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

THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA
clinging’, is yu E ), simply ‘a remainder’. However, this etymology is not
entirely satisfactory since the word yi ( , upadhi in Skt) is treated as a
separate word and commented on individually in the MahAvibhALAUAstra. 28
That is to say, a master of the abhidharma regarded this upadhiUeLa not as
one but as a compound of two words.
According to the recent publication of ‘Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from
Gandhara’ by Richard Salomon, 29 the Gandharc nirvana without a remainder
of clinging (anupAdisesanibbAnadhAtu) is spelled aOuadiUeLaOivaOadhadu.
According to Gandharc phonology anupXdiUeLa like Pali could be the underlying
form, but anupXdhiUeLa like Buddhist Sanskrit could not. 30 Moreover,
dh and bh are often written in the place of d and b. 31 Thus, this could explain
how upAdi was replaced by upadhi in Buddhist Sanskrit. However, this is
only possible if Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit originally came from Gandharc.
I suggest that the similarity between upAdi and upadhi in their subjective
sense played a part in the replacement of upAdi by upadhi. The two words
in their subjective sense were already widespread among the wanderers
of the Buddha’s day. In the SaupAdisesasutta in the AWguttaranikAya, the
word upAdisesa, which should be understood in its subjective sense, is first
mentioned not by the blessed one but by the wanderers of other views
(aññatitthiyAnaN paribbAjakAnaN). 32 The four kinds of upAdAna listed and
commented on in the DhammasaWgaOC seen above 33 have a subjective sense,
in line with psychological trends in the Pali abhidhamma. Thus, the subjective
meaning of upAdi seems to have become more and more widespread with the
development of monastic Buddhism, while the objective meaning of upAdi
became forgotten along with its metaphorical structure. It is quite possible
that the confusion between the two occurred in the context of nirvana and
this eventually led to the replacement at a later stage.
UpAdisesa within the context of nirvana
Nirvana is, according to Gombrich, part of an extended metaphorical structure
that embraces enlightenment and its opposite.
His argument relies largely on the sermon that is known in English as the
Fire Sermon, 34 but in Pali is called the Fditta-pariyAya, ‘The way of putting
things as being on fire’. The term pariyAya means literally ‘a way round’ and
is applied to the mode of teaching in the suttanta, ad hominem, discursively,
applied method, illustrated discourse and figurative language. The opposite
of this word is nippariyAya and is applied to the systematised presentation of
the doctrine in the abhidharma, the abstract general statements. 35
We can find a similar approach in the Northern Buddhist tradition.
Yauomitra says in his SphuMArtha, a commentary on the AbhidharmakoUabhALya:
‘The elucidation of the sEtra is, indeed, contingent, not definitive
like the abhidharma.’ 36 ‘Contingent’ (AbhiprAyika) here seems to mean
‘dependent on context’. It is the adjectival form of abhiprAya, which is
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