A3. These days some say that the Buddha, although having attained absolute nibbana, is still existing and that they had entered his audience and offered him food. One should consider the passage in the Tipitaka in the Samyuttanikaya Salayatanavagga Phaggunasutta 99 and its explanation in the Summary of the Paramattha-dhamma by Sujin Boriharnwanaket.

The Reverend Phagguna entered the audience of the Buddha and asked whether after the Buddha had attained the parinibbana he would still have eyes, ears, a nose, a tongue, bodysense and a mind.

The Buddha said, "Behold Phagguna, when a person speaks of the eyes of the Buddha, with all obstructing tanha eradicated, the path cut, vatta controlled, and all dukkha transcended, after he has attained parinibbana, those eyes would no longer exist, etc.. When a person speaks of the mind of the Buddha, with all obstructing tanha eradicated, the path cut, vatta controlled, and all dukkha transcended, after he has attained the parinibbana, that mind would no longer exist."

After parinibbana there are no more eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense or mind. After parinibbana one does not go to a place to preside over merit-making ceremonies, in which case it would not be beyond the world because there would still be eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind that arise and fall away, there would still be dukkha, not beyond it.