Dependent Arising and Emptiness

Cessation

The following paper was originally put together as the concluding one of a series of seven for a course on the theme of dependent arising and emptiness largely based on Rob Burbea’s book of the same title. Consequently there are references to previous papers and ideas. Most of those cover well known dharma topics and would not be new to most Order Members. This paper is perhaps a little different and strays into an area of the dharma which has not perhaps been considered too widely in the Order. I hope you find it interesting.

Alokadhara – October 2023 

The fading of perception, cessation, the unfabricated, the fruit of arahantship – Nibbana.

I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering without reaching the end of the world. Yet it is just within this fathom-long carcase, with its perception and mind, that I declare that there is the world, the origination of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the world. 

(SN1.62 Rohitassa Sutta)

In exploring the nature of dependent arising and emptiness these notes have drawn heavily upon material from Rob Burbea’s book “Seeing that Frees”. In that book one of the most remarkable chapters is Chapter 19 -The Fading of Perception. This builds on insights and ways of looking that we have already encountered, in particular:

• that the notion of self depends on clinging and clinging depends upon the notion of a self;
• that dukkha depends on clinging;
• that all the aspects of consciousness and nama rupa depend upon one another;
• that a feeling is dependent upon the “response” to it…that is a response of greed or aversion will cause the feeling to grow in intensity where as a response of “holy disinterest” or equanimity will cause the feeling to decrease in intensity;
• that for any “thing” to be formed it depends upon conceptual imputation by the mind;
• that a “thing” is dependent upon its characteristics (signs) and when these are not invoked the “thing” cannot form; and
• that nothing has objective status in and of itself but is dependent upon the fabricating mind.

The Fading of Perception

In the chapter on the Fading of Perception Burbea makes the point  that as perception is dependent on clinging so the less we cling perceptions begin to fade and dissolve. That is, as in the case of feeling, the less we are attached to something the intensity of the perception in relation to it is diminished. And as we know we only cling to what we think is real. So through the practices in relation to the three lakkhanas we undermine our ignorant beliefs that phenomena are permanent, capable of providing satisfaction and substantial. As the “belief” in something is undermined so it looms less large for us in our experience. An object that might in the past have given rise to strong craving or aversion is now viewed with “holy disinterest” and because of, and consequently, it is experienced less strongly. If we continue along this continuum in meditation we will find that the forming of objects in our minds eye begins to reduce until the point that they do not form at all. Leaving a “blank screen”. As Burbea says “when the view releases clinging ..the experience of that object begins to soften, blur and fade away.” (p249).He goes on to say:

At the extremity of the more subtle end of the continuum, in a moment when clinging, identification and grasping at inherent existence are pacified there is the cessation of perception – the phenomena of the six senses do not appear at all. The Buddha stressed the importance of such cessation many times:

That dimension should be experienced where the eye [vision] ceases and the perception of form fades away. That dimension should be experienced where the ear ceases and the perception of sound fades away. That dimension should be experienced where the nose ceases and the perception of aroma fades away. That dimension should be experienced where the tongue ceases and the perception of flavor fades away. That dimension should be experienced where the body ceases and the perception of tactile sensation fades away. That dimension should be experienced where the mind ceases and the perception of mental phenomena fades away. 

(SN35:117)

Through letting go of clinging more and more totally and deeply the world of experience fades and ceases; and seeing and understanding this is of great significance .(Burbea:2014:251)

He goes on to say:

The dying down of the mind’s push and pull with respect to phenomena – does not reveal a world of things in their pristine “bare actuality” “just as they are”, stripped only of the distortions of ego projections and gross papanca. Rather we see that phenomena do not appear at all. Not only how they appear, but that they appear is dependent on the fabricating conditions of clinging....The fading of perception implies that the thing-ness of things is dependent upon the perceiving minds clinging. We begin to realize that things do not have any existence as “this” or “that” independent of the mind 

(Burbea, 2014:252-253).

Cessation – the unfabricated, the fruit of arahantship - Nibbana

In Paper 1 we posed the question as to why the Buddha seemingly confined himself to teaching “only” the conditions whereby suffering arises and ceases? Was it perhaps that the 12 nidānas are actually more encompassing than we usually comprehend? And we quoted from following exchange between a deva and the Buddha:

Is it possible, lord, by travelling, to know or see or reach a far end of the world where one does not take birth, age, die, pass away or reappear?[i.e reach the end of suffering]

To which the Buddha replies:

I tell you, friend, that it is not possible by travelling to know or see or reach a far end of the world where one does not take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear....

