Saṃyukta Āgama, Sutta 293: Part 3

(3) When Arhats cultivate to the ultimate stage, they relinquish all attachments, exhaust all cravings, become desireless, attain quiescence, and enter Nirvana. Their minds grasp no dharmas and cling to no dharmas; they harbor no desire to possess more dharmas. This is the cessation of grasping. After grasping ceases, there is no greed or craving. When greed and craving are exhausted, desirelessness arises. They have no further thoughts or pursuits regarding the Three Realms of existence. If any thought or intention remains, the clinging of the mental faculty (manas) persists, leading to future rebirths. If craving is not exhausted and desire not relinquished, quiescence and Nirvana cannot be attained. Therefore, after desirelessness comes quiescence; quiescence leads to Nirvana. Thus, when the five aggregates are completely extinguished, only the eighth consciousness—the Nirvanic mind—remains, free from birth, abiding, change, or cessation. This is the state of Nirvana.

The Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination are conditioned dharmas of the Hinayana path. These conditioned dharmas cannot exist apart from the unconditioned dharma, the Ālaya-vijñāna. The Buddha taught that the birth of all dharmas is conditioned, their abiding is conditioned, their alteration is conditioned, and their cessation is conditioned. The universe and the great chiliocosm all undergo birth, abiding, alteration, and cessation—all are conditioned dharmas. The unconditioned means neither born nor abiding, neither altering nor ceasing. What dharma is like this? Only the eighth consciousness is thus. Within these conditioned dharmas of bodily, verbal, and mental actions lies the unconditioned dharma; otherwise, conditioned dharmas could not manifest. Conditioned and unconditioned operate simultaneously. When the conditioned ceases, the unconditioned alone remains—this is quiescent Nirvana.

Where there is the conditioned, there is suffering. All suffering is a result; where there is a result, there is a cause. Bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the causes. Once causes are created, results may arise in future lifetimes or may appear in the present—whenever conditions are sufficient, the result manifests. If conditions are insufficient, the cause remains stored as a seed, awaiting future fruition. Cultivation is planting causes. When will the fruit appear? Whenever the conditions are fulfilled, the fruit is attained. What are the conditions for enlightenment? They are the Six Perfections (Pāramitās) of the Bodhisattva. When the Six Perfections are perfected, the fruit of realizing the mind will appear. To attain the fruit swiftly, one must swiftly fulfill the conditions of the Six Perfections. If one neglects the cultivation of the Six Perfections, the conditions for realizing the mind will remain incomplete, and it becomes uncertain in which life or era enlightenment will occur.

Some practitioners schedule the fruition of their cultivation for the moment of death, seeking rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. However, the conditions for rebirth in the Pure Land at the time of death may not necessarily be fulfilled. No one can guarantee that the conditions for rebirth at death will certainly be complete; if the Buddha gives no such guarantee, no one else’s assurance is of any use. Unless one can ensure that the conditions for rebirth are fulfilled during this present lifetime while still alive—such that the Pure Land manifests within one’s samadhi during life, or Amitābha Buddha appears within one’s samadhi—only through the power of this samadhi and the Buddha’s blessing can rebirth at death be assured.