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

NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST TRADITION
profound meaning associated with the doctrine of emptiness.’ 63 The name
PArAyana, among other names, such as Dharmapada and Arthavarga, was
nearly always found in lists of such works 64 and this could be the reason
why Northern Buddhists hesitated to form a definitive collection of this
kind, as the Theravadins did in their Pali KhuddakanikAya. That is to say, its
authenticity was not universally accepted among early Indian Buddhists.
The Parayana stanza in the Suttanipata
The text of the PArAyanavagga was about a kind of question time offered by
the Buddha to fifteen young brahmans who were pupils of a renowned
Brahman, Bavari. When Upascva, one of the young Brahmans, asked the
Buddha about the last consciousness of an enlightened one at the final stage,
the Buddha answered as follows: ‘“Just as a flame is tossed about by the force
of the wind, Upascva”, said the blessed one, “goes out and no longer counts
(as a flame), so a sage released from his mental body goes out and no longer
counts (as a sage)”.’ 65 Steven Collins has translated ‘mental body’ (nAmakAya)
as ‘name-and-form’ in his book Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities, 66 so
that it is synonymous with nAmarEpa, psycho-physical phenomena. 67 He
seems to translate it as a coordinate (dvandva) compound, thinking that, as
long as it is the final release, it should be the release of an enlightened not
only from his mental category but also from his physical category.
Within the early Pali canon, this compound was generally regarded
as a descriptive (karmadhAraya) compound meaning ‘mental category’ as
contrasted with ‘physical category’ (rEpakAya) in explaining the relationship
between nAmarEpa and contact (phassa) in dependent origination
( paMiccasamuppAda). 68 ‘Mental body’ here seems to mean the category of
name (nAma). To be released from the category of name is the same as being
released from the category of what is nameable. So this refers to the same as
na upeti saNkhaN: when a saint dies he cannot be referred to by language or
conceptionalised. According to the Cullaniddesa, an enlightened one at this
stage was already released from his physical category and about to be
released from his mental category. The commentary explains this in the
following way: ‘released from the category of name means the sage who,
already, released from the category of form was eliminated by the abandonment
through the opposite, through passing beyond and through repression’.
69 That is to say, the Theravada tradition regards this verse as explaining
the final release of an enlightened one who has already been released from
his physical aspect by meditation. 70 This verse thus explains nirvana without
a remainder of clinging through the image of a fire extinguished by the force
of the wind.
However, this fire image could be quite different from the fire image used
in the context of the last unanswered question. As we have seen above, a fire
in that context goes out through lack of fuel. 71 In order to explain nirvana
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