The Theories
The Round of the Future
Theories About Consciousness Neither Surviving nor not Surviving Death
"There are recluses and Brahmans, monks, who, upon eight grounds, theorize that consciousness neither survives death nor doesn't survive death. What are the means and references that these honorable recluses and Brahmans use?
They say: 'The soul, upon death, is not subject to decay, remains neither conscious nor unconscious, and:
- Has a form
- Is formless
- Both has a form and is without form
- Neither has a form nor is without form
- Is finite
- Is infinite
- Is both finite and infinite
- Is neither finite nor infinite.'
These, monks, are those recluses and Brahmans who, upon eight grounds, theorize that consciousness neither survives death nor doesn't survive death. Recluses and Brahmans who theorize that consciousness neither survives death nor doesn't survive death do so only within the boundaries of these eight cases.
Monks, the Tathāgata understands how these misguided theories were formulated. These are the Dhammas that an outsider, when speaking well of the Tathāgata, might speak."