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NIRVANA IN NORTHERN BUDDHIST SCHOOLS What was the Sarvastivada-Vaibhalikas’ interpretation for ‘with a remainder of clinging’ (saupadhiUeLa)? While it was vitality (Ayu) alone in the JñAnaprasthAna, 14 it was both life faculty 15 (jCvitendriya) and homogeneous character of the group (nikAyasabhAga) 16 in the MahAvibhALAUAstra: 17 When saying vitality, the life faculty ( jCvitendriya) is meant here. Question: why is homogeneous character of the group (nikAyasabhAga) not mentioned [in the JñAnaprasthAna]? Answer: the author intended to do so and so on. Alternatively, it is not mentioned as that meaning is surely understood from the word with a remainder (sa-UeLa). Alternatively, both the life faculty and homogeneous character of the group are the result of action that projects existence (AkLepakakarman). 18 As the vital organ is exclusively maturation (vipAka), it 19 is mentioned alone here [in the JñAnaprasthAna]. One of the obvious steps forward for the Sarvastivada abhidharmic systematisation was to interpret vitality (Ayu) as life faculty ( jCvitendriya), since it was defined as ‘vitality (Ayu) of the three spheres of existence’ in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya. 20 This interpretation could not be an isolated phenomenon within the Sarvastivada-Vaibhalikas in Northern India, since life faculty was appeared in the context of the two nirvana theory in the Pali PeMakopadesa, which is said to date from around first century ce somewhere in South India. 21 However, adding homogeneous character of the group (nikAyasabhAga) along with life faculty may have been an isolated phenomenon within the Sarvastivada-Vaibhalika tradition, and this seems to show some characteristics of their abhidharmic systematisation. Apart from the definition given above, life faculty ( jCvitendriya) was said, like vitality (Ayu), to support warmth (usmA) and consciousness (vijñAna) according to the AbhidharmakoUabhALya. 22 This function seems to have originated directly from the PheOasutta stanza 23 together with the dialogue between Mahakommhita and Sariputta in the MahAvedallasutta in the MajjhimanikAya 24 mentioned in Chapter 3. 25 In this dialogue, vitality was said not only to be interdependent with warmth but also to stabilise the five faculties. This role of supporting the five faculties (indriya) in the early canon seems to influence the later expansion of the life faculty’s function in the MahAvibhALAUAstra. Life faculty ( jCvitindriya) first appeared in the Pali sutta grouped with two controlling faculties of masculinity (purisindriya) and femininity (itthindriya). 26 These three are included in the well known set of twenty-two controlling faculties in both Northern and Southern Buddhist traditions. 27 Within early sEtras in the Northern tradition, the character and function of life faculty ( jCvitindriya) is not clearly explained, while its reference to death and the termination of a given life was frequently noticed. 28 This situation was hardly changed when the life faculty ( jCvitindriya) was listed and explained as one 79
THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA of the twenty-two controlling faculties in the DharmaskandhapAdaUAstra, one of the early abhidharma works of the Sarvastivadins. 29 Life faculty ( jCvitindriya) here was said to work as a faculty that persists, continues, maintains, animates and operates what we called sentient beings. 30 The attempt to link life faculty (jCvitindriya) with vitality (Ayu) first appeared in the PrakaraOapAdaUAstra, one of the middle-period abhidharma works of the Sarvastivadins. 31 Although the same definition was given in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya, here it was not listed as one of the twenty-two controlling faculties (indriyas) but as one of the fourteen dharmas not associated with the mind (cittaviprayuktasaNskAra). 32 Finally, in the MahAvibhALAUAstra this same definition, ‘vitality (Ayu) of the three spheres of existence’, was given to the life faculty listed both as one of the fourteen dharmas not associated with the mind (cittaviprayuktasa- NskAra) 33 and as one of the twenty-two controlling faculties (indriyas). 34 That is to say, unifying the life faculty with vitality was completed in the MahAvibhALAUAstra, and the character and function of the life faculty thus came from the character and function of vitality (Ayu). The MahAvibhALAUAstra offered two explanations of the character and function of the life faculty ( jCvitendriya). 35 While the first was presented as a formal opinion of this treatise, the second appeared as an alternative. In the first case, it was said to have predominating power over our notion of possessing controlling faculties (indriya) 36 and to have predominating power to cause other controlling faculties not to be terminated. Here the function of the life faculty ( jCvitindriya) was restricted to the other twenty-one controlling faculties and this function seems to have originated from the role of vitality (Ayu) as support for the five faculties (indriyas) in the above mentioned dialogue between Mahakommhita and Sariputta. 37 In the second opinion, the life faculty ( jCvitendriya) was said to have predominating power to form a connection to the homogeneous character of the group (nikAyasabhAga), supporting the homogeneous character of the group, protecting and nourishing the homogeneous character of the group and causing the homogeneous character of the group not to be terminated. Here the function of the life faculty was limited to the homogeneous character of the group, which was not part of the twenty-two controlling faculties (indriyas) but part of the fourteen dharmas not associated with the mind (cittaviprayuktasaNskAra). In fact, this alternative opinion became a formal explanation of the life faculty ( jCvitendriya) listed as one of the twenty-two controlling faculties (indriyas) in the AbhidharmakoUabhALya. 38 This seems to suggest that the role of the life faculty ( jCvitendriya) was in the process of change in the MahAvibhALAUAstra, from the earlier explanation oriented to controlling faculties (indriyas) to the later explanation oriented to dharmas not associated with mind (cittaviprayuktasaNskAra). According to the second opinion, the life faculty ( jCvitendriya) without the 80
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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
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE Part 1 TH
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE 1 NIRVANA
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE early Bud
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NIRVANA AND ITS REFERENCE original
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THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY IN THE EARLY
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Page 46 and 47: THE TWO NIRVANA THEORY IN THE EARLY
Page 54 and 55: DEVELOPMENTS OF THE TWO NIRVANA THE
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Page 122 and 123: Table 5.4 Summary of the doctrinal
Page 124 and 125: CONCLUSION The term anAgAmin was of
Page 126 and 127: CONCLUSION passion, hatred and delu
Page 128 and 129: CONCLUSION The Sautrantikas probabl
Page 130 and 131: SELECTED SOURCES FOR THE NIRVANA CO
Page 144 and 145: 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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