Agony and Ecstasy

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itself an object of thought, but even then, space will remain an
idea, a concept, existing only in the mind, whether it is small, or
measureless, or even infinite.
In the canonical texts the sphere of boundless space
(ākāsāñcāyatana) is frequently referred to when the various stages
of mental absorption are enumerated (e.g. Nipāta Sutta, M. I. 159),
or when the various stages of the Buddha’s mental process are mentioned
just before he attained complete deliverance (parinibbāna; D.
II. 112). “With the complete transcending of material perceptions
(sabbaso rūpasaññāṇaṁ sammatikkama), with the disappearance of
the perception of sensory reactions (paṭigha-saññāṇaṁ atthaṅgama)
and with the non-attention to perceptions of the multiformity of sensuous
impressions (nānatta-saññāṇaṁ amanasikāra) one becomes
aware of just unbounded space (matta ākāso ’ti) and one enters into
and dwells within the sphere of boundless space” (ākāsāñcāyatanam
upasampajja viharati: Vbh. 245; Vism. x. 12. 273).
Even though the mind cannot contain the infinite, the idea is
there, even though distorted in, and restricted by, the finite mind. If
space is then conceived as infinite and without limit (ākāsānañca),
the sphere (āyatana) of this concept cannot be less than infinite.
And thus, this thought which is the concept, the idea of the sphere,
is itself without limits; and while thought gets lost in space, space
itself is contained in thought.
Thought
If space is conceived as boundless, without limits and infinite, the
thought which conceived this concept can then not be less than
boundless, without limits and infinite. Thus, without interruption,
the ecstasy of the infinite has now won access to the imperturbable
(anejjappatto hoti: A. II. 184) and thought sees itself as infinite
(viññāṇānañca).