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

NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE
original etymological definition and the developed and systematised opinion
of their highest goal, nirvana. Since taking the word vana, or vAna, to refer
to ‘forest’ or ‘weaving’ was common to both traditions, their search for a
new etymology could probably be regarded as a common phenomenon among
sectarian Buddhist schools. If we take these diverse definitions derived from
a single original source, it probably started before the separation of the
Sarvastivadins and the Vibhajyavadins during the reign of the Emperor
Ashoka. By contrast, if we take them as a result of the copying of each other
among Buddhist sects, it could be a later sectarian development. In both
cases, Buddhist masters in both traditions seem not to have been satisfied
with the original etymological definition.
Searching for these new etymologies of nirvana seems to have started at
the time when the extinction of the triple fires of passion, hatred and delusion
was still used and accepted as the definition of nirvana, while its metaphorical
structure had started to be forgotten. Without an understanding of its
metaphorical structure, the original definition of nirvana could not satisfy
later Buddhists, since it did not cover all aspects of their highest goal. In the
next chapter, I discuss two most important aspects of nirvana: nirvana with
a remainder of clinging and nirvana without a remainder of clinging.
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