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SELECTED SOURCES FOR THE NIRVANA CONCEPT SELECTED SOURCES FOR THE NIRVANA CONCEPT AND THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY The unconditioned element (asankhata dhAtu) in the SammohavinodanC 1 And when it is said in the exposition of the mental sphere 2 that ‘what is here the unconditioned element? It is the cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred, and the cessation of delusion’, 3 this means that the unconditioned element is nibbAna whose intrinsic nature is unconditioned. But because passion etc. cease on coming to this [nibbAna], 4 it is said that ‘it is the cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred, and the cessation of delusion’. This is the teachers’ 5 common explanation of this matter. But a disputant (Vitaosavadin) has said: ‘There isn’t anything existing separately called nibbana. NibbAna is just the cessation of the defilements.’ And when he is asked to quote a sutta, he quotes the JambukhAdaka-sutta: 6 ‘It is said, o friens Sariputta, nibbAna, nibbAna. Then what is indeed, o friend, nibbAna? The cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred, and the cessation of delusion, o friend, that is indeed called nibbAna’, 7 and says ‘Through this sutta it should be understood that there isn’t anything existing separately called nibbana. NibbAna is just the cessation of the defilements.’ He should be asked ‘But is there meaning as there is this sutta?’ 8 Surely he will say, ‘Yes, there is no meaning apart from a sutta’. 9 Then, he should be asked ‘Now you have quoted this sutta. Quote the next sutta.’ ‘The next sutta 10 says that “It is said, o friend Sariputta, sainthood (arahant), sainthood. Then what is indeed, o friend, sainthood? The cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred, and the cessation of delusion, o friend, that is indeed called arahatship”.’ This is the sutta immediately following. But when this one has been cited, they say to him that ‘The dhamma called nibbAna is a dhamma that is included in the mental sphere. Sainthood is the four [mental] aggregates. The general of the dhamma, Sariputta. who had witnessed nibbAna and dwelt there, when asked about nibbAna and about sainthood, said that it is just the cessation of the defilements. But are nibbAna and sainthood the same thing or different things?’ 115
ANNOTATED TRANSLATIONS OF THE RELATED TEXTS ‘Let it be the same or different. What is the use of your grinding so exceedingly fine?’ ‘You don’t know whether it is the same or different.’ ‘But surely it is good if that is known!’ Being repeatedly asked such questions, he is unable to play tricks and says ‘Sainthood is called the destruction of passion, hatred, and delusion because it arises at the end of the cessation of passion etc.’ Then to him they say ‘You have done a great work. Even by giving a bribe 11 one is getting you to say, he would get you to say just this. And just as you have said this by making a distinction, so you should notice this [next remark]. NibbAna is said to be the cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred, and the cessation of delusion, because passion etc. ceases on coming to nibbana. All these three are terms for nibbana alone.’ [The refutation continues in this form on the following subjects: ‘plurality of nibbAna’, ‘grossness’, ‘Change of Lineage (gotrabhE)’ and ‘the Noble Eightfold Path’, and finally the disputant (Vitaosavadin) asked the kernel of the problem.] This has been said, he (the disputant) says: ‘You say “on coming to, on coming to”. From where have you got this [word] called on coming to?’ ‘It is taken from a sutta.’ 12 ‘Quote the sutta.’ ‘Thus ignorance and craving, on coming to this, are destroyed in this, 13 are abolished in this, nor do they do anything anywhere.’ 14 When this was said, the other speaker (the disputant) became silent. The exegesis of the two nirvana theory in the MahAvibhALAUAstra 15 Introductory comment According to the early canon (sEtra), there are two nirvana elements: nirvana with a remainder of clinging (sopadhiUeLanirvAOadhAtu) and nirvana without a remainder of clinging (nirupadhiUeLanirvAOadhAtu) and so on. 16 Question: Why is this discourse composed [by the author of the JñAnaprasthAna]? Answer: It is to clarify the complete meaning of the early canon (sEtra). Although the early canon (sEtras) says that there are two nirvana elements: nirvana with a remainder of clinging and nirvana without a remainder of clinging, it does not fully explain their meaning. Thus, ‘what is nirvana with a remainder of clinging?’ and ‘what is nirvana without a remainder of clinging?’ were fundamental questions for that treatise. 17 Since they are not clarified [in the early canon], they are explained [in the JñAnaprasthAna]. Alternatively, we have seen above [in the JñAnaprasthAna] that ‘what is extinction through knowledge (pratisaNkhyAnirodha)? It is all extinction which is disjunction (visaNyoga).’ 18 Although this disjunction is nirvana, nirvana is of two kinds: with a remainder of clinging (sopadhiUeLa) and 116
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METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM
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TEACHING BUDDHISM IN THE WEST Edite
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METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM
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FOR DONGJE MY ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE D
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CONTENTS List of figures and tables
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PREFACE I am glad to be able to tha
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ABBREVIATIONS The abbreviations for
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ABBREVIATIONS RV Rgveda. SA SaNyukt
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INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION In the Ab
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INTRODUCTION to reach it was descri
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INTRODUCTION two nirvana theory in
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE Part 1 TH
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE 1 NIRVANA
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE early Bud
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE original
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THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY IN THE EARLY
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DEVELOPMENTS OF THE TWO NIRVANA THE
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NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST
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Page 82 and 83: NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST
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Page 122 and 123: Table 5.4 Summary of the doctrinal
Page 124 and 125: CONCLUSION The term anAgAmin was of
Page 126 and 127: CONCLUSION passion, hatred and delu
Page 128 and 129: CONCLUSION The Sautrantikas probabl
Page 130 and 131: SELECTED SOURCES FOR THE NIRVANA CO
Page 144 and 145: NOTES Indians; and also because we
Page 146 and 147: NOTES 13 Huzita (1988: 8). 14 La Va
Page 148 and 149: NOTES 70 See Dutt (1960: 252-71), L
Page 150 and 151: NOTES 146 Akanuma (1929: 126). 147
Page 152 and 153: NOTES 39 yaP sAsravair dharmair vis
Page 154 and 155: NOTES 5 Harvey (1990: 66-7). 6 DN I
Page 156 and 157: NOTES 65 Tr. Norman (1992: 120): ac
Page 158 and 159: NOTES 132 Bareau (1955: 285). 133 B
Page 160 and 161: NOTES 15 Life faculty is one of the
Page 162 and 163: NOTES 77 Akb-h pp. 67-8. 78 Accordi
Page 164 and 165: NOTES 149 SA (TD2 57c8), SN IV 109.
Page 166 and 167: NOTES 6 SN IV 251-2. 7 The Chinese
Page 168 and 169: NOTES (1969: 378-82), which was mad
Page 170 and 171: BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY S
Page 172 and 173: BIBLIOGRAPHY SECONDARY SOURCES Adik
Page 174 and 175: BIBLIOGRAPHY Pasadika, Bhikkhu (198
Page 176 and 177: faculty see indriya fetters see saN
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