Success through self-reliance 

He woke up, however, and it was then that he began to think: “All these days I have been trying to learn from others, and do what other people do. I had ignored my own qualifications (pāramitā) that I had earned, through the infinite  sacrifices I had made, during my journey through the endless chain of births and deaths (saηsāra). Thinking this way, he recalled how he entered the first ecstasy (jhāna) as a child, not by learning from another but by an inborn tendency. Then he thought: “Now I will begin to follow my natural inclination to let go of everything.” So he let go of all his lust, hate, and delusions, and automatically entered the first ecstasy (jhāna), then by gradually letting go in degrees he entered the second ecstasy, then the third, then the fourth, then the realm of infinite space, the realm of infinite perception, the realm of nothingness, the realm of neither sensation nor no sensation, and then the cessation of all sensation and feeling. 
This last stage called cessation of sensation and feeling (saññā vedayita nirodha) was the ultimate level in the reduction of the cognitive experience. There was no level further than this. This is the complete disappearance of the cognitive experience. It is the absence of all experience. This level is the level of absolute unconsciousness (avijjā). At this level the physical activity of metabolism (āyu sankhāra) is present, along with the temperature of the body (ushna), but no mental activity of any kind is present. It is similar to the state called hibernation that is found in the lives of some animals like the bear. These animals remain in a dormant state, alive but unconscious, during the cold winter, but wake up from that state during the spring. 
This state which is called the cessation of sensation and feeling (saññā vedayita nirodha), which is similar to the state called hibernation, is often misunderstood as the experience of Nibbāna (Nirvana). This is a common misunderstanding. The real meaning of the experience of Nibbāna (Nirvana) will be explained in due course.