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Any unusual things about the state of the body after nirvana ?

 Question on forum

https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/41637/body-state-after-enlightenment/41687#41687

I've heard (not from Buddhist texts) that after enlightenment the investment in the body dwindles becomes delicate and less resistant to disease ,and that the body needs to be prepared first.So what Buddha had went through before Nirvana was important.Or what the yogis do in kryia yoga .

Examples of Ranamnakrishna and Maharishi Raman dying of cancer .

There is even claim that some might die right after nirvana.

Another claim is that there is no longer unconscious sleep,One is always awake /sleeps less .

Example of krishnamurti not sleeping well and having migraines.

If there is any such thing what do Buddhist texts say about the state of the body after nirvana ?


frankk response

As far as EBT (early buddhist texts) go, I'm pretty sure there's nothing to support any of your ideas on what happens to the body of any arahant after nirvana.

There is this SN 47.9 Gilāna sutta, where the buddha is close to death but prolongs life, and limits body pain with animitta samadhi, but not all arahants could do that. Otherwise his arahant body after nirvana (while alive) seems to be just as frail as any normal human:

I’m now old, elderly and senior. I’m advanced in years and have reached the final stage of life. Āsītiko me vayo vattati. I’m currently eighty years old. Seyyathāpi, ānanda, jajjarasakaṭaṃ veḷamissakena yāpeti; Just as a decrepit cart keeps going by relying on straps, evameva kho, ānanda, veḷamissakena maññe tathāgatassa kāyo yāpeti. in the same way, the Realized One’s body keeps going by relying on straps, or so you’d think.

And there are the suttas where the Buddha and Moggallana say had they chosen to, they could have extended their lifespan for the remainder of the aeon. But this has to do more with supernormal powers, which arahants may or may not have developed, it doesn't have to do with what happens to everyones' body after nirvana realization. The EBT's AFAIK don't explain how that ability of remaining for an aeon works. Theravada commentary (which I disagree with) says that 'aeon' is to be taken figuratively as being able to live out a natural human lifespan (100 years or so). I suspect what that power to live out for a remainder of an aeon really means, is living out the aeon in a ghost state in a mind made body (for reference, a lower brahma realm has a lifespan of one aeon). There are accounts of taoist masters doing something similar, not yet taking rebirth in their next form, but hanging around in some kind of intermediate state with ability to communicate with their disciples in the human realm.


Regarding the ability to sleep less, nor not sleeping at all and remaining conscious all the time, the EBT's do mention some things regarding that, but nothing specific only for an arahant. 


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