Linked Discourses 40
1. By Moggallāna
8 A Question About the Dimension of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception
“They speak of this thing called the ‘dimension of neither perception nor non-perception’. What is the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception? It occurred to me: ‘It’s when a mendicant—going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness—enters and remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This is called the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.’ And so … I was entering and remaining in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. While I was in that meditation, perceptions and attentions accompanied by the dimension of nothingness beset me.
Then the Buddha came up to me with his psychic power and said: ‘Moggallāna, Moggallāna! Don’t neglect the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, brahmin! Settle your mind in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; unify your mind and immerse it in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.’ And so, after some time … I entered and remained in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. So if anyone should be rightly called a disciple who attained to great direct knowledge with help from the Teacher, it’s me.”