Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The ... - misterdanger.net
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The ... - misterdanger.net
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The ... - misterdanger.net
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THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA<br />
Table 2.3 Ten fetters<br />
orambhAgiyasaNyojana<br />
uddhambhAgiyasaNyojana<br />
Ten saNyojana<br />
Personality belief (sakkAyadiMMhi), skeptical doubts (vicikicchA),<br />
attachment to rules <strong>and</strong> rituals (sCliabbataparAmAsa), sensual<br />
desire (kAmarAga), <strong>and</strong> ill-will (vyApAda)<br />
Desire for form (rEparAga), desire for the formless (arEparAga),<br />
pride (mAna), restlessness (uddhacca), <strong>and</strong> ignorance (avijjA)<br />
Sources: SN V pp. 60–1, DN III p. 234, AN IV pp. 67–8.<br />
Nayanatiloka <strong>in</strong> his Buddhist Dictionary says that<br />
He who is free from 1–3 is a SotApanna, or Streamw<strong>in</strong>ner, i.e. one<br />
who has entered the stream to NibbAna, as it were. He who, besides<br />
these 3 fetters, has overcome 4 <strong>and</strong> 5 <strong>in</strong> their grosser form, is called<br />
a SakadAgAmi, a ‘Once-Returner’ (to this sensuous world). He who<br />
is fully freed from 1–5 is an AnAgAmi, or ‘Non-Returner’ (to the<br />
sensuous world). He who is freed from all the 10 fetters is called an<br />
Arahant, i.e. a perfectly Holy One. 92<br />
Thus, upAdi <strong>in</strong> this context of the four noble persons refers to fetters<br />
(saNyojana) that are said to bend man to the wheel of transmigration <strong>and</strong> is,<br />
like the four k<strong>in</strong>ds of upAdAna <strong>in</strong> the later systematization, 93 tak<strong>in</strong>g its subjective<br />
mean<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
However, this <strong>in</strong>terpretation of the four noble persons is, as po<strong>in</strong>ted out<br />
by Somaratne, 94 problematic if we consider typical passages that describe<br />
the four noble persons <strong>in</strong> the Pali canon: 95<br />
a stream-enterer . . . a monk after vanish<strong>in</strong>g of the three fetters has<br />
entered the stream, has forever escaped the woe, is affirmed, assured<br />
of f<strong>in</strong>al enlightenment . . . a once-returner . . . after the vanish<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
the three fetters <strong>and</strong> the attenuation of passion, hatred, <strong>and</strong> delusion,<br />
the monk returns only once more to this world. And only once<br />
more return<strong>in</strong>g to this world, he puts an end to suffer<strong>in</strong>g ...a nonreturner<br />
. . . after the vanish<strong>in</strong>g of the five lower fetters, however,<br />
the monk becomes one who is spontaneously born (opapAtika) <strong>and</strong><br />
there he reaches complete nibbAna without ever return<strong>in</strong>g from that<br />
world . . . a sa<strong>in</strong>t (arahant) . . . after the vanish<strong>in</strong>g of cankers (AsavA),<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g cankerless, he reaches already <strong>in</strong> this world, the freedom which<br />
is concentration, the freedom which is underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g, after personally<br />
experienc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> comprehend<strong>in</strong>g that state. 96<br />
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