The Attainment of Cessation

Linked Discourses 28.9

1. With Sāriputta

The Attainment of Cessation

At Sāvatthī.

Venerable Ānanda saw Venerable Sāriputta …

“Reverend, going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, I entered and remained in the cessation of perception and feeling.

But it didn’t occur to me:

‘I am entering the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I have entered the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I am emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling’.”

“That must be because Venerable Sāriputta has long ago totally eradicated I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to conceit.

That’s why it didn’t occur to you:

‘I am entering the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I have entered the cessation of perception and feeling’ or ‘I am emerging from the cessation of perception and feeling’.”