Saṃyuktāgama Sūtra (347), Part Two

Original text: 复问。云何尊者。离苦息乐。忧喜先断。不苦不乐舍。净念一心。具足第四禅。不起诸漏。心善解脱耶。答言。不也须深。复问。若复寂静。解脱色无色。身作证具足住。不起诸漏。心善解脱耶。答言。不也须深。须深复问。云何尊者。所说不同。前后相违。云何不得禅定。而复记说。比丘答言。我是慧解脱也。作是说已。众多比丘。各从座起而去。

Explanation: Susīma asked again: "Venerable one, how does one leave behind painful feeling, extinguish pleasant feeling, having already severed sorrow and joy, abide in the neutral feeling of neither-painful-nor-pleasant, with pure mindfulness and a unified mind, fully possessing the fourth dhyāna, so that no afflictive outflows arise and the mind is well liberated?" The bhikṣu replied: "Liberation is not cultivated in that way." Susīma asked again: "How does one make the mind tranquil, become liberated from the bondage of the form realm and the formless realm, personally realize it with the body, abide fully in liberation, so that no afflictive outflows arise and the mind is well liberated?" The bhikṣu replied: "Liberation is not cultivated in that way." Susīma asked again: "Why is it, Venerable one, that what you say is different and contradicts itself before and after? How can one, without attaining meditative concentration (dhyāna), yet make the declaration of realization?" The bhikṣu replied: "I am liberated by wisdom." After saying this, the many bhikṣus each rose from their seats and departed.

Susīma believed that attaining the fruits of realization could only be accomplished through cultivating the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, not knowing that one needs to use wisdom to know the dharma of liberation and realize the dharma of liberation; that is why the misunderstanding arose, and he thought that the self-realized states described by those arhats were inconsistent with the state of liberation. Among arhats, there are those liberated by wisdom, those liberated by meditative concentration, and those liberated in both ways. For liberation by wisdom, it is enough to possess the first dhyāna, but the wisdom of liberation must be complete, so that at the end of one's lifespan one can rely on the wisdom of liberation to enter nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). As for the arhat liberated by meditative concentration, he must have the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, and at the same time possess the wisdom of liberation, relying mainly on meditative concentration to attain liberation and enter nirvāṇa without remainder, with his lifespan held in his own hands, able to be long or short. As for the arhat liberated in both ways, he must not only have the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, but also the cessation samāpatti, and the wisdom of liberation must also be complete; only then can he enter nirvāṇa without remainder at any time and place within the cessation samāpatti, without having to wait for the end of his lifespan.