But at the same time, I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering without reaching the end of the world. Yet it is just within this fathom-long carcase, with its perception and mind, that I declare that there is the world, the origination of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the world.

(SN1.62 –Rohitassa Sutta)

We noted that the Buddha is clearly pointing to the fact that “the world” arises with the senses. That “self” and “world” co arise and with them dukkha  In setting out the 12 nidānas the Buddha is seeking to explain how the whole mass of suffering arises and that the delusions of “self” “world” “ existence” are what create and perpetuate that suffering. Hence cessation of suffering is co extensive with cessation of “self” and “world.” (This interpretation is clearly bourne out in the Loka Sutta as set out at Appendix 1)

Bhikkhu Bodhi the translator of the Samyutta Nikaya in which this passage appears seeks to explain it:

The world with which the Buddha’s teaching is principally concerned is “the world of experience” and even the “objective” world is of interest only to the extent that it serves as the necessary “external” condition for experience. The world is identified with the six sense bases because the latter are the necessary “internal” condition for experience and hence and thus for the presence of a world. As long as the six sense bases persist a world will always be spread out before us as the objective range of perception and cognition. Thus one cannot reach the end of the world by travelling, for wherever one goes one inevitably brings along the six sense bases, which necessarily disclose a world extended on all sides.  Nevertheless by reversing the direction of the search it is possible to reach the end of the world. For if the world ultimately stems from the six sense bases, then by bringing an end to the sense bases it is possible to arrive at the end of the world. 

(SN page 394, note 182).

This brings us back to consideration of the 12 links in terms of the cessation of the conditions which give rise to suffering.

With the remainderless fading and cessation of ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications.
From the cessation of fabrications comes the cessation of consciousness. 
From the cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of name-and-form. 
From the cessation of name-and-form comes the cessation of the six sense bases. 
From the cessation of the six sense bases comes the cessation of contact. 
From the cessation of contact comes the cessation of feeling. 
From the cessation of feeling comes the cessation of craving. 
From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging. 
From the cessation of clinging comes the cessation of becoming. 
From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. 
From the cessation of birth, aging ,death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair all cease. 
Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering.

(AN10.92)

Rob Burbea comments on the cessation sequence as follows:

The words above are not describing a kind of comatose state of utter oblivion, total unconsciousness. Yet nor are they pointing merely to a fading and ceasing of only the grosser manifestations of self and papanca. Phrases such as “cessation of consciousness”, “cessation of namarupa”, and “cessation of vedana” clearly indicate something more than a cessation of only the grosser distortions of consciousness, namarupa, contact etc. What the Buddha was describing here is not a state of equanimous objectivity with regard to the things of the world- a state of perceiving things “purely” because the accumulated residues, encrustrations, and biases from the past no longer flow into the present to influence or veil perception. ..Here we have gone beyond what might be termed a “calming of reactivity” and beyond merely a pacification of the extremes of vedena – whether pleasant or unpleasant. Rather, what is being referred to is a complete fading and cessation of all appearances and of all the elements that make up conventional experience – including all six sensory consciousnesses together with all their associated contacts, vedena, perceptions etc. All are utterly transcended”. 

(Burbea, 2014:378-379).

What are we to make of this? In a sense it is probably completely beyond our comprehension. However, we can probably see that it does follow the logic and experience of what was discussed above in terms of the fading of perception. That is as clinging to sense experience, to things, is released so those objects of experience, those perceptions begin to fade to the extent that eventually no phenomena are discernable at all. As craving and clinging is released so perception fades.

As we explored in Paper 6 the whole world of experience arises from the interplay of a consciousness infused with ignorance and nama rupa. As Sirimane said: 

Consciousness is an endless process of identifying itself with name and form i.e. form, feeling , perceptions and volitional activities.... Consciousness arises depending on these. The identifying with name and form is driven by craving, conceit and views 

(Sirimane, 2016:96).

She goes on to say:

Suppose there comes a point at which there is no tendency in the mind to identify with or cling to any of these external or internal signs so that the mind lets go of these through the process of developing insight, at such a point, there would be no “manifestation” of consciousness too

(Sirimane, 2016:96).

