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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, 57
THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA is not of wind or some other agent actively putting out a fire, but of a fire’s automatic going out through lack of fuel. 47 For example, one passage in the MajjhimanikAya reads as follows: Just as an oil-lamp burns because of oil and wick, but when the oil and wick are exhausted, and no others are supplied, it goes out through lack of fuel, so the [enlightened] monk . . . knows that after the break-up of his body, when further life is exhausted, all feelings which are rejoiced in here will become cool. 48 It is ‘lack of fuel’ that is the main cause of the extinction of a fire in this context. This point is further confirmed from the simile of a palm uprooted. 49 When a palm is uprooted, it cannot sprout a new trunk to continue in the future. In order not to reappear in the future, there should be no more causes whatsoever to produce a new fire or to sprout a new trunk. Thus, the image of the extinguished fire and of a palm uprooted in this context explains that it cannot reappear in the future owing to a lack of any cause whatsoever. In my opinion, this could be the best explanation of how the TathAgata finally passes away and why he no longer returns to endless rebirths without admitting any transcendental state reachable after death. Although the Buddha was silent instead of replying to Vacchagotta’s question, his solution looks as if he is answering by asking in return, as in Phagguna’s case: 50 ‘This was not a fit question. I am not saying that the TathAgata exists, does not exist, does and does not exist or neither exists nor does not exist after death. If I were saying so, the question would be a fit one. But I am not saying so. Although I am not saying so, however, if you asked me “Then, Blessed one, how does the TathAgata finally pass away”, this would be a fit question. And the fit answer to it is . . .’ Earlier in this chapter, I showed that there are two main concerns around this last issue of the unanswered questions: whether the Buddha accepts a certain state reachable by an enlightened one after death and on what grounds he wants this question to remain unanswered. For the first matter the Buddha seems to leave such a state, a kind of absolute, aside, 51 since it is outside the range of his methodology, which explains things through the causal relationship between phenomenal dharmas. For the second, I could say that his methodology, thinking according to the cause (yoniso manasikAra), could help to account for his leaving questions on the state of the TathAgata after death unanswered. The image of a fire in the early Upanis.ads How does the metaphor of a fire extinguished relate to the so-called common Indian view suggested by F. Otto Schrader above? Could the audience 58
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METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM
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TEACHING BUDDHISM IN THE WEST Edite
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METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM
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FOR DONGJE MY ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE D
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CONTENTS List of figures and tables
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PREFACE I am glad to be able to tha
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ABBREVIATIONS The abbreviations for
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ABBREVIATIONS RV Rgveda. SA SaNyukt
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INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION In the Ab
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INTRODUCTION to reach it was descri
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INTRODUCTION two nirvana theory in
Page 24 and 25: NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE Part 1 TH
Page 26 and 27: NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE 1 NIRVANA
Page 28 and 29: NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE early Bud
Page 30 and 31: NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE original
Page 32 and 33: THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY IN THE EARLY
Page 54 and 55: DEVELOPMENTS OF THE TWO NIRVANA THE
Page 68 and 69: NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST
Page 94 and 95: NIRVANA IN NORTHERN BUDDHIST SCHOOL
Page 122 and 123: Table 5.4 Summary of the doctrinal
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CONCLUSION The term anAgAmin was of
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CONCLUSION passion, hatred and delu
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CONCLUSION The Sautrantikas probabl
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SELECTED SOURCES FOR THE NIRVANA CO
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NOTES Indians; and also because we
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NOTES 13 Huzita (1988: 8). 14 La Va
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NOTES 70 See Dutt (1960: 252-71), L
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NOTES 146 Akanuma (1929: 126). 147
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NOTES 39 yaP sAsravair dharmair vis
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NOTES 5 Harvey (1990: 66-7). 6 DN I
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NOTES 65 Tr. Norman (1992: 120): ac
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NOTES 132 Bareau (1955: 285). 133 B
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NOTES 15 Life faculty is one of the
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NOTES 77 Akb-h pp. 67-8. 78 Accordi
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NOTES 149 SA (TD2 57c8), SN IV 109.
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NOTES 6 SN IV 251-2. 7 The Chinese
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NOTES (1969: 378-82), which was mad
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BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY S
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BIBLIOGRAPHY SECONDARY SOURCES Adik
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Pasadika, Bhikkhu (198
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faculty see indriya fetters see saN
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