Mind Like Fire Unbound (sutra)

Dhr. Seven (ed.) Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutra: "To Vacchagotta on Fire" (Middle Length Discourses, MN 72) based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), accesstoinsight.org, Wisdom Quarterly

1. "...'After death a supremely enlightened being exists'...
2. "...'after death a supremely enlightened being does not exist'...
3. "...'after death a supremely enlightened being both exists and does not exist'...
4. "...'after death a supremely enlightened being neither exists nor does not exist'...

What's a warrior wanderer to do?

"[These questions, no matter what the answer, do] not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, to tranquility, direct knowledge, full enlightenment (awakening), nirvana."

"Does Master Gautama hold any position at all?"

"Vaccha, a 'position' is something a supremely enlightened being has done away with. What a supremely enlightened being sees is this:

• 'Such is form, such its origination, such its disappearance;
• such are feelings, such their origination, such their disappearance;
• such are perceptions, such their origination, such their disappearance;
• such are mental formations (fabrications), such their origination, such their disappearance;
• such are consciousnesses, such their origination, such their disappearance.'

"Because of this, I say, a supremely enlightened being — with the passing, fading away, cessation, letting go, and relinquishment of all construings, all thoughts, all I-making, all mine-making, and obsessions with pride/conceit — is released by no longer clinging [by detaching from all sustenance clung to the way fire clings to a fuel, released by letting go]."

"But, Master Gautama, the meditator whose mind is released in this way, Where does that person reappear?"

"Vaccha, 'reappear' does not apply."

"In that case, Master Gautama, that person does not reappear?"

"Vaccha, 'does not reappear' does not apply."

"...both does and does not reappear?"

"...does not apply?"

"...neither does nor does not reappear?"

"...does not apply?"

"How is it, Master Gautama, when Master Gautama is asked if the [fully enlightened] meditator 

• reappears...
• does not reappear...
• both does and does not reappear...
• neither does nor does not reappear,

"he answers, '...does not apply' in each case? Master Gautama, I am perplexed. I am confused. The little clarity I had from our earlier discussion is now unclear."

"Vaccha, of course you're perplexed. Of course you're confused. Deep, Vaccha, is this Dhamma (Doctrine, Teaching, Understanding, Path), hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, subtle, beyond the scope of mere reasoning (or conjecture), sublime, to-be-experienced [only] by the wise.

"For those holding other views (dhammas, doctrines), other practices, other guides, other aims, other teachers, it is difficult to know. This being the case, I shall question you. Answer as you see fit:

"Vaccha, what do you think: If there were a fire burning in front of you, would you know, 'There is a fire burning in front of me'?"

"...yes..."

"And suppose, Vaccha, someone were to ask you, 'This fire burning in front of you, dependent on what is it burning?' If asked, how would you reply?"

"...I would reply, 'This fire burning in front of me is doing so dependent on grass and wood as its sustenance (fuel).'"

"If the fire burning in front of you were to go out, would you know, 'This fire burning in front of me has gone out'?"

"...yes..."

"Now suppose someone were to ask you, 'This fire that has gone out in front of you, where has it gone from here:

1. east,
2. west,
3. north, or
4. south?'

"If asked this, how would you reply?"

"Master Gautama, this [question] does not apply. Any fire burning dependent on the sustenance of grass and wood, being deprived of further nourishment — from having consumed that fuel and not being offered any other — is classified simply as '[gone] out'."

"Even so, Vaccha, any physical form by which one describing a supremely enlightened being would have to say that that supremely enlightened being has abandoned [all sustenance], destroyed it at the root, made it like a palmyra stump [which when topped off is incapable of regrowing], deprived it of its supporting conditions, become no longer destined for any future arising (reappearance, rebirth).

"Freed from the description of form, Vaccha, a supremely enlightened being is deep, unfathomable, boundless, like the sea. 'Reappears' does not apply. 'Does not reappear' does not apply. 'Both does and does not reappear' does not apply. 'Neither reappears nor does not reappear' does not apply.

"Any feeling... Any perception... Any mental formation... Any consciousness by which one describing a supremely enlightened being would describe that person, the supremely enlightened being has abandoned, destroyed at the root, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of supporting conditions, become no longer destined for any future arising.

"Freed from the category of consciousness, Vaccha, a supremely enlightened being is deep, unfathomable, boundless, like the sea. 'Reappears' does not apply. 'Does not reappear' does not apply. 'Both does and does not reappear' does not apply. 'Neither reappears nor does not reappear' does not apply."

When this was said, the wanderer Vacchagotta said to the Blessed One: "Master Gautama, it is as if there were a great sal tree not far from a village or town:

"From impermanence, its branches and leaves would wear away, its bark would wear away, its sapwood would wear away, so that later — freed of branches, leaves, bark, and sapwood — it would stand as pure heartwood.

"In the same way, Master Gautama's words are freed of branches, leaves, bark, and sapwood and stand as pure heartwood.

"Magnificent, Master Gautama, magnificent! It is just as if one were to set upright what had been overturned,  or to reveal what was hidden, or to show the way to one who were lost, or were to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms!

"In the same way has Master Gautama — through many lines of reasoning — made the Doctrine (Dhamma) clear.

I go for guidance to Master Gautama, to the Dhamma, and to the Sangha. May Master Gautama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for guidance, from this day forward, for as long as life may last."