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Commentaries [1]

This is the consciousness that “continues” in transmigration (DN 33:1.11.122, SN 22.54:1.11, SN 12.38–40). It is described in organic terms, as something that grows like a plant.

The process of rebirth is often described in terms of consciousness, as in dependent origination or, say, the “stream of consciousness” (DN 28:7.13). However, consciousness never exists by itself, but only in relation to the other aggregates. The case of the formless realm might seem an exception, yet even formless rebirth is dependent on form of the past, since the four “form” absorptions are the basis for the formless attainments. Thus while the formless realms can be described without reference to present form they cannot be described without reference to form at all.

In this passage, the pronouns have disappeared, in a syntactic mirroring of the vanishing of the delusion of self. Literally: “Because freed, stabilized. Because stabilized, contented. Because contented, is not anxious. Not being anxious, personally extinguish.”

Translations [20]