When, through the growth of wisdom, craving, conceit and views are undermined, the karmic momentum (i.e. sankharas) which push consciousness on in this process are themselves undermined and become stilled. Consciousness is no longer precipitated into its relationship with name and form (nama rupa). It stops, it ceases and so does name and form and everything that follows from it. The two sheaves of wheat that had been propping one another up collapse. Thereby there is the complete cessation of karmically driven experience. As the Buddha said:

What one intends, what one plans, and what one has a tendency towards -that is a support for the stationing of consciousness. There being a basis, there is a support for the establishing of consciousness. When that consciousness is supported, there is the production of renewed existence in the future. When there is the production of renewed existence in the future, there is future birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. Such is the origination of this entire mass of suffering and stress.

But when one doesn't intend, plan, or have a tendency towards [anything] there is no basis for the stationing of consciousness. There being no basis, there is no support for consciousness. When that consciousness is without support [unestablished] there is no production of renewed existence in the future. When there is no production of renewed existence in the future, there is no future birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering. 

(SN12:38 Cetana Sutta)

Through completely letting go of craving and clinging, consciousness suffused with ignorance, is without support and ceases. Hence the six senses cease.  

At A.IV.173 Sariputta states:

However far the six contact-media go, that is how far objectification goes. However far objectification goes, that is how far the six contact-media go. With the remainderless dispassion-cessation of the six contact media, there comes to be the cessation, the allaying of objectification. 

(A. IV:173 Thanissaro translation)

Thanissaro Bhikkhu suggests that: “The allaying of objectification is experienced by a type of consciousness that, because it lies beyond the dimensions of space and time, is not classified as sensory consciousness under the five aggregates” (Thanissaro 2008:34).

 Bhikkhu Nanananda provides the following explanation:

With the cessation of ignorance, preparations [sankharas] cease and along with them consciousness. The cessation of consciousness is something like a subsidence or appeasement. One might mistake cessation of consciousness to be death itself. That is not the case. It is the cessation of that conditioned or ‘made–up’ (saṅkhata) consciousness. What comes up then is the ‘non-manifestative consciousness’ (anidassana viññāṇa). [That is] a consciousness that is freed from name and form. It is a subsidence or appeasement which Arahants experience. It is within the conditioned consciousness that the worldlings are entrapped and bound 

(Nanananda:1990).

Completely taint free consciousness is freed from its samsaric producing dance with nama rupa. With the complete destruction of ignorance any tendency to seek to grasp or cling on to anything whatsoever has been destroyed. Consequently consciousness has no “place” to land. 

At S.II. 103-104; the Buddha uses the simile of a sunbeam which has no place to land and consequently is not established anywhere.

Because consciousness without surface—unlike dependently co-arisen sensory consciousness—exists outside of time, it does not arise. Because it is known independently of the six sense media, it will not cease when they do. This consciousness provides no footing for any of the causal factors—personal or cosmic—that would lead to any further suffering or stress 

(Thanissaro Bhikkhu, 2008 : 34).

It is a consciousness no longer driven on by saṇkhāras to seek out particular objects of attention and as such it is objectless. Thus it is unsupported and objectless. Nanananda explains what actually happens in the attainment to the fruit of arahant-hood:

The worldling discerns the world around him with the help of six narrow beams of light, namely the six sense-bases. When the superior lustre of wisdom arises, those six sense-bases go down. This cessation of the six sense bases could also be referred to as the cessation of name-and form, nāmarūpanirodha, or the cessation of consciousness, viññāṇanirodha. The cessation of the six sense-bases does not mean that one does not see anything. What one sees then is voidness. It is an in-“sight”. He [the Buddha] gives expression to it with the words suñño loko, "void is the world". What it means is that all the sense objects, which the worldling grasps as real and truly existing, get penetrated through with wisdom and become non-manifest. 

(Nanananda1990;.489).

In his exploration of the issue Nanananda draws our attention to the Udana at the end of Bahiya Sutta:

Where water, earth, fire and air
Do not find a footing,
There the stars do not shine,
And the sun spreads not its lustre,
The moon does not appear resplendent there,
And no darkness is to be found there.
When the sage, the brahmin with wisdom,
Understands by himself,
Then is he freed from form and formless,
And from pleasure and pain as well. 

(Ud1.6)

What the Buddha describes in this verse, is not the place where the Venerable arahant Bāhiya went after his demise, but the non-manifestative consciousness he had realized here and now, in his concentration of the fruit of arahant-hood, or arahattaphalasamādhi. (Nanananda: 1990:482)

Nanananda references back to the Kevaddha Sutta

Where do earth, water, fire, and air no footing find?
Where are long and short, small and great, fair and foul –
Where are “name and form” wholly destroyed?

And the answer is:

Where consciousness is signless, boundless, all luminous. 
Thats where earth, water, fire, and air find no footing
There both long and short, small and great, fair and foul-
There are “name and form” wholly destroyed?
With the cessation of consciousness this is all destroyed.

