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

NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST TRADITION
possible to say that all Theravadins are Vibhajyavadins but not necessarily
vice versa. The Vibhajyavadins at least share the same ideology against the
Sarvastivadins who insisted on the existence of all dharmas in the three time
periods. As their name suggests, they made a distinction between dharmas
and then said that some exist while some do not. The best description to
explain their position is in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya:
Those who affirm the existence of past, future and present are
regarded as the Sarvastivadins. Those who affirm the existence of
the present and a part of the past, namely the existence of action
that has not given forth its result, and the non-existence of the
future and a part of the past, namely the non-existence of action
that has given forth its result, are regarded as the Vibhajyavadin. 134
This difference, according to the Theravada traditions, could have played
a major role in the great separation during the period of King Ashoka. 135
For the Vibhajyavadin all dharmas will eventually pass into non-existence,
since existing past action, when it has produced its result, will become nonexistent.
That is to say, there is no need for nirvana to exist in the three time
periods to works as a deterrent, or an antidote (pratipakLa), as for the
Sarvastivadins seen above. 136
The name Vibhajyavadins ( !) in the MahAvibhALAUAstra, the
extensive commentary on the last book of the Chinese abhidharma, the
JñAnaprasthAna, is a bit obscure. It is not yet clear whether this name refers
to a historical school or a generic term for their methodology. The latter
possibility seems to be unlikely since a different term was used in this treatise:
an analytic interpretation ( ). In the MahAvibhALAUAstra, detailed, separate,
analytic, progressive methodologies were sometimes contrasted with
brief, comprehensive, non-analytic, simultaneous methodologies. 137
What cannot be ignored is the fact that the fen-bie-lun-zhe ( !),
which is the Chinese word for the Vibhajyavadins, and was used frequently
in the MahAvibhALAUAstra, was actually different form the translation of the
word Vibhajyavadin ( !, fen-bie-shuo-bu) appearing in Xuan-zang’s
translation of the AbhidharmakoUabhALya. He translated both treatises and
the Chinese word applied to the Vibhajyavadin in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya
was not the fen-bie-lun-zhe but the fen-bie-shuo-bu. 138
In fact, the latter term appeared only once in the MahAvibhALAUAstra,
where the nature of the three karmas, bodily, verbal and conscious actions,
is discussed. 139 While the Sautrantikas insisted that they are by nature intention
(cetanA), the Vibhajyavadin maintained that the nature of karmas
is passion, hatred and delusion. This seems to suggest that the term
Vibhajyavadin could be used in a narrow sense to refer to an early historical
school who contested against the Sarvastivadins, while the term could be
used in a broad sense to refer to schools including the Vibhajyavadin that are
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