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

NIRVANA IN THE THERAVf DA BUDDHIST TRADITION
If nirvana is the absence of the present, past and future aggregates as in 5
the case of nirvana after death, nirvana with a remainder of clinging
(saupAdisesanibbAna) is not possible since it has present aggregates as its support;
whereas if nirvana is the absence of defilements as in the case of nirvana
at enlightenment, not only is the noble path futile but also it excludes nirvana
without a remainder of clinging (anupAdisesanibbAna). The Theravadins’
answer seems to be that nirvana exists separately (pAMiyekka) from both
cessations.
In the SammohavinodanC, the commentary on the VibhaWga, the Theravadin
argument was presented in the form of debates between the Theravadin and
a disputant (vitaOSavAdin) who insists that nirvana is mere destruction
(khayamatta). 158 The argument for the latter was presented in the following
way:
But a disputant (vitaOSavadin) has said: ‘There isn’t anything existing
separately called nibbAna. NibbAna is just the cessation of the
defilements.’ And when he is asked to quote a sutta, he quotes the
JambukhAdaka-sutta: ‘It is said, o friend Sariputta, nibbAna, nibbAna.
Then what is indeed, o friend, nibbAna? The cessation of passion,
the cessation of hatred, and the cessation of delusion, O friend, that
is indeed called nibbAna’, and says ‘Through this sutta it should be
understood that there isn’t anything existing separately called
nibbAna. NibbAna is just the cessation of the defilements.’ 159
The Theravadins’ answer to this disputant (vitaOSavAdin) is that nirvana is
defined as the cessation of passion, the cessation of hatred and the cessation
in the VibhaWga, 160 not because it is mere destruction but because ‘passion
etc. cease on coming to this (tam Agamma) [nibbAna]’. 161
Later in the text, the disputant (vitaOSavAdin) came back to this point and
said: ‘You say “on coming to, on coming to”. From where have you got this
“on coming to”?’ The passage given by the Theravadin is ‘thus ignorance
and craving, on coming to this, are destroyed in this, are abolished in this,
nor do they do anything anywhere’. 162 A key phrase, ‘on coming to this’
(tam Agamma), was also applied in the Visuddhimagga: ‘because craving
fades away and ceases on coming to that, it is therefore called “fading
away” and “cessation” ’. 163
However, neither a sutta corresponding to this passage nor the phrase ‘on
coming to this’ (tam Agamma) can be found within the Theravadins’ four
nikAyas. 164 Where could this answer of the SammohavinodanC originate from?
In my opinion, it could have originated from the literal meaning of atthaN
paleti seen in the above mentioned PArAyana stanza. 165 The use of the locative
case in this quoted sutta seems to suggest that it could have been influenced
by the Sarvastivada-Vaibhalika’s use of the locative case 166 in explaining the
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