The Recognition of Release (Paṭinissaggasaññā)
Dry up what was before.
May there be nothing after.
If you do not grasp anything in the middle,
You will wander calmed.
— Suttanipāta 5.11, Jatukaṇṇimāṇavapucchā
Like all of the developmental qualities of the path, the recognition of release is progressive, becoming more and more effective and subtle as our practice develops. In the process of the development of discernment, the recognition of release follows naturally after the recognition of impermanence, the recognition of dispassion, and the recognition of cessation. For example, MN 37 Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhaya:
Here, ruler of gods, a monk has heard that, ‘All things are unworthy of attachment.’ When a monk has heard that, ‘All things are unworthy of attachment,’ he directly knows every thing. Having directly known every thing, he fully understands every thing. Having fully understood every thing, whatever feeling he feels, whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, he remains contemplating the impermanence of those feelings, contemplating dispassion, contemplating cessation, contemplating release. Contemplating thus, he does not cling to anything in this world. Not clinging, he is not excited. Unexcited, he personally attains complete nibbāna. He discerns that, ‘Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, done is what had to be done, there is nothing further here.’
The recognition of release involves letting go (vossagga), which is also the result of the seven factors of awakening. Thus, the standard refrain we’ve seen repeated for each of the factors of awakening: “Dependent upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, resulting in letting go,” is directly related to the recognition of release. Dhammapada 89:
Those whose mind is thoroughly well-developed
In the factors of awakening,
Who release grasping,
Enjoy non-clinging,
—Brilliant, free of outflows—
They, in the world, have completely gone out.
The fruition of the path is to be cooled (sītibhūta), satisfied (nicchāta), completely gone out (parinibbuta) here and now.
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