[Xan]

Originally Posted by seekerscientist

This is the Buddha's own account of the final stage of his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree as supposedly related directly to his immediate disciple and personal attendant Ananda:

"I thought: 'This is the path to enlightenment that I have now reached, that is to say: With cessation of name-and-form there is cessation of consciousness; with cessation of consciousness, cessation of name-and-form"

It would seem that consciousness and name-and-form are intimately related to each other, since each ceases with the cessation of the other.

But it doesn't. No matter how the Buddha's words were interpreted or translated, in deep meditation we are aware but without name or form.


Xan