Distinctions Between Nirodha-Samāpatti, Asaṃjñā-Samāpatti, and Nevasaṃjñā-Nāsaṃjñā-Samāpatti

In the state of Non-Perception (nirodha-samāpatti), the six consciousnesses are absent, yet the mental factor of the mental faculty (manas) and all five omnipresent mental factors remain. In the state of Cessation (saṃjñā-vedayita-nirodha), the six consciousnesses are absent, and the mental factors of feeling and perception within the mental faculty cease. One cannot possibly enter the state of Cessation unless one is a great arhat with complete liberation who has eradicated all afflictions. The state of Non-Perception is a non-Buddhist concentration; beings within this concentration still regard the material body as the self, and their view of self is not severed.

Among beings in the Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception, part of the five omnipresent mental factors of the mental consciousness cease, thus the mental consciousness exists in a state of being partially present and partially absent. This differs from beings in the Sphere of No Perception, who possess a material body but completely lack mental consciousness.