Polak/Nikaya Buddhism, 4. Meditative Cessation as a Process of Cognitive Deconstruction

Chapter 4 focuses on the philosophical implications of the idea of an apophatically described meditative state in the texts of both traditions in which the most basic elements constituting the world of our experience are absent or cease. It argues that the said state of cessation need not be understood as a form of insentience but rather as a cognitive deconstruction of our ordinary consciousness through suspending various mental processes which mediate and shape our experience. Thus, such a meditative cessation may be paradoxically considered to be a form of direct cognition. The final part of the chapter explores the question of what it is like to be in such a state and the issue of its linguistic expressibility.