Of one who's passed away there is no measure
Of him there's naught whereby one may say aught;
When once all things have wholly been removed,
All ways of saying, too, have been removed.
It is a common error to suppose that a negative quantity is
merely nothing, and that therefore, somehow or other,
it 'does not exist'. A negative quantity describes the
operation of subtraction: it expresses the difference
between an earlier and later state. Suppose there are eight
oranges in a pile, and three of them are taken away and
eaten, then five will be left; and by comparing the pile
before the oranges were removed with the pile after they were
removed we can say that the later pile is the earlier pile
'minus three oranges'. The difference of the two piles is
expressed as a negative quantity, but no-one would say that
the difference 'does not exist'. Even if all the oranges are
taken away and there is nothing left, a comparison gives the
difference as minus eight, not as nothing; and,
again, the difference is not a fiction.
In much the same way, a statement that nibbána, or extinction, is negative, that it is a destruction or an absence or cessation, does not mean that it 'does not exist', nor does it mean that it is something mythical or unreal, nor that it is nothing; it simply means, as we shall see, that nibbána is the essential difference between an earlier state and a later, between an ordinary living being and an Arahat.
What has the Buddha said about nibbána? We can hardly find a fuller description than the following Sutta affords.
Vuttam hetam bhagavatá arahatáti me sutam.The five khandhá, or aggregates, which constitute a living being together with his entire experience of the world, are in a condition of perpetual change. They are continually arising and passing away, and though the body may appear to alter slowly, the changes of the mind can be seen to follow each other in rapid succession; and so long as rága, dosa and moha, or lust, hate, and delusion, have not been destroyed, the five aggregates continue to arise life after life.
Dvemá bhikkhave nibbánadhátuyo. Katamá dve.
Saupádisesá ca nibbánadhátu anupádisesá ca nibbánadhátu.
Katamá ca bhikkhave saupádisesá nibbánadhátu.
Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu araham hoti khínásavo vusitavá katakaraníyo ohitabháro anuppattasadattho parikkhínabhavasamyojano sammadaññávimutto. Tassa titthanteva pañcindriyáni, yesam avighátattá manápámanápam paccanubhoti, sukhadukkham patisamvediyati. Tassa yo rágakkhayo dosakkhayo mohakkhayo, ayam vuccati bhikkhave saupádisesá nibbánadhátu.
Katamá ca bhikkhave anupádisesá nibbánadhátu. Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu araham hoti khínásavo vusitavá katakaraníyo ohitabháro anuppattasadattho parikkhínabhavasamyojano sammadaññávimutto. Tassa idheva bhikkhave sabbavedayitáni anabhinanditáni sítibhavissanti, ayam vuccati bhikkhave anupádisesá nibbánadhátu.Imá kho bhikkhave dve nibbánadhátuyoti.
Etam attham bhagavá avoca, tatthetam iti vuccati:
Duve imá cakkhumatá pakásitáAyam pi attho vutto bhagavá iti me suttanti.
Nibbánadhátú anissitena tádina,
Eká hi dhátu idha ditthadhammika
Saupádisesá bhavanettisankhayá,
Anupádisesá pana samparáyiká
Yamhi nirujjhanti bhaváni sabbaso.
Ye etad aññáya padam asankhatam
Vimuttacittá bhavanettisankhayá,
Te dhammasárádhigamá khaye ratá
Pahamsu te sabbabhaváni tádinoti.
(Itivuttaka, Dukanipáta, II,7)I heard this said by the August One, said by the Arahat.
'There are, monks, two Extinction Elements. Which are the two?
The Extinction Element with Remainder[3] and the Extinction Element without Remainder.
Which, monks, is the Extinction Element with Remainder?
Here, monks, a monk is an Arahat, one whose cankers are destroyed, who has lived the life, done what was to be done, laid down the burden, achieved his own welfare, destroyed attachement to being, one who is free through knowing rightly. There remains in him just the five faculties; through their being undemolished he suffers what is agreeable and disagreeable, he experiences what is pleasant and painful. It is his destruction of lust, hate, and delusion, monks, that is called the Extinction Element with Remainder.
And which, monks, is the Extinction Element without Remainder?
Here, monks, a monk is an Arahat, one whose cankers are destroyed, who has lived the life, done what was to be done, laid down the burden, achieved his own welfare, destroyed attachement to being, one who is free through knowing rightly. All his feelings, monks, not being delighted in here and now, will become cold: it is this, monks, that is called the Extinction Element without Remainder.These, monks, are the two Extinction Elements.'
The August One said those words. This also he said:'These two Extinction Elements are made plainThese words, too, spoken by the August One, I heard thus.
By the Untrammelled One, the Saint, the Seer:
Here, through destruction of what to being leads,
One Element with Remnant still, in life;
And one without Remainder as yet to come
Wherein beings (= existences) shall entirely cease.
The minds of those who know this unformed state
Are free, through destruction of what to being leads:
The Teaching's heart attained, such ones rejoice
In destruction, all beings laid aside.'
Rágam appaháya dosam appaháya moham appaháya na parimuccati játiyá....An Arahat is one who succeeds in destroying, once for all, his lust, hate, and delusion: this destruction, as we have seen, is known as saupádisesá nibbánadhátu, or the Extinction Element with Remainder. The remaining basis -- due to former lust, hate, and delusion -- comprises the Arahat's five faculties -- eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body -- and permits his experiences of pleasant and painful sensations while he yet lives. He does not, however, delight in, nor is he affected by, these various feelings, since he has destroyed lust, hate, and delusion; and when he dies his feelings cease. That is to say: his five faculties break up at death, and, being rid of lust, hate, and delusion, he is free from birth; the faculties, therefore, will not again come into existence, and there can consequently be no fresh sensations dependent upon them -- in other words, his feelings 'will become cold':
(Anguttara II,i,6)Without putting aside lust, hate, and delusion, one is not free from birth....
Seyyathápi bhikkhave telañca paticca vattiñca teladípo jháyeyya, tasseva telassa ca vattiyá ca pariyádáná anáháro nibbáyeyya; evameva kho bhikkhave bhikkhu káyapariyantikam vedanam vediyamáno, Káyapariyantikam vedanam vediyámíti pajánáti, jívitapariyantikam vedanam vediyamáno, Jívitapariyantikam vedanam vediyámíti pajánáti, Káyassa bhedá uddham jívitapariyádáná idheva sabbavedayitáni anabhinanditáni sítibhavissantíti pajánátíti.Not only are feelings extinguished at the death of an Arahat, but the entire five aggregates, being inseparable, no longer arise:
(Vedaná Samyutta, 7)Just as, monks, an oil lamp burns dependent upon oil and wick, and simply through the coming to an end of its oil and wick, being without sustenance, it is extinguished; so indeed, monks, when a monk feels a feeling that the body has come to an end he understands 'I feel a feeling that the body has come to an end', and when he feels a feeling that life has come to an end he understands 'I feel a feeling that life has come to an end', and he understands 'With the breaking up of the body and the coming to an end of life, all feelings, not being delighted in, here and now will become cold'.
Abhedi káyo, nirodhi saññá, vedaná sítibhavimsu sabbá,This is called anupádisesá nibbánadhátu, or the Extinction Element without Remainder.
Vúpasamimsu sankhárá, viññánam attham agamáti.
(Udána, VIII,9)The body broke up, perception ceased, all feelings become cold,
Formations subsided entirely, consciousness passed away.
