Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The ... - misterdanger.net

THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA
6
CONCLUSION
We have traced the early doctrinal history of the nirvana concept and the
two nirvana theory that depended on the image of a fire extinguished, while
challenging two seemingly solid opinions that seem to be outcomes of the
lack of comprehensive understanding of nirvana and its metaphorical structure.
The first opinion was related closely to the interpretation of nirvana
with a remainder of clinging, while the second opinion was associated with
the state of nirvana without a remainder of clinging, the state of the TathAgata
after death.
First, what clinging (upAdi/upadhi) refers to is supposed to differentiate
between nirvana with a remainder of clinging (sa-upAdisesanibbAnadhAtu/
sopadhiUeLanirvAOadhAtu) and nirvana without a remainder of clinging
(anupAdisesanibbAnadhAtu/nir/an-upadhiUeLanirvAOadhAtu), yet ‘attachment’,
the generally accepted reference of the word, could not make that distinction,
because there is no more attachment or defilement left in either nirvana
during life or nirvana at death.
Although there is little trace left in the early canon, this problem can be
solved if we consider ‘fuel’, the objective meaning of the word upAdi or
upadhi, which seems to have been used to refer to the five aggregates in a
metaphorical structure that embraces Enlightenment and its opposite. 1
However, if we simply assemble quotations we may easily arrive at a
different conclusion: 2 nirvana with a remainder of clinging could not originally
mean enlightenment or sainthood (arahant), but meant non-returner
(anAgAmin), a state in which there still were some attachments left
(saupAdisesa) to be perfected, and as a consequence the two nirvana theory
was initially referred to the state of non-returner and saint. Not only did this
confusion occur among modern scholars; it had already been recorded in
one of the sEtras in the Chinese Ekottara-Agama. 3 Although it is not yet
clear whether this sEtra was accepted within the mainstream Buddhist schools,
this sEtra seems to be the earliest sign of unintentional literalism even within
the early canon (sEtra).
The close relationship between the non-returner and the saint (arahant)
could be another example of the Buddhist reaction against the UpaniLad.
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