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

THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY IN THE EARLY CANON
Although the nikAya passages agree with Nyanatiloka’s above description
of a stream-enterer and a non-returner, they differ in the description of a
once-returner and a saint (arahant). What makes a person become a oncereturner
is not by ‘overcoming 4 and 5 in their grosser form’ but by ‘weakening
passion, hatred, and delusion’. What makes a monk become a saint
(arahant) also is not by ‘being free from all ten fetters’ but by ‘the vanishing
of cankers’ (AsavAnaN khayA ).
Moreover, explaining the four noble persons entirely in terms of their giving
up of the traditional ten fetters is a later development, within the abhidhamma.
It is in the DhammasaWgani that a once-returner was first explained in this
sense. It says that one attains the second path, a once-returner, while diminishing
sensual desire and ill-will (kAmarAgavyApAdAnaN patanubhAvAya);
whereas one attains the third path, a non-returner, while giving up sensual
desire and ill-will without any remainder (kAmarAgavyApAdAnam anavasesappahAnAya).
97 This new interpretation was later applied in the Puggalapaññatti 98
and also appeared in the Dharmaskandha 99 in the Chinese abhidharma. Therefore,
not only could fetters not be the exclusive means through which the
four noble persons are differentiated in the early canon, but this tendency
should be regarded as a later abhidhammic development.
The Pali canon actually shows other ways of differentiating the four noble
persons. In the SaWkhittasutta in the SaNyuttanikAya, 100 the four noble persons
are judged according to the degree to which five spiritual faculties: faith,
energy, mindfulness, concentration, and insight, have been cultivated. By the
fulfilment and accomplishment of all five, one is a saint (arahant); by having
them to a lesser degree, one is a non-returner; and by having them to successively
lesser degrees, one is a once-returner, a stream-enterer, dhammAnusArin
and saddhAnusArin. 101 The EkAbhiññasutta in the SaNyuttanikAya 102 also gives
a long list in terms of the degree of the same five spiritual faculties starting
from a saint (arahant); five sub-divisions of a non-returner, a once-returner,
two sub-divisions of a stream-enterer, and two sub-divisions of gotrabhE. 103
Moreover, in the small suttas in the IndriyasaNyutta in the SaNyuttanikAya,
six organs, such as the faculties of sight, and five sensations, i.e. the faculties
of pleasure, displeasure, satisfaction, dissatisfaction and indifference, are
separately used as a measure to qualify as a stream-enterer or a saint
(arahant). These suttas say that ‘when a noble disciple (ariyasAvaka), Oh
monks, truly understands the arising of, the perishing of, the satisfaction in,
the danger in and the escape from these six organs, this noble disciple is
called a stream-enterer’, 104 and the same is said of the five sensations. 105 In
the case of a saint (arahant), they say that ‘when a monk, O monks, having
truly known the arising of, the perishing of, the satisfaction in, the danger
in, and the escape from these six organs, becomes released without any
further attachment, this monk is called a saint (arahant)’, 106 and the same is
said of the five sensations. 107
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