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

DEVELOPMENTS OF THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY
dharma. In fact, these problem areas were the starting point of the
abhidharmic developments of Buddhist doctrines.
In this chapter, I discuss the development of the nirvana concept in both
the Pali abhidhamma tradition and the Chinese abhidharma tradition and
then examine how this development affects the two nirvana theory in the
JñAnaprasthAna and in the Theravada exegetical traditions.
The Pali abhidhamma works
Nirvana with and without a remainder of clinging is hardly mentioned within
the seven Pali abhidhamma works. In fact, the word nibbAna is not used in
the main body of the DhammasaWgani, the first and oldest work in the
Abhidhamma-piMaka. It prefers the expression asaWkhatA dhAtu, which also
belongs to the sphere of mental data base (dhammAyatana). 6
The word dhAtu is usually translated by ‘element’ and always refers,
according to L. S. Cousins, 7 to a distinct sphere of experience. Visual object,
for example, is perceived only by the faculty of sight and not by any of the
other five faculties. The word dhAtu seems first to be used with asaWkhatA
in the BahudhAtukasutta in the MajjhimanikAya in order to distinguish the
unconditioned as an object of experience from the conditioned. 8 Since the
term asaWkhatA in the Theravadin abhidhamma retains its earlier usage,
nirvana, 9 this expression seems to be established to distinguish conceptually
the unconditioned element of enlightened experience from all others.
Unlike the early canon (nikAyas), where doctrines were expressed through
metaphors and contexts, the abhidhamma works articulate doctrines through
classifications and definitions. Nirvana was first distinguished, as a kind of
classification, from the five aggregates in the DhammasaWgani in the following
way: ‘Which are dhammas with condition? They are the five aggregates:
form, feeling, apperception, volitional activities and consciousness. Which
are dhammas without condition? They are the unconditioned element.’ 10
Later in the DhAtukathA, it is explicitly stated that ‘the unconditioned is not
classified as an aggregate’. 11 The definition of nirvana was first seen in the
VibhaWga. It places the unconditioned (asaWkhatA), which is nirvana, both
in the sphere of mental data base (dhammAyatana) 12 and in the element of
mental data base (dhammadhAtu), 13 and establishes a basic definition of
nirvana based on the NibbAnasutta 14 as follows: ‘What is the unconditioned
element? It is the cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred and the cessation
of delusion.’ 15
The outcome of this early classification and definition was that nirvana
was the unconditioned (asaWkhatA), which was different from the five aggregates
and was made up of the cessation of passion, hatred and delusion. On
top of this notion, the Theravada abhidhamma seems to have a monistic
approach towards this dhamma: nirvana is the one and only unconditioned.
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