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

THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA
forest and nir means escape. As it is the escape from the forest of
the aggregates, it is called nirvana. VAna means weaving and nir
means negation. As there is no weaving, it is called nirvana. In a
way that one with thread can easily be woven while one without
that cannot be woven, in that way one with action (karma) and
defilements (kleUa) can easily be woven into life and death while an
aUaikLa who is without any action and defilements cannot be woven
into life and death. That is why it is called nirvana. VAna means
new birth and nir means negation. As there is no more new birth, it
is called nirvana. VAna means bondage and nir means separation.
As it is separation from bondage, it is called nirvana. VAna means
all discomforts of life and death and nir means passing beyond.
As it passes beyond all discomforts of life and death, it is called
nirvana. 29
A similar approach can also be found in the TheravAda exegetical tradition.
Steven Collins, in his book Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities, presents
four different etymological definitions. 30 First of all, the word nibbAna means
‘without desire’, from the negative prefix nir, with vAOa meaning desire derived
from √van (to desire). Thus nirvana was explained in the SammohavinodanC
as ‘Craving is called desire. Since that does not exist there, it is called withoutdesire.’
31 Second, it means ‘state of the renunciation of desire and craving’,
from nir meaning to abandon or renounce by reference to the root ni-kkham,
and vana meaning desire. 32 Third, the word vAna can mean ‘wood’ or ‘jungle’, 33
which refers to the aggregates (skandha) according to the MahAvibhALAUAstra
seen above. 34 It could thus mean escape from the aggregates. Finally, it can
be elucidated as ‘abandoning the desire which weaves together life to life (by
means of) action (karma) and its result’, 35 from taking vAna as ‘sewing’ or
‘weaving’.
In fact, Buddhaghosa also ignored the original etymological meaning of
the word, the extinction of the triple fires of passion, hatred and delusion,
and presented a different explanation of nirvAOa based on vAna meaning
weaving derived from √vA (to weave) in his Visuddhimagga:
It is called nibbAna (extinction) because it has gone away from
(nikkhanta), has escaped from (nissata), is dissociated from, craving,
which has acquired in common usage the name ‘fastening (vAna)’
because, by ensuring successive becoming, craving serves as a joining
together, a binding together, a lacing together, of the four kinds
of generation, five destinies, seven stations of consciousness and
nine abodes of being. 36
What later Buddhists in both Northern and Southern traditions did seems
to be to narrow the gap between the definition of nirvana based on the
12