The Word of the Buddha The Group of Perception

¶ 12And what, bhikkhus, is perception? There are these six classes of perception, bhikkhus: perception of form, perception of sound, perception of odor, perception of flavor, perception of tangible object, perception of mental object. This is called perception, bhikkhus. With the arising of contact comes the arising of perception; with the cessation of contact comes the cessation of perception. Just this Noble Eightfold Path is the way of practice leading to the cessation of perception, that is—right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. For any ascetics or brahmins, bhikkhus, who—having experientially understood perception thus, having experientially understood the arising of perception thus, having experientially understood the cessation of perception thus, having experientially understood the way of practice leading to the cessation of perception thus—are practicing for disenchantment, fading of desire, and the cessation of perception, they are practicing well. Those who are practicing well have found a footing in this Dhamma and Vinaya. And any ascetics or brahmins, bhikkhus, who—having experientially understood perception thus, having experientially understood the arising of perception thus, having experientially understood the cessation of perception thus, having experientially understood the way of practice leading to the cessation of perception thus—are freed without clinging through disenchantment, fading of desire, and the cessation of perception, they are well freed. Those who are well freed are the perfected ones. For the perfected ones, there is no cycle to describe.