(D. I. 223; Walshe 1995 :179)

Nanananda translates the first line of the second stanza as:

Where consciousness which is non-manifestative, endless, lustrous on all sides.
It is here that water, earth, fire and air no footing find.

And he goes on to explain:

The first two lines of the verse in the Bāhiyasutta, beginning with the correlative yattha, "where", find an answer in the two lines quoted above from the Kevaḍḍhasutta. What is referred to as "it is here", is obviously the non-manifestative consciousness mentioned in the first two lines. That problematic place indicated by the word yattha, "where", in the Bāhiyasutta, is none other than this non-manifestative consciousness.

But how are we to understand the enigmatic reference to the sun, the moon and the stars? It is said that the stars do not shine in that non-manifestative consciousness, the sun does not spread its lustre and the moon does not appear resplendent in it, nor is there any darkness. How are we to construe all this? Briefly stated, the Buddha's declaration amounts to the revelation that the sun, the moon and the stars fade away before the superior radiance of the non-manifestative consciousness, which is infinite and lustrous on all sides.

The stars, the moon and the sun get superseded by that light of wisdom. Even the forms that one had seen by twilight, moonlight and sunlight fade away and pale into insignificance. The umbra of form and the penumbra of the formless get fully erased. The worldling thinks that one who has eyes must surely see if there is sunshine. He cannot think of anything beyond it. But the Buddha has declared that there is something more radiant than the radiance of the sun. Natthi paññāsamā ābhā, "there is no radiance comparable to wisdom"

The sun, the moon and the stars are not manifest, precisely because of the light of that non-manifestative consciousness. As it is lustrous on all sides, sabbato

pabha, there is no darkness there and luminaries like the stars, the sun and the moon do not shine there. It is in order to indicate the luminosity of this mind that the Buddha used those peculiar expressions in this verse of uplift 

(Nanananda: 1990:482)

What are we to make of this? Clearly for most or all of us what is being described is probably beyond our personal experience but maybe we can make a number of observations. What Nanananda is alluding to is the state of samadhientered into following the complete cessation of the six sense bases by one who has destroyed the asavas and attained to Arahanship. This is what he refers to as the arahattaphalasamādhi. In a passage in the Anguttara Nikaya the Buddha describes to his disciple Sandha a samadhi  which is not based on any of the elements of the conditioned but which is a samadhi:

Here Sandha, where for an excellent thoroughbred of a man the perception of earth with regard to earth has ceased to exist; the perception of liquid with regard to liquid... the perception of fire with regard to fire... the perception of wind with regard to wind... the perception of the sphere of the infinitude of space with regard to the sphere of the infinitude of space... the perception of the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness with regard to the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness... the perception of the sphere of nothingness with regard to the sphere of nothingness... the perception of the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception with regard to the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception... the perception of this world with regard to this world... the next world with regard to the next world... and whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, or pondered by the intellect: the perception of that has ceased to exist.

Absorbed in this way, the excellent thoroughbred of a man is absorbed dependent neither on earth, liquid, fire, wind, the sphere of the infinitude of space, the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness, the sphere of nothingness, the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, this world, the next world, nor on whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, or pondered by the intellect — and yet he is absorbed.  

(AN11.10)

What is he absorbed in? The answer would appear to be Nibbāna.

This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is the stilling of all formations, the relinquishment of all attachments [clinging], the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbana.

(MN 1 436)

Harvey suggests that:

Nibbāna during life is contrary to the generally accepted interpretation, not the ever present liberated state of the Arahant, but a transcendent experience in which all temporal phenomena drop away. Here the personality factors are temporarily subject to nirodha or “stopping”, a prelude to their final stopping at the death of an Arahat 

(Harvey, 1995:180).

He suggests that the Arahant, once having attained the nibbānic state, may re-enter it as he chooses while alive [which Nanananda describes as the arahant phala Samadhi]. Gethin supports this view asserting the Pali term nibbāna is a verb rather than a noun. Thus rather than attaining nibbāna one “nibbānas” (Gethin, 1998:75). Consequently “it is not a “thing” but an event or experience” (p75). And, like Harvey, he suggests that the Arahant does not remain in some transcendental state but continues to function in the world, albeit completely free from the defilements of greed, hatred and delusion. This interpretation is consistent with the Buddha who in the Shorter Discourse on Voidness said to Ananda that “I often abide in voidness” (MN 121). In a note on this statement Bhikkhu Bodhi states “that this refers to the fruition attainment of voidness, the fruition attainment of arahantship that is entered by focusing on the void aspect of Nibbana” (Bodhi 1995:note 1137p1328). In another of the Suttas the Buddha says that although he had been meditating in a location where subsequent to his entering meditation there was apparently a considerable commotion, he heard no sound. This would be consistent with one whose senses have dropped away.

