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

NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST TRADITION
UpaniLads also has a transcendental state, like Brahman. As the Buddha
shows in the Phaggunasutta seen above, 41 how our cognitive activities work
without admitting an agent, all he needs to do here is to show how a
TathAgata, an enlightened one, finally passes away and no longer returns to
endless rebirths; he does not need to admit a certain transcendental state,
like Brahman, reachable after death. The image of the extinguished fire was
applied in this context together with the image of a palm uprooted.
What is compared to a fire extinguished in the context of the final nirvana,
nirvana without a remainder of clinging? As this discourse clearly shows,
it is not nirvana itself but ‘the material form (rEpa) of the TathAgata’ and
so on. Although it is not seen in the above passage, the Buddha not only
mentioned material form but also the rest of the four aggregates, as does the
Chinese equivalent of this Pali sutta in the SaNyukta-Agama. 42
What is extinguished in this final moment is, as expressed by Walpola
Rahula, ‘the “being” composed of the Five Aggregates who realized
Nirvaoa’. 43 That is to say, what is extinguished like a fire in this final moment
of nirvana cannot be nirvana itself but the five aggregates, conventionally
designated as a person (puggala). Thus, the image of a fire extinguished here
was used differently from nirvana with a remainder of clinging, where it is
compared to the cessation of the triple fires of passion, hatred and delusion. 44
How do these five aggregates finally cease like a fire extinguished? The
answer was given through the words of Vacchagotta: ‘This fire has blazed
up through grass and sticks as fuel. Through using them up completely and
through the non-supplying of anything else, it is said to have gone out with
nothing to feed on’ (anAhAro nibbuto).
The Buddha was consistent in saying there are rebirths with fuel and not
without fuel. In another dialogue between the Buddha and Vacchagotta in
the KutEhalasAlAsutta in the SaNyuttanikAya, he explains this as follows:
You could doubt, Vaccha. You could be suspicious. Doubt has
risen from the suspicious part. I indeed declare that there are rebirths
with fuel but not without fuel. Just as, Vaccha, a fire is burning
with fuel but not without fuel, I declare that there are rebirths with
clinging but not without clinging. But, Gotama, in case that a fire
has been carried a long way through the wind, what does the venerable
Gotama consider as the fuel? In that case, I say the wind is
fuel. For at that time the wind becomes its fuel. Again, Gotama, in
case a being lays aside this body and then is born again in another
body, what does the venerable Gotama consider as the fuel? In that
case, I say thirst is the fuel. For at that time thirst becomes its fuel. 45
We can see the similar use of the image of a fire’s going out through lack of
fuel elsewhere in the early canon. 46 Steven Collins has tried to establish that
the standard image of nirvana, when it is used as a soteriological metaphor,
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