&gt;Therefore, as long as the body doesn&#x27;t decay, the cycle doesn&#x27;t repeat and that&#x27;s the achievement.<p>As far as I know, this is false. The cycle stops repeating when one has reached enlightenment; to my knowledge, what happens after that point is irrelevant - one can&#x27;t go back from enlightenment, and certainly not due to the body decaying (which is a major topic of Buddhist meditation anyway).<p>Is there any Pali canon source (I&#x27;m only interested in Theravada) that backs up the concept of no decay = no rebirth?<p>This idea, known in the text as annihilationism, was rejected by the Buddha as far as I know.