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

THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA
The Sautrantikas were among the most enthusiastic to utilise this change.
In fact they applied it to their definition of nirvana: ‘the extinction through
knowledge is that, when latent defilements (anuUaya) and life ( janman) that
have already been produced are extinguished, non-arising of further by the
power of knowledge (pratisaNkhyA)’. 20 Their interpretation of the state of
nirvana, or the state of the TathAgata after death, was negative: for them,
nirvana is not a real existent (dravyasat) but a mere designation (prajñaptisat),
something spoken of conventionally, and is ‘non-existence succeeding existence’
(paUcAdabhAva), like a sound that is non-existent before and will be
non-existent after its occurrence. 21
Although their definition of nirvana agrees with their ontological position,
it is far away from its original definition: the cessation of the triple fires
of passion, hatred and delusion. However, their understanding of ‘with a
remainder of clinging’, the core of interpreting the two nirvana theory, came
close to what we have seen in the metaphorical structure of nirvana in the
early canon (sEtra).
While the Theravadin interpretation seems to retain its metaphorical usage,
the ‘fuel’ of a fire underlining the five aggregates, the Sarvastivadin interpretation
seems to be the outcome of their systematisation. Vitality (Ayu)
first appeared in one of their seven abhidharma texts, the JñAnaprasthAna. 22
Vitality (Ayu) seems to have been used first in the context of nirvana without
a remainder of clinging and only then applied to nirvana with a remainder
of clinging. Later in the MahAvibhALAUAstra, it was interpreted as both the
life faculty ( jCvitendriya) and the homogeneous character of the group
(nikAyasabhAga), purely due to their abhidharmic systematisation. 23
The possible position of the Sautrantikas can be deduced from their criticism
of both the life faculty ( jCvitendriya) and homogeneous character
(sabhAgatA). The former was interpreted as a name given to the momentum
(Avedha) initiated by action (karma) in the series of aggregates at the moment
of conception, while the existence of the latter was denied. Although this
interpretation came from the Sautrantikas’ criticism based on their ontological
perspective, their reference for the word upadhi, the momentum of a
series of aggregates, could at least come close to its metaphorical reference:
the five aggregates.
Because the Buddha was silent on the question of the state of the TathAgata
after death, we cannot say whether their negative interpretation of nirvana
really represents the intention of the Buddha seen in the early canon (sEtra).
However, their use of the image of a fire extinguished, as in Anuruddha’s
last stanza, did agree with what was said in the dialogue between the Buddha
and Vacchagotta. That is to say, they did not accept the existence of a
separate dharma behind the lamp’s going out. In this respect, their understanding
of the image of a fire extinguished could be a lot closer to its
original meaning within the early canon (sEtra) than the Sarvastivadin understanding,
which was almost like the UpaniLadic image of a fire extinguished.
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