The main significance of this cessation experience is that it is where “the snag” between consciousness and nama rupagets cut following which all the “manifestations” which usually  arise from the unawakened (ignorant) operation of intention ,attention, feeling, perception and contact are no longer able to do so. Put another way, when the Arahant comes out of nirodha his/her senses are still functioning but they are no longer infused with ignorance. What is experienced is free from any sense of identification and everything, including dukkha that follows from that. This is well illustrated in MN1 – the Roots of Existence where the Buddha contrasts the experience of a Buddha or an Arahant with a worldly person.

There is the case, monks, where an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person — who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for men of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma — perceives earth as earth. Perceiving earth as earth, he conceives [things] about earth, he conceives [things] in earth, he conceives [things] coming out of earth, he conceives earth as 'mine,' he delights in earth. Why is that? Because he has not comprehended it, I tell you.

[And so on through all the elements, all the gods, the formless spheres, the seen, the heard, the sensed, the cognized, unity, diversity, the all and finally...] 

He perceives Nibbana as Nibbana. Perceiving Nibbana as Nibbana, he conceives things about Nibbana, he conceives things in Nibbana, he conceives things coming out of Nibbana, he conceives Nibbana as 'mine,' he delights in Nibbana. Why is that? Because he has not comprehended it, I tell you.

The Buddha contrasts this with the Arahant:

A monk who is a Worthy One, devoid of mental fermentations — who has attained completion, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the fetters of becoming, and is released through right knowledge — directly knows earth as earth. Directly knowing earth as earth, he does not conceive things about earth, does not conceive things in earth, does not conceive things coming out of earth, does not conceive earth as 'mine,' does not delight in earth. Why is that? Because he has comprehended it, I tell you.

From a perception infused with ignorance the worldling begins conceiving in terms me, mine self, world and forming views around those things. And they do this because their desire for, their clinging for existence is so strong together with the desire to establish control and security. So they take the earth sensations not only as earth sensations but as a “sign” of something else as well i.e. something involving “me” and “my” significance in the world. This is the whole round of dukkha which has been broken by the Arahant.  Bhikkhu Bodhi explains further:

The Arahant no longer conceives anything in any way. He does not conceive the datum, he does not conceive in the datum, he does not conceive from the datum, he does not conceive the datum as “mine”. This does not mean that the Arahant has ceased to cognize. His cognitive apparatus continues to function with full efficiency even more subtle and sensitive than it was prior to his attainment. But now it simply registers the impinging phenomena as they appear, without distortion or falsification. The Arahant no longer sees pleasant objects as attractive, for he is free from lust; he no longer sees unpleasant objects as repulsive, for he is free from hatred; he no longer sees neutral objects as confusing, for he is free from delusion. He does not add and he does not take away. Whatever presents itself, presents itself just as it is. It is seen in its bare actuality shorn of all embellishments and conceptual proliferations. 

(Bodhi 2006:21)

Probably for most of us the notion of the cessation of sense experience is incomprehensible and certainly, given our largely nihilistic conditioning, we have a notion, conscious or otherwise, of this being “lights out” “the end” disappearing down a black hole. No wonder moving practice in the direction of cessation is a hard sell. Hopefully however, the exploration of the foregoing will have clarified a number of things:

• that in the sequence of the cessation of the 12 nidanas cessation of the sense spheres really means their cessation, their stopping;
• that this arises from the complete release of clinging to any sense experience whatsoever;*
• that the release of clinging arises from disenchantment with and hence dispassion towards sense experience; 
• that the cessation of sense experience is not “death” but rather the gateway to the deathless;
• that the Arahant “returns” (though he never actually “went” anywhere) and he is able to function “in the world”;
• that what becomes of the Arahant at the breakup of the physical body remains one of the unanswered questions;

an obvious danger would be to conceive of the liberated unmanifest consciousness as “our” liberated consciousness...so long as one conceives in those terms one is still bound in to the samsaric cycle of the 12 nidanas.

