When he said this, Venerable Ānanda said to the Buddha: “Sir, take a mendicant who practices like this: ‘It might not be, and it might not be mine. It will not be, and it will not be mine. I am giving up what exists, what has come to be.’ In this way they gain equanimity. Would that mendicant become extinguished or not?” “One such mendicant might become extinguished, Ānanda, while another might not.” “What is the cause, sir, what is the reason for this?” “Ānanda, take a mendicant who practices like this: ‘It might not be, and it might not be mine. It will not be, and it will not be mine. I am giving up what exists, what has come to be.’ In this way they gain equanimity. They approve, welcome, and keep clinging to that equanimity. Their consciousness has that as support and fuel for grasping. A mendicant with fuel for grasping does not become extinguished.”

“But sir, what is that mendicant grasping?” “The dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.” “Sir, it seems that mendicant is grasping the best thing to grasp!” “Indeed, Ānanda. For the best thing to grasp is the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.

Take a mendicant who practices like this: ‘It might not be, and it might not be mine. It will not be, and it will not be mine. I am giving up what exists, what has come to be.’ In this way they gain equanimity. They don’t approve, welcome, or keep clinging to that equanimity. So their consciousness doesn’t have that as support and fuel for grasping. A mendicant free of grasping becomes extinguished.”