that render the mind a bounded, measurable entity, and is instead "freed from being reckoned by" all or any of them, even in life. The skandhas have been seen to be a burden, and an enlightened individual is one with "burden dropped". A variety of similar passages make it clear that the metaphor "gone out, he cannot be defined" () refers equally to liberation in life. In the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta itself, it is clear that the Buddha is the subject of the metaphor, and the Buddha has already "uprooted" or "annihilated" the five aggregates. In Sn 1074, it is stated that the sage cannot be "reckoned" because he is freed from the category "name" or, more generally, concepts. The absence of this precludes the possibility of reckoning or articulating a state of affairs; "name" here refers to the concepts or apperceptions that make propositions possible. The fire metaphor used in the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta (which is also used elsewhere) is a radical way of making the point that the liberated sage is beyond phenomenal experience. It also makes the additional point that this indefinable, transcendent state is the sage's state even during life. This idea goes against the early Brahminic notion of liberation at death. Dabba Sutta The Udana's Dabba Sutta makes use of related imagery: Just as the bourn is not known Of the gradual fading glow Given off by the furnace-heated iron, As it is struck with the smith's hammer, So there is no pointing to the bourn Of those perfectly released Who have crossed the flood Of bondage to sense desires And attained unshakable bliss. — Dabba Sutta, Udana VIII.10 In this case, the simile of the first four lines of the original Pali is obscure, and the above translation is only tentative regarding its intention. Notes External links Translations With Vacchagotta on Fire, translation by Bhikkhu Sujato Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta (Access to Insight), translation by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu Majjhima Nikaya