Kevaḍḍha Suttaṃ (Kevatta) Suttaṃ

Kevaḍḍha (Concluding verses)

Kattha āpo ca paṭhavī tejo vāyo na gādhati.
Kattha dīghañ ca rassañ ca aṇuṃ thūlaṃ subhāsubhaṃ,
Katta nāmañ ca rūpañ ca asesaṃ uparujjhatī.

Tatra veyyākaraṇa bhavatī:

Viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ anantaṃ sabbato pahaṃ.

Ettha āpo ca paṭhavī tejo vāyo na gādhati.
Ettha dīghañca rassañ ca aṇuṃ thūlaṃ subhāsubhaṃ.
Ettha nāmañ ca rūpañ ca asesaṃ uparujjhati.
Viññāṇassa nirodhena etth'etaṃ uparujjhatī.

Where does
earth,^[1] water, fire, and wind
find no footing?

Where does
long and short
superior and inferior
beautiful and ugly
where are name and form
utterly stopped?

The answer is:

Consciousness without signs
between it and
anything perceived.^[2]

That is where
earth, water, fire, and wind
find no footing.

That is where
long and short
superior and inferior
beautiful and ugly
name and form are
utterly stopped.

Ending consciousness^[3] is thus
their utter stoping.

^[1] In these verses āpo (water) comes first. The usual order found in the suttas is for paṭhavi (earth) to come first. This deviation might be an older or later expression, or it might have been necessary for the poetry.

^[2] Viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ anantaṃ sabbato pahaṃ. Re-knowing-knowing-knowledge without-signs between all brought.^[4] No indications of self, lust, hate, or confusion between the object presenting itself to view and the consciousness thereof. "Consciousness" is used by me here as a matter of making this idea comprehensible to the many. A good way to think about this whole idea (extra-sensory perception) is to think of consciousness (Viññāṇa) as the product of the sense-bound mind, an existing thing, (the boundry-line for the understanding of what is considered to have existence is sense perception ... a thing perceived through the mind free from the senses is not considered an existing thing) and re-knowing-knowing-knowledge (Viññāṇa) as the mode of perception of the mind freed from the senses and all the signs thereof.

^[3] The ending here is the ending of sense-bound (or) created consciousnes. It is a matter of our understanding of how Viññāṇa was heard. If Viññāṇa was "utterly ended" then the use of the term earlier would be a strange mistake. It is sense-bound Viññāṇa that is utterly stopped ... here ... not there. There are those that believe there is no such thing as Viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ, but a careful look in the suttas will show the reader that Viññāṇa has numerous synonyms when it is understood as one thing when bound to the senses and another thing when free.

^[4] Warren translates: "consciousness invisible"; Rhys Davids translates: "The intellect of Arahatship, the invisible"; Bhikkhu Thanissaro translates: "Consciousness without surface".