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

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
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