How to Prove the Cessation of Clinging by the Mental Faculty

When the mental faculty does not grasp, the mind abides in concentration. The presence of concentration indicates a weakening of the mental faculty's grasping. In the second dhyāna and beyond, only subtle discernment by consciousness remains, signifying even less grasping by the mental faculty. The reduction and cessation of conscious functions both demonstrate that the mental faculty no longer relies on consciousness to discern dharmas (objects of the mind), leaving the mental faculty with little grasping nature. The concentration without consciousness is the asamjñi-samāpatti (unconsciousness attainment). The concentration where conscious mental factors diminish is the naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana (sphere of neither perception nor non-perception). When the mental faculty even reduces its own inherent mental factors, it is the nirodha-samāpatti (cessation attainment). When the mental faculty utterly ceases all grasping, one enters nirvāṇa without residue.