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

NOTES
6 SN IV 251–2.
7 The Chinese equivalent (SA: TD2 126b) of the NibbAnasutta answers differently:
‘The cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred, the cessation of delusion and
the cessation of cankers (Asavas)’.
8 According to Ñyaoamoli (1992: 61), ‘But how? Is the meaning according to this
sutta [literally] so?’
9 According to the MElaMika, ‘this means that the meaning is explicit (nCto attho) in
just the words of the sutta’ (Ñyaoamoti 1992: 66, note added by L. S. Cousins).
10 SN IV p. 252, SA (TD2 126b–c).
11 lañca BUCD, lañcha PTS.
12 The name of the sutta is not mentioned here.
13 Here the locative case was used to explain nirvana. A similar position appeared
in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya as a position of the Sarvastivada-Vaibhalikas
insisting that nirvana is non-appearance and exists separately from mere cessation:
‘because it does not appear in that, it is non-appearance’, Akb-h p. 94.
14 See Chapter 4, note 164.
15 MV (TD27 167b–168b, TK 32 19–25). This translation is helped tremendously by
Louis de La Vallée Poussin’s French translation (La Vallée Poussin 1930: 24–8).
16 Jp (TD26 923b).
17 Here ci-lun ( ) means the JñAnaprasthAna. The word ben-lun ( ) is used to
designate the MahAvibhALAUAstra.
18 Jp (TD26 923b). In the MahAvibhALAUAstra, extinction through knowledge was
further interpreted as: That is to say, it is the extinction of dharmas which is also
attaining disjunction (visaNyoga), the acquisition of disjunction (visaNyogaprApti).
That is why it is called extinction through knowledge. In the AbhidharmakoUabhALya,
extinction through knowledge is defined as disjunction from impure dharmas
(yaP sAsravair dharmair visaNyogaP sa pratisaNkhyAnirodhaP, Akb-d p. 4, Akb-p
p. 4).
For the Sarvastivada-Vaibhalikas, all dharmas exist as real existents in the
three time periods. Thus, extinction could not mean that a certain impure dharma
is actually destroyed. In this system, attaining a certain impure dharma does not
mean that one, as a subject, possesses that impure dharma, as a object, but means
that there is the arising of the acquisition (prApti) of that dharma in one’s series
(saNtAna). Once there occurs the acquisition of the dharma, it renews its existence
and continues its activity within the series until this acquisition is eliminated
from the series. Since it is impossible to destroy this impure dharma, the elimination
is referred to as a ‘separation’ from the series. That is to say, the acquisition
of the defilement is negated, or technically ‘disjoined’ (visaNyoga), through the
power of knowledge which terminates the junction between that impure dharmas
and the series of aggregates. ‘Attaining the acquisition of disjunction
(visaNyogaprApti)’ mentioned in the interpretation in the MahAvibhALAUAstra is
regarded as the final step of this process. By reason of separating a certain
dharma from one’s series, there is the arising of ‘the acquisition of disjunction’
from the dharma within the series and it serves as antidote ( pratipakLa) through
which the junction between that dharma and one’s series is forever prevented.
The respective activities of these two steps are compared to that of throwing out
a thief and closing the door or catching an insect in a jar and plugging the jar’s
mouth (Cox 1995: 89–92).
19 For the Sarvastivadins, each dharma is unique as it is classified in terms of its
intrinsic nature (svabhAva). Dharmas are classified under the five categories called
pañcavastuka, and enumerated as seventy-five later in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya.
Extinction through knowledge is one of three dharmas belonging to the
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