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

DEVELOPMENTS OF THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY
and the two are interdependent like the flame and the light of a lamp.
Taking warmth (usmA) as secondary matter, we can easily explain the first
sequence, from vitality to primary elements and secondary matter, as interdependent,
while the five faculties depend on them.
The relationship of these three, vitality, warmth and the five faculties,
seems to be extended to explain our life as psycho-physical phenomena, that
is to say, the five aggregates consisting of name and form (nAmarEpa). The
material five faculties (indriyas) seems to be replaced by consciousness
(vijñAna) to give a kind of psycho-physical balance. In this way, minimum
components of our life could be explained by three basic dharmas with
different characteristics: vitality (Ayu), an abstract principle; warmth (usmA),
a form of secondary matter; and consciousness (vijñAna), mental constituent.
Within the Sarvastivada tradition, the relationship of these three things,
vitality, warmth and consciousness, is explained as interdependence or mutually
to support one another. 66 Its textual evidence came from the PheOasutta
in the SaNyuttanikAya: 67 ‘When vitality, warmth, and consciousness abandon
this body, then [a person] lies discarded food for others 68 devoid of consciousness.’
Wherever there is vitality there is warmth and consciousness
and vice versa. In order for consciousness (vijñAna) to occur, sense faculties
(indriya) and objects (viLaya) are required, since consciousness arises
by reason of a faculty and its object. 69 In this way, the whole sequence
seen in the JñAnaprasthAna passage can be explained through mutual
support.
Later in the MahAvibhALAUAstra, the commentary on the JñAnaprasthAna,
vitality (Ayu) is further interpreted as the life faculty ( jCvitendriya), one of
twenty-two controlling faculties as well as one of fourteen dharmas not
associated with the mind (viprayuktasaNskAra), and as homogeneous character
(sabhAgatA), which determines the specific rebirth state of sentient
beings. 70 I discuss this matter in detail in Chapter 5, under ‘The development
of the two nirvana theory in the MahAvibhALAUAstra’.
The Theravada exegetical tradition
Nirvana with and without a remainder of clinging is usually interpreted as
the cessation of defilements (kilesa-parinibbAna) and the cessation of the
aggregates (khandha-parinibbAna) in the Theravada exegetical tradition. 71
Peter Masefield has argued that the above distinction could be traced back
only as far as the fifth-century ce commentator Buddhaghosa. 72
A lengthy and detailed explanation of the two nirvana elements can be
found in the Visuddhimagga. It became widely accepted as the standard
explanation and was used frequently in the post-Buddhaghosa period of
Theravada Buddhism. After making the excuse cited above, 73 Buddhaghosa
explains the two nirvana elements:
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