The Great Causes Discourse of the Madhyama Āgama

(4) Original text:阿难。如是。心解脱之比丘。不问如来死后有耶。若彼执着是言者。彼则非正。不问如来死后无耶。若彼执着是言者。彼则非正。不问如来死后亦有亦无耶。若彼执着是言者。彼则非正。不问如来死后。亦非有亦非无耶。若彼执着是言者。彼则非正。此乃依如何之因由耶。阿难。比丘由此范围。证知增语道。言语道。施设道。智慧界。流转轮回而解脱。对证知如是解脱之比丘。不知不见之徒。执着是见者则不正。 

Explanation: Ānanda, it is so: a mind-liberated bhikkhu will not ask the Tathāgata whether, after the death of an arhat, there still exists some dharma; if the bhikkhu, while clinging, still holds that there is something, he has not entered the correct position and is not an arhat. A mind-liberated bhikkhu will also not ask the Tathāgata whether, after the death of an arhat, there is nothing at all; if the bhikkhu clings to the notion that after the death of an arhat there is nothing at all, he has not attained liberation and has not entered the correct position of an arhat. A mind-liberated bhikkhu will also not ask the Tathāgata whether, after the death of an arhat, there is both existence and non-existence; if he clings to the notion that after the death of an arhat there is both existence and non-existence, he has not entered the correct position of an arhat and has not attained complete liberation. A mind-liberated bhikkhu will not ask the Tathāgata whether, after the death of an arhat, there is neither existence nor non-existence; if he still clings to the notion that after the death of an arhat there is neither existence nor non-existence, he has not entered the correct position of an arhat and has not attained complete liberation.

An arhat who has entered the correct position of the fourth fruit has a liberated mind, is liberated in every way, and has extinguished all clinging; his mind will no longer cling to any dharma. Only when all clinging—whether to the notion that after his own death there is existence or non-existence, or neither existence nor non-existence—is extinguished, together with all thoughts and attachments, can one attain complete liberation; at the end of life one enters Nirvāṇa without remainder. If there are still dharmas and clinging in the mind, one cannot sever existence in the three realms and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder.