 9.7:

‘A mendicant who is perfected—with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their own true goal, utterly ended the fetters of rebirth, and is rightly freed through enlightenment—can’t transgress in nine respects. A mendicant with defilements ended can’t deliberately take the life of a living creature, take something with the intention to steal, have sex, tell a deliberate lie, or store up goods for their own enjoyment like they did as a lay person. And they can’t make decisions prejudiced by favoritism, hostility, stupidity, or cowardice.’ In the past, as today, I say this: ‘A mendicant who is perfected—with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their own true goal, utterly ended the fetters of rebirth, and is rightly freed through enlightenment—can’t transgress in these nine respects.’

From AN 3.86:

Mendicants, each fortnight over a hundred and fifty training rules come up for recitation, in which gentlemen who love themselves train. These are all included in the three trainings. What three? The training in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom. These are the three trainings that include them all.

Take the case of a mendicant who has fulfilled their ethics, but has limited immersion and wisdom. They break some lesser and minor training rules, but are restored. Why is that? Because I don’t say they’re incapable of that. But they’re constant and steady in their precepts regarding the training rules that are fundamental, befitting the spiritual path. They keep the rules they’ve undertaken. With the ending of three fetters they’re a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, bound for awakening.

Take another case of a mendicant who has fulfilled their ethics, but has limited immersion and wisdom. They break some lesser and minor training rules, but are restored. Why is that? Because I don’t say they’re incapable of that. But they’re constant and steady in their precepts regarding the training rules that are fundamental, befitting the spiritual path. They keep the rules they’ve undertaken. With the ending of three fetters, and the weakening of greed, hate, and delusion, they’re a once-returner. They come back to this world once only, then make an end of suffering.

Take another case of a mendicant who has fulfilled their ethics and immersion, but has limited wisdom. They break some lesser and minor training rules, but are restored. Why is that? Because I don’t say they’re incapable of that. But they’re constant and steady in their precepts regarding the training rules that are fundamental, befitting the spiritual path. They keep the rules they’ve undertaken. With the ending of the five lower fetters they’re reborn spontaneously. They are extinguished there, and are not liable to return from that world.

Take another case of a mendicant who has fulfilled their ethics, immersion, and wisdom. They break some lesser and minor training rules, but are restored. Why is that? Because I don’t say they’re incapable of that. But they’re constant and steady in their precepts regarding the training rules that are fundamental, befitting the spiritual path. They keep the rules they’ve undertaken. They realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And they live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements.

So, mendicants, if you practice partially you succeed partially. If you practice fully you succeed fully. These training rules are not a waste, I say.

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Brilliant. Thanks for that! :pray:

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