Anyone know which sutta he's referring to, here?Ānanda and another monk had been debating about the nature of the deathless state and they decided to consult the Buddha. They wanted to know: “What is the nature of deathlessness?” They prepared themselves for a long, expansive explanation. But the Buddha’s response was brief and succinct. He replied, “The cessation of grasping is deathlessness.” [p. 45 in the pdf]
I'm curious to know how this book has been received. I've found very little critical commentary of it, but I was quite surprised by his presentation of the Bahiya sutta as an ontological teaching rather than as an advanced practice instruction. (E.g., on p. 46, he has the Buddha saying "In the seen, there is only the seen," when the translation I'm familiar with has "...you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen.") I'm about a third of the way through the book, and so far I've found very little of practical value in it. (Trying to decide whether to participate in a discussion group focused on the book. So far I'm thinking I shouldn't because something I disagree with seems to come up on every page. I'm enjoying his description of the deathless, but that may be because the deathless is relatively alien to me.)