Itivuttaka 51

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Adapted From the Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

51. Dhatusuttam (Properties to Immortality)

This was said by the Lord Buddha(Bhagavata), said by the Arahant, so I have heard:

“Monks, there are these three properties. Which three? The property of form, the property of formlessness, the property of cessation. [1] These are the three properties.”

Comprehending the property of form, not taking a stance in the formless, those released in cessation(nirodhey) are people who’ve left death behind. Having touched with his body the immortality property free from upadhi(mental acquisitions/attributes), having realized the relinquishing of upadhi, asava(want/desire)-free, the Rightly Self-awakened One(Buddha) teaches the state with no sorrow, no dust.

NOTE: 1. The property of form corresponds to the experience of the form of the body as present in the first four levels of jhana (meditative trance). The property of formlessness corresponds to the formless experiences based on the fourth level of jhana(trance): the dimension of the infinitude of space, the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, the dimension of nothingness, and the dimension of neither perception nor non perception. The property of cessation(of centric-self-awareness) is the experience of the total cessation of suffering.

See also: No.72-73