Nirvāṇa Without Remainder Does Not Belong to the Realm of Samādhi

Question: After an arhat enters nirvāṇa without remainder, is nirvāṇa without remainder a state of meditative absorption (samādhi)?

Answer: In a state of meditative absorption, there should be a master—there is one who enters the state of meditative absorption, and in the future there will be one who exits the state of meditative absorption. But in nirvāṇa there is no master; no one enters nirvāṇa. The arhat's five aggregates and eighteen realms have all ceased, and the manas has also ceased, so there is no arhat anymore. Since no one enters nirvāṇa without remainder, no one exits nirvāṇa without remainder either; therefore nirvāṇa without remainder does not belong to the states of meditative absorption.

Any dharma that has exiting and entering is a dharma of arising, ceasing, and change, not an everlasting dharma. Therefore the eighth consciousness neither enters nirvāṇa without remainder nor exits nirvāṇa without remainder. The eighth consciousness is not within nirvāṇa without remainder, nor is it outside nirvāṇa without remainder; it is neither identical with nor different from nirvāṇa without remainder.

The eighth consciousness is a dharma abandoned by the worldly; it does not keep company with any worldly dharma. After all the worldly dharmas—the five aggregates and eighteen realms—have ceased, the eighth consciousness does not cease along with them; it abides independently and at ease. That is why there is nirvāṇa without remainder. Otherwise, even nirvāṇa without remainder would not exist; after the five aggregates and eighteen realms cease, everything would be finished once and for all, nothing would exist at all, and there would be no future lives or lives after future lives. After the five aggregates and eighteen realms arise, the eighth consciousness does not arise along with them; it already existed originally, fully present and complete, with no need to be born.