Chapter VII

., p. 240. (For this reason, O Mahāmati, I say unto you: During the time that elapsed between the night of the Tathagata’s Enlightenment and the night of his entrance into Nirvana, not one word, not one statement was given out by him.)

[f33] According to Aśvaghosha’s _Awakening of Faith_, Ignorance means the sudden awakening of a thought (_citta_) in consciousness. This may be variously interpreted, but as long as Ignorance is conceived, not as a process requiring a certain duration of time, but an event instantaneously taking place, its disappearance which is enlightenment must also be an instantaneous happening.

[f34] This is the usual formula given as the qualification of an Arhat, to be met with throughout the Nikāyas.

[f35]