The important thing to notice is that both the Extinction Elements are either destruction or cessation. The Extinction Element with Remainder is destruction of lust, hate, and delusion: it is the destruction, and not the remainder -- the faculties -- nor the sensation dependent upon it, that is called the Extinction Element. (In much the same way it is the absence of disease that is called 'health', and not the body itself, which can only be said to 'possess health' or to 'be healthy'.) This destruction, furthermore, is permanent, since lust, hate, and delusion, once destroyed, can reappear neither in this lifetime nor hereafter: and also, since the presence of these three things is necessary for mental suffering to arise, this destruction, or Extinction Element, is pleasant, in the sense that absence of mental distress is pleasant. (Bodily suffering, as we have seen, is not affected so long as the faculties remain.) With the Extinction Element without Remainder, the remainder -- the faculties --, which was not destroyed earlier, now breaks up, and the five aggregates finally cease to arise. This Extinction Element too -- final cessation -- is permanent, and it is pleasant in the sense of complete absence of all feelings whatsoever, mental or bodily:
Tatra kho áyasmá Sáriputto bhikkhú ámantesi, Sukham idam ávuso nibbánam, sukham idam ávuso nibbánanti.Thus, neither of the Extinction Elements is stated as containing, or consisting of, all or any of the five aggregates; both are stated in terms of absence of undesirable things; both are permanent and pleasant. Nibbána then, or extinction, is negative, as 'minus three oranges' is negative: but just as there must have been a pile of oranges in the first place before we can say 'minus three oranges', so there must have been a living being full of lust, hate, and delusion, before we can say 'nibbána'. Nibbána is not nothing: it is cessation of the process of[4] existence.
Evam vutte áyasmá Udáyi áyasmantam Sáriputtam etad avoca, Kim panettha ávuso Sáriputta sukham yad ettha natthi vedayitanti.
Etad eva khvettha ávuso sukham yad ettha natthi vedayitam.
(Anguttara IX,34)Then the Venerable Sáriputta addressed the monks, 'It is extinction, friends, that is pleasant; it is extinction, friends, that is pleasant.'
When this was said, the Venerable Udáyi said to the Venerable Sáriputta, 'But what, friend Sáriputta, is pleasant herein, since herein there is no feeling?'
'Just this, friends, is pleasant herein, that herein there is no feeling.'
Bhavanirodho nibbánam, bhavanirodho nibbánanti.And is this not annihilation? So, indeed, it will appear to anyone who believes that there is something permanent and unchanging, a lasting self, to be annihilated:
(Anguttara X,6)Extinction is cessation of being! Extinction is cessation of being!
Siyá nu kho bhante ajjhattam asati paritassanáti.Only when the world of the five aggregates is no longer thought of as permanent and unchanging self (and we shall see that the idea of self is merely a mistaken view of the five aggregates), only then will extinction of becoming cease to appear as annihilation of self.
Siyá bhikkhúti bhagavá avoca. Idha bhikkhu ekaccassa evam ditthi hoti, So loko so attá so pecca bhavissámi nicco dhuvo sassato aviparinámadhammo sassatisamam tatheva thassámíti. So sunáti tathágatassa vá tathágatasávakassa vá sabbesam ditthitthánádhitthánápariyutthánábhinivesánusayánam samugghátáya sabbasankhárasamatháya sabbúpadhipatinissaggáya tanhakkhayáya virágáya nirodháya nibbánáya dhammam desentassa. Tassa evam hoti: Ucchijjissámi náma su, vinassissámi náma su, na su náma bhavissámíti. So socati kilamati paridevati, urattálim kandati, sammoham ápajjati. Evam kho bhikkhu ajjhattam asati paritassaná hotíti.
(Majjhima 22)'Might there be anxiety about internal non-being, venerable sir?'
'There might be, monk', the August One said. 'Here, monk, someone holds this view, "that is the world, that is the self; when I have departed I shall be permanent, enduring, eternal, not subject to change; and like this shall I remain, for ever and ever". He listens to the Tathágata or his disciple teaching the doctrine (dhamma) for the uprooting of all views, prejudices, obsessions, inclinations, and tendencies, for the calming of all formations, for the relinquishing of all foundations, for the destruction of craving, for dispassion, for cessation, for extinction. It occurs to him, "I shall surely be cut off! I shall surely perish! I shall surely be no more!" He sorrows, is distressed, and laments, and beating his breast and bewailing, he falls into confusion. Thus indeed, monk, there is anxiety about internal non-being.'
The second discourse of the Buddha to the first five monks, the Anattalakkhana Sutta (Khandha Samyutta 59), is one of the better-known Suttas, and no-one now disputes that the Buddha categorically denied the existence of attