The discourses report two instances where Brahmans asked the Buddha about the nature of the goal he taught, and he responded with the analogy of the extinguished fire. There is every reason to believe that, in choosing this analogy, he was referring to a concept of fire familiar to his listeners, and, as they had been educated in the Vedic tradition, that he probably had the Vedic concept of fire in mind. This, of course, is not to say that he himself adhered to the Vedic concept or that he was referring to it in all its details. He was simply drawing on a particular aspect of fire as seen in the Vedas so that his listeners could have a familiar reference point for making sense of what he was saying.
Now, although the Vedic texts contain several different theories concerning the physics of fire, there is at least one basic point on which they agree: Fire, even when not manifest, continues to exist in a latent form. The Vedic view of all physical phenomena is that they are the manifestation of pre-existent potencies inherent in nature. Each type of phenomenon has its corresponding potency, which has both personal & impersonal characteristics: as a god and as the powers he wields. In the case of fire, both the god & the phenomenon are called Agni:
Agni, who is generated, being produced (churned) by men through the agency of sahas.
— RV 6,48,5
'Sahas' here is the potency, the power of subjugation, wielded by Agni himself. Jan Gonda, in discussing this passage, comments, 'The underlying theory must have been... that a man and his physical strength are by no means able to produce a god or potency of Agni's rank. Only the cooperation or conjunction of that special principle which seems to have been central in the descriptions of Agni's character, his power of subjugation, his overwhelming power, can lead to the result desired, the appearance of sparks and the generation of fire.' Further, 'a divine being like Agni was in a way already pre-existent when being generated by a pair of kindling sticks' (1957, pp. 22-3). As fire burns, Agni 'continues entering' into the fire (AV 4,39,9). Scattered in many places — as many separate fires — he is nevertheless one & the same thing (RV 3,55). Other fires are attached to him as branches to a tree (RV 8,19).
When fire is extinguished, Agni and his powers do not pass out of existence. Instead, they go into hiding. This point is expressed in a myth, mentioned frequently in the Vedic texts, of Agni's trying to hide himself from the other gods in places where he thought they would never perceive him. In the version told in RV 10,51, the gods finally find the hidden Agni as an embryo in the water.
[Addressed to Agni:] Great was the membrane & firm, that enveloped you when you entered the waters... We searched for you in various places, O Agni, knower of creatures, when you had entered into the waters & plants.
— RV 10,51
As Chauncey Blair notes, 'The concept of Agni in the waters does not imply destruction of Agni. He is merely a hidden, a potential Agni, and no less capable of powerful action' (1961, p. 103).
The implications of Agni's being an embryo are best understood in light of the theories of biological generation held in ancient India:
The husband, after having entered his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of her.
— Laws of Manu, 9,8
Just as ancient Indians saw an underlying identity connecting a father & his offspring, so too did they perceive a single identity underlying the manifest & embryonic forms of fire. In this way, Agni, repeatedly reborn, was seen as immortal; and in fact, the Vedas attribute immortality to him more frequently than to any other of the gods.
To you, immortal! When you spring to life, all the gods sing for joy... By your powers they were made immortal...[Agni], who extended himself over all the worlds, is the protector of immortality.
— RV 6,7
Not only immortal, but also omnipresent: Agni in his manifest form is present in all three levels of the cosmos — heaven, air, & earth — as sun, lightning, & flame-fire. As for his latent presence, he states in the myth of his hiding, 'my bodies entered various places'; a survey of the Vedas reveals a wide variety of places where his embryos may be found. Some of them — such as stone, wood, plants, & kindling sticks — relate directly to the means by which fire is kindled & fueled. Others relate more to fire-like qualities & powers, such as brilliance & vitality, present in water, plants, animals, & all beings. In the final analysis, Agni fills the entire universe as the latent embryo of growth & vitality. As Raimundo Panikkar writes, 'Agni... is one of the most comprehensive symbols of the reality that is all-encompassing' (1977, p.325).
Agni pervades & decks the heaven & earth... his forms are scattered everywhere.
— RV 10,80
He [Agni] who is the embryo of waters, embryo of woods, embryo of all things that move & do not move.
— RV 1,70,2
In plants & herbs, in all existent beings, I [Agni] have deposited the embryo of increase. I have engendered all progeny on earth, and sons in women hereafter.
— RV 10,183,3
You [Agni] have filled earth, heaven, & the air between, and follow the whole cosmos like a shadow.
— RV 1,73,8
We call upon the sage with holy verses, Agni Vaisvanara the ever-beaming, who has surpassed both heaven & earth in greatness. He is a god below, a god above us.
— RV 10,88,14.
This view that Agni/fire in a latent state is immortal & omnipresent occurs also in the Upanisads that were composed circa 850-750 B.C. and later accepted into the Vedic Canon. The authors of these texts use this view to illustrate, by way of analogy, the doctrines of a unitary identity immanent in all things, and of the immortality of the soul in spite of apparent death.
Now, the light that shines higher than this heaven, on the backs of all, on the backs of everything, in the highest worlds, than which there are no higher — truly that is the same as the light here within a person. There is this hearing of it -- when one closes one's ears and hears a sound, a roar, as of a fire blazing.
— ChU 3.13.7-8
Truly, this Brahma [the god that the Upanisads say is immanent in the cosmos] shines when fire blazes, and disappears when it does not blaze. Its brilliance goes to the sun; its vital breath to the wind.
This Brahma shines when the sun is seen, and disappears when it is not seen. Its brilliance goes to the moon, its vital breath to the wind. (Similarly for moon & lightning.)
Truly, all these divinities, having entered into wind, do not perish when they die (disappear) in the wind; indeed, from there they come forth again.
— KauU 2.12
In the major non-canonical Upanisads — whose period of composition is believed to overlap with the time of the Buddha — the analogy is even more explicit:
As the one fire has entered the world and becomes corresponding in form to every form, so the Inner Soul of all things corresponds in form to every form, and yet is outside.
— KathU 2.2.9
As the material form of fire, when latent in its source, is not perceived — and yet its subtle form is not destroyed, but may be seized again in its fuel-source — so truly both (the universal Brahma & the individual Soul) are (to be seized) in the body by means of (the meditation word) AUM. Making one's body the lower friction stick, and AUM the upper stick, practicing the drill of meditative absorption, one may see the god, hidden as it were.
— SvU 1.13-14
One interesting development in this stratum of the Vedic literature is the positive sense in which it comes to regard extinguished fire. The Vedic hymns & earlier Upanisads saw burning fire as a positive force, the essence of life & vitality. These texts, though, see the tranquillity & inactivity of the extinguished fire as an ideal image for the soul's desired destination.
To that God, illumined by his own intellect, do I, desiring liberation, resort for refuge — to him without parts, without activity, tranquil, impeccable, spotless, the highest bridge to the deathless, like a fire with fuel consumed.
— SvU 6.18-19
As fire through loss of fuel grows still (extinguished) in its own source, so thought by loss of activeness grows still in its own source... For by tranquillity of thought one destroys good & evil karma. With tranquil soul, stayed on the Soul, one enjoys unending ease.
— MaiU 6.34
Whether this re-evaluation of the image of fire — seeing its extinguishing as preferable to its burning — predated the founding of Buddhism, was influenced by it, or simply paralleled it, no one can say for sure, as there are no firm dates for any of the Upanisads. At any rate, in both stages of the Vedic attitude toward fire, the thought of a fire going out carried no connotations of going out of existence at all. Instead, it implied a return to an omnipresent, immortal state. This has led some scholars to assume that, in using the image of an extinguished fire to illustrate the goal he taught, the Buddha was simply adopting the Vedic position wholesale and meant it to carry the same implications as the last quotation above: a pleasant eternal existence for a tranquil soul.
But when we look at how the Buddha actually used the image of extinguished fire in his teachings, we find that he approached the Vedic idea of latent fire from another angle entirely: If latent fire is everywhere all at once, it is nowhere in particular. If it is conceived as always present in everything, it has to be so loosely defined that it has no defining characteristics, nothing by which it might be known at all. Thus, instead of using the subsistence of latent fire as an image for immortality, he uses the diffuse, indeterminate nature of extinguished fire as understood by the Vedists to illustrate the absolute indescribability of the person who has reached the Buddhist goal.
Just as the destination of a glowing fire struck with a [blacksmith's] iron hammer, gradually growing calm, isn't known: Even so, there's no destination to describe for those who are rightly released — having crossed over the flood of sensuality's bonds — for those who've attained unwavering ease.
— Ud 8.10
'But, Venerable Gotama [the Brahman, Aggivessana Vacchagotta, is addressing the Buddha], the monk whose mind is thus released: Where does he reappear?'
'"Reappear," Vaccha, doesn't apply.'
'In that case, Venerable Gotama, he does not reappear.'
'"Does not reappear," Vaccha, doesn't apply.'
'...both does & does not reappear.'
'...doesn't apply.'
'...neither does nor does not reappear.'
'...doesn't apply.'...
'At this point, Venerable Gotama, I am befuddled; at this point, confused. The modicum of clarity coming to me from your earlier conversation is now obscured.'
'Of course you're befuddled, Vaccha. Of course you're confused. Deep, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. For those with other views, other practices, other satisfactions, other aims, other teachers, it is difficult to know. That being the case, I will now put some questions to you. Answer as you see fit. What do you think, Vaccha: If a fire were burning in front of you, would you know that, "This fire is burning in front of me"?'
'...yes...'
'And suppose someone were to ask you, Vaccha, "This fire burning in front of you, dependent on what is it burning?" Thus asked, how would you reply?'
'...I would reply, "This fire burning in front of me is burning dependent on grass & timber as its sustenance."'
'If the fire burning in front of you were to go out, would you know that "This fire burning in front of me has gone out"?'
'...yes...'
'And suppose someone were to ask you, "This fire that has gone out in front of you, in which direction from here has it gone? East? West? North? Or south?" Thus asked, how would you reply?'
'That doesn't apply, Venerable Gotama. Any fire burning dependent on a sustenance of grass & timber, being unnourished — from having consumed that sustenance and not being offered any other — is classified simply as "out" (nibbuto).'
'Even so, Vaccha, any physical form by which one describing the Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata has abandoned, its root destroyed, like an uprooted palm tree, deprived of the conditions of existence, not destined for future arising. Freed from the classification of form, Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard-to-fathom, like the sea. "Reappears" doesn't apply. "Does not reappear" doesn't apply. "Both does & does not reappear" doesn't apply. "Neither reappears nor does not reappear" doesn't apply.
'Any feeling... Any perception... Any mental process...
'Any act of consciousness by which one describing the Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata has abandoned... Freed from the classification of consciousness, Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard-to-fathom, like the sea.'
— M 72
The person who has attained the goal is thus indescribable because he/she has abandoned all things by which he/she could be described. This point is asserted in even more thoroughgoing fashion in a pair of dialogues where two inexperienced monks who have attempted to describe the state of the Tathagata after death are cross-examined on the matter by Sariputta & the Buddha himself.
Sariputta: What do you think, my friend Yamaka: Do you regard form as the Tathagata?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard feeling as the Tathagata?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: ...perception...?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: ...mental processes...?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: ...consciousness...?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard the Tathagata as being in form? Elsewhere than form? In feeling? Elsewhere than feeling? In perception? Elsewhere than perception? In mental processes? Elsewhere than mental processes? In consciousness? Elsewhere than consciousness?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard the Tathagata as form-feeling-perception-mental processes-consciousness?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is without form, without feeling, without perception, without mental processes, without consciousness?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: And so, my friend Yamaka — when you can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, 'As I understand the Teaching explained by the Master, a monk with no more mental effluents, on the break-up of the body, is annihilated, perishes, & does not exist after death'?
Yamaka: Previously, friend Sariputta, I did foolishly hold that evil supposition. But now, having heard your explanation of the Teaching, I have abandoned that evil supposition, and the Teaching has become clear.
Sariputta: Then, friend Yamaka, how would you answer if you are thus asked: A monk, a worthy one, with no more mental effluents, what is he on the break-up of the body, after death?
Yamaka: Thus asked, I would answer, 'Form... feeling... perception... mental processes... consciousness are inconstant. That which is inconstant is stressful. That which is stressful has stopped and gone to its end.'
The Buddha puts the same series of questions to the monk Anuradha who — knowing that the Tathagata after death could not be described in terms of existence, non-existence, both, or neither — had attempted to describe the Tathagata in other terms. After receiving the same answers as Yamaka had given Sariputta, the Buddha concludes:
'And so, Anuradha — when you can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, "Friend, the Tathagata — the supreme man, the superlative man, attainer of the superlative attainment — being described, is described otherwise than with these four positions: The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist after death, both does & does not exist after death, neither exists nor does not exist after death"?'
'No, lord.'
'Very good, Anuradha. Both formerly & now, Anuradha, it is only stress that I describe, and the stopping of stress.'
Thus none of the four alternatives — reappearing/existing, not reappearing/existing, both, & neither — can apply to the Tathagata after death, because even in this lifetime there is no way of defining or identifying what the Tathagata is.
To identify a person by the contents of his or her mind — such things as feelings, perceptions, or mental processes — there would have to be a way of knowing what those contents are. In ordinary cases, the texts say, this is possible through either of two cognitive skills that a meditator can develop through the practice of meditation and that beings on higher planes of existence can also share: the ability to know where a living being is reborn after death, and the ability to know another being's thoughts.
In both skills the knowledge is made possible by the fact that the ordinary mind exists in a state of dependency on its objects. When a being is reborn, its consciousness has to become established at a certain point: This point is what a master of the first skill perceives. When the ordinary mind thinks, it needs a mental object to act as a prop or support (arammana) for its thoughts: This support is what a master of the second skill perceives. The mind of a person who has attained the goal, though, is free from all dependencies and so offers no means by which a master of either skill can perceive it.
Then the Master went with a large number of monks to the Black Rock on the slope of Isigili. From afar he saw Ven. Vakkali lying dead on a couch. Now at that time a smokiness, a darkness was moving to the east, moved to the west, moved to the north, the south, above, below, moved to the intermediate directions. The Master said, 'Monks, do you see that smokiness, that darkness...?'
'Yes, Lord.'
'That is Mara*, the Evil One. He is searching for the consciousness of Vakkali the Clansman: "Where is the consciousness of Vakkali the Clansman established?" But, monks, it is through unestablished consciousness that Vakkali the Clansman has attained total nibbana.'
— S XXII.87
[The Buddha describes the meditative state of a person who has achieved the goal and is experiencing a foretaste of nibbana after death while still alive. We will discuss the nature of this meditative state below. Here, though, we are interested in how this person appears to those who would normally be able to fathom another person's mind.]
There is the case, Sandha, where for an excellent thorough-bred of a man the perception of earth with regard to earth has ceased to exist; the perception of liquid with regard to liquid... the perception of heat with regard to heat... the perception of wind with regard to wind... the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of space with regard to the dimension of the infinitude of space... the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness with regard to the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the perception of the dimension of nothingness with regard to the dimension of nothingness... the perception of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception with regard to the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... the perception of this world with regard to this world... the next world with regard to the next world... and whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: the perception with regard even to that has ceased to exist.
Absorbed in this way, the excellent thoroughbred of a man is absorbed dependent neither on earth, liquid, heat, wind, the dimension of the infinitude of space, the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, the dimension of nothingness, the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, this world, the next world; nor on whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after or pondered by the intellect — and yet he is absorbed. And to this excellent thoroughbred of a man, absorbed in this way, the gods, together with Indra, the Brahmas & their chief queens, pay homage even from afar:
Homage to you, O thoroughbred man. Homage to you, O superlative man — of whom we have no direct knowledge even by means of that with which you are absorbed.
— A XI.10
Thus the mind that has attained the goal cannot be known or described from the outside because it is completely free of any dependency — any support or object inside it — by which it might be known. This point forms the context for the dialogue in which the Brahman Upasiva asks the Buddha about the person who attains the goal.
If he stays there, O All-around Eye unaffected for many years, right there would he be cooled & released? Would [his] consciousness be like that?
As a flame overthrown by the force of the wind goes to an end that cannot be classified, so the sage freed from naming (mental) activity goes to an end that cannot be classified.
He who has reached the end: Does he not exist, or is he for eternity free from affliction? Please, sage, declare this to me as this phenomenon has been known by you.
One who has reached the end has no criterion by which anyone would say that — for him it doesn't exist. When all phenomena are done away with All means of speaking are done away with as well.
— Sn 5.6
The important term in the last verse is pamana: 'criterion.' It is a pregnant term, with meanings both in philosophical and in ordinary usage. In philosophical discourse, it refers to a means of knowledge or a standard used to assess the validity of an assertion or object. In the Buddha's time and later, various schools of thought specialized in discussing the nature and role of such criteria. The Maitri Upanisad contains one of their basic tenets:
Because of its precision, this [the course of the sun through the zodiac] is the criterion for time. For without a criterion, there is no ascertaining the things to be assessed.
— MaiU 6.14
Thus when a mind has abandoned all phenomena, there is no means or criterion by which anyone else could know or say anything about it. This much is obvious. But the verse also seems to be saying that the goal is indescribable from the inside — for the person experiencing it — as well. First, the verse is in response to Upasiva's inquiry into the goal as the Buddha has known it. Secondly, the line, 'for him it doesn't exist,' can mean not only that the person experiencing the goal offers no criteria to the outside by which anyone else might describe him/her, but also that the experience offers no criteria from the inside for describing it either. And as we have already noted, the outside criteria by which a person might be described are determined precisely by what is there inside the person's mind. Thus, for the person experiencing the goal, there would not even be any means of knowing whether or not there was a person having the experience. There would simply be the experience in & of itself.
This is where the ordinary meaning of pamana — as limit or measurement — comes in. This meaning goes back to the Vedic hymns. There, the act of measuring is seen as an essential part of the process of the creation (or 'building,' like a house) of the cosmos. In one Rg Vedic hymn (X.129), for example, the creation of mind is followed by the appearance of a horizontal limit or measuring line separating male from female (heaven from earth). From this line, the rest of the cosmos is laid out.
So to say that no criterion/measurement/limit exists for the person experiencing the goal means that the person's experience is totally free of all the most elementary perceptions & distinctions that underlie our knowledge of the cosmos. And the word 'free' — one of the few the Buddha uses in a straightforward way to describe the mind that has attained the goal — thus carries two meanings: free from dependency, as we have already seen; and free from limitations, even of the most abstruse & subtlest sort.
This second reading of the verse — dealing with the limitlessness & indescribability of the goal for the person experiencing it — is supported by a number of other passages in the Pali canon referring explicitly to the inner experience of the goal.
Consciousness without feature, without end luminous all around: Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing. Here long & short coarse & fine fair & foul name & form are all brought to an end. With the stopping of [the activity of] consciousness, each is here brought to an end.
— D 11
There is, monks, that dimension where there is neither earth nor water, nor fire nor wind, nor dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, nor this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis, nor passing away, nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support (mental object). This, just this, is the end of stress.
— Ud 8.1
Where water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing: There the stars do not shine, the sun is not visible, the moon does not appear, darkness is not found. And when a sage, a worthy one, through sagacity has known [this] for himself, then from form & formless, from pleasure & pain, he is freed.
— Ud 1.10
Consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all around, is not experienced through the solidity of earth, the liquidity of water, the radiance of fire, the windiness of wind, the divinity of devas (and so on through a list of the various levels of godhood to) the allness of the All.
— M 49
The phrase 'is not experienced through the allness of the All' can best be understood with reference to the following three passages:
What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is termed the All. Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range.
— S XXXV.23
If the six senses & their objects — sometimes called the six spheres of contact — constitute the All, is there anything beyond the All?
MahaKotthita: With the remainderless stopping & fading of the six spheres of contact [vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, & intellection] is it the case that there is anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: With the remainderless stopping & fading of the six spheres of contact, is it the case that there is not anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: ...is it the case that there both is & is not anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: ...is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: Being asked... if there is anything else, you say, 'Do not say that, my friend.' Being asked... if there is not anything else... if there both is & is not anything else... if there neither is nor is not anything else, you say, 'Do not say that, my friend.' Now, how is the meaning of this statement to be understood?
Sariputta: Saying... is it the case that there is anything else... is it the case that there is not anything else... is it the case that there both is & is not anything else... is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else, one is differentiating non-differentiation. However far the six spheres of contact go, that is how far differentiation goes. However far differentiation goes, that is how far the six spheres of contact go. With the remainderless fading & stopping of the six spheres of contact, there comes to be the stopping, the allaying of differentiation.
— A IV.173
The dimension of non-differentiation, although it may not be described, may be realized through direct experience.
Monks, that sphere should be realized where the eye (vision) stops and the perception (mental noting) of form fades. That sphere is to be realized where the ear stops and the perception of sound fades... where the nose stops and the perception of aroma fades... where the tongue stops and the perception of flavor fades... where the body stops and the perception of tactile sensation fades... where the intellect stops and the perception of idea/phenomenon fades: That sphere should be realized.
— S XXXV.116
This experience of the goal — absolutely unlimited freedom, beyond classification and exclusive of all else — is termed the elemental nibbana property with no 'fuel' remaining (anupadisesa-nibbana-dhatu). It is one of two ways in which nibbana is experienced, the distinction between the two being expressed as follows:
Monks, there are these two forms of the nibbana property. Which two? The nibbana property with fuel remaining, and the nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
And what is the nibbana property with fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is a worthy one devoid of mental effluents, who has attained completion, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the bonds of becoming, and is released through right knowing. His five sense faculties still remain, and owing to their being intact, he is cognizant of the pleasant & the unpleasant, and is sensitive to pleasure & pain. That which is the passing away of passion, aversion, & delusion in him is termed the nibbana property with fuel remaining.
And what is the nibbana property with no fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is a worthy one... released through right knowing. For him, all that is sensed, being unrelished will grow cold right here. This is termed the nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
— Iti 44
The phrase referring to the range of feeling as 'growing cold right here' is a set expression describing death as experienced by one who has reached the goal. The verse following this passage states explicitly that this is what is meant here.
These two nibbana properties proclaimed by the one with vision the one independent the one who is Such: one property, here in this life with fuel remaining from the ending of craving, the guide to becoming and that with no fuel remaining after this life in which all becoming completely stops. Those who know this state uncompounded their minds released through the ending of craving, the guide to becoming, they, attaining the Teaching's core, delighting in the ending of craving, have abandoned all becoming: they, the Such.
— Iti 44
The Verses of the Elder Udayin suggest a simile to illustrate the distinction between these two nibbana properties:
A great blazing fire unnourished grows calm and while its embers exist is said to be out: Conveying a meaning, this image is taught by the cognizant. Great Nagas* will recognize the Naga as taught by the Naga as free from passion free from aversion free from delusion without mental effluent. His body discarded, the Naga will go totally out without effluent.
— Thag XV.2
Here Ven. Udayin compares the nibbana property with fuel remaining — the state of being absolutely free from passion, aversion, & delusion — to a fire whose flames have died out, but whose embers are still glowing. Although he does not complete the analogy, he seems to imply that the nibbana property without fuel remaining — when the Worthy One discards his body at death — is like a fire so totally out that its embers have grown cold.
Thus the completely free & unadulterated experience we have been discussing is that of nibbana after death. There are, though, states of concentration which give a foretaste of this experience in the present life and which enabled the Buddha to say that he taught the goal on the basis of direct knowledge.
Ananda: In what way, lord, might a monk attain concentration of such a form that he would have neither the perception of earth with regard to earth, nor of water with regard to water, nor of fire... wind... the dimension of the infinitude of space... the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the dimension of nothingness... the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... this world... nor of the next world with regard to the next world, and yet he would still be percipient?
The Buddha: There is the case, Ananda, where he would be percipient of this: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all mental processes; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; stopping; nibbana.'
— A X.6
[Ananda puts the same question to Sariputta, who responds that he himself once had experienced such a concentration.]
Ananda: But what were you percipient of at that time?
Sariputta: 'The stopping of becoming — nibbana — the stopping of becoming — nibbana': One perception arose in me as another perception stopped. Just as in a blazing woodchip fire, one flame arises as another flame disappears, even so, 'The stopping of becoming — nibbana — the stopping of becoming — nibbana': One perception arose in me as another one stopped. I was percipient of the stopping of becoming — nibbana.
— A X.7
Ananda: It is amazing, my friend, it is marvelous, how the Master has attained & recognized the opportunity for the purification of beings... and the direct realization of nibbana, where the eye will be, and forms, and yet one will not be sensitive to that sphere; where the ear will be, and sounds... where the nose will be, and aromas... where the tongue will be, and flavors... where the body will be, and tactile sensations, and yet one will not be sensitive to that sphere.
Udayin: Is one insensitive to that sphere with or without a perception in mind?
Ananda: ...with a perception in mind...
Udayin: ...what perception?
Ananda: There is the case where with the complete transcending of perceptions dealing with form, and the passing away of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, [perceiving,] 'Infinite space,' one remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space: Having this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that sphere.
Further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, [perceiving,] 'Infinite consciousness,' one remains in the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness: Having this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that sphere.
Further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, [perceiving,] 'There is nothing,' one remains in the dimension of nothingness: Having this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that sphere.
Once, friend, when I was staying in Saketa at the Game Refuge in the Black Forest, the nun Jatila Bhagika went to where I was staying, and on arrival — having bowed to me — stood to one side. As she was standing to one side, she said to me: 'The concentration whereby — neither pressed down nor forced back, nor with mental processes kept blocked or suppressed — still as a result of release, contented as a result of stillness, and as a result of contentment one is not agitated: This concentration is said by the Master to be the fruit of what?'
I said to her, '...This concentration is said by the Master to be the fruit of gnosis (the knowledge of Awakening).' Having this sort of perception, friend, one is not sensitive to that sphere.
— A IX.37
In this extraordinary state of mental poise — neither pressed, forced, blocked, or suppressed — nibbana in the present life is experienced as freedom from all perception dealing with the six sensory spheres & the spheres of meditative absorption. Although one is conscious, and these spheres are present, one does not partake of them.
On the level of ordinary sensory experience, however, nibbana in the present life is experienced by the Worthy One as the passing away of passion, aversion, & delusion. This implies that these three states are analogous to fire; and as we saw in the Introduction, they are directly referred to as fires at various points in the Canon. On the surface, the notion of passion & aversion as fires hardly requires explanation, but in order to gain a fuller appreciation of the analogies that the Canon draws between fire on the one hand, and passion, aversion, & delusion on the other, we first need some background on the specifically Buddhist views on fire it contains.