ABSTRACT
In this paper I seek to investigate central descriptions of mystical experience in the suttas of the Pāli Canon. This literature clearly concerns itself with forms of mystical experience and the path which leads to them. Though mysticism can also exist in a doctrinal form, not much is said on this matter. The Pāli suttas represent, in general, an early phase in the development of Buddhism and only contain hints at what doctrines might best fit their descriptions of the higher forms of mystical experience, especially those pertaining to nibbāna.
