Numbered Discourses 9.52

6. A Safe Place

A Safe Place

“Friend, they speak of ‘a safe place’. In what way did the Buddha speak of a safe place?”

“First, take a bhikkhu who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures … enters and remains in the first jhāna. To this extent the Buddha spoke of a safe place in a qualified sense. …

Furthermore, take a bhikkhu who, going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, enters and remains in the cessation of perception and feeling. And, having seen with wisdom, their defilements come to an end. To this extent the Buddha spoke of a safe place in a definitive sense.”