* clinging can manifest in very subtle ways such the faintest barely conscious assumption of a subject and an object in higher arupa meditation

Cessation in the Mahayana

It is perhaps worth noting that the notion of cessation of the six sense spheres is not confined to Early Buddhism but is found in the teachings of the Mahayana. In the Introduction to the Middle Way – Chandrakirti sets out the complete path to Buddhahood traversed by the trainee Bodhisattva through the ten bhumis (grounds or stages of realization).

The seventh ground is “Far Progressed” and the one verse in relation to it is as follows:

On Far Progressed, the Bodhisattvas
Can at any instant enter and embrace cessation
And gain the bright perfection of skilful means
The eighth ground is “Immovable”
The Great Ones enter Immovable, acquiring irreversibility
Their aspirations now are utterly immaculate
And from cessation they are roused by Buddhas. (Verse 1)

Samsara is now stopped, yet thanks to the ten powers that they have gained,
They show themselves in various ways to those who wander in the world. (Verse 3)

In his commentary Mipham states that at the eighth ground the “Bodhisattvas attain primal wisdom beyond effort, which has the same taste or nature as cessation, and thanks, to the teacher and their own compassion they do not remain in cessation” (p327).

The eleventh ground is the Ultimate Ground of Buddhahood
The tinder of phenomena is all consumed
And this is peace, the dharmakaya of the Conquerors.
There is no origin and no cessation
The mind is stopped the kaya manifests (Verse 17).

This peaceful kaya, radiant like the wish fulfilling tree
Is like the wishing jewel that without forethought lavishes
The riches of the world on beings until they gain enlightenment.
It is perceived by those who are beyond conceptual construction (Verse 18).

Mipham – 

the mind and mental factors come to a halt, for these are part and parcel of samsaric existence. If the mind did not come to a halt, wisdom, wherein subject and object are united in the same taste, could not manifest. By contrast, it is by halting the mind completely that the wisdom body is actualized. Therefore the root verse says that when the mind comes to a stop, the sambhoghakaya actualises the wisdom kaya 

(p339).

So like the Arahant the Bodhisattva “comes back”. He has not been anywhere, though through the cessation of the six sense spheres, entered cessation wherein the delusional aspects of duality have been destroyed. The non dual awareness of a Bodhisattva is often called the “wisdom mind” and it seems likely it is alluding to the same phenomenon as “unmanifestive  consciousness”. 

Appendix

Loka Sutta: The World ( SN 12.44) 

translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Dwelling at Savatthi. There the Blessed One addressed the monks: "I will teach you the origination of the world and the ending of the world. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," the monks responded to the Blessed One.

The Blessed One said: "And what is the origination of the world? Dependent on the eye and forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming*. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

"Dependent on the ear and sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the nose and aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the tongue and flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the body and tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the intellect & mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

"And what is the ending of the world? Dependent on the eye and forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. Now, from the remainderless cessation and fading away of that very craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress and suffering. This is the ending of the world.

"Dependent on the ear and sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the nose and aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the tongue and flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the body and tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact... Dependent on the intellect & mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. Now, from the remainderless cessation and fading away of that very craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering. This is the ending of the world."

* Bhikkhu Bodhi in his version translates “becoming” as “existence”

Bibliography

Bodhi Bhikkhu, 2000 –The Connected Discourses of the Buddha  - Saṃyutta Nikāya– Wisdom Publications

Bodhi Bhikkhu, 2006 – The Discourse on the Root of Existence – The Mulapariyayasutta and its Commentaries - BPS

Burbea, Rob 2014 – Seeing that Frees – Meditations on Emptiness and Dependent Arising – Hermes Amara

Chandrakirti and Mipham –- Introduction to the Middle Way: Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatra - Boston Shambala 2002

Gethin, R.,1998-  The Foundations of Buddhism -  Oxford University Press

Harvey, P., 1995 - The Selfless Mind- Routledge Curzon

Nanananda, Bhikkhu, 2013 – The Law of Dependent Arising (Paṭicca Samuppāda) -

The Secret of Bondage and Release - P.D.D.M.B (Kandy) (available in PDF)???

Nanananda, Bhikkhu, 1990 – Nibbana: The Mind Stilled - P.D.D.M.B (Kandy) (available in PDF)

Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu, 1995 - The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha – MajjhimaNikāya  - Wisdom Publications 

Sirimane, 2016 - Entering the Stream to Enlightenment – Equinox Publications

Thanissarro, Bhikkhu – The Shape of Suffering – A Study of Dependent Co –Arising -2008 

http://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/DependentCo-arising.pdf

Thanissarro, Bhikkhu – Loka Sutta - https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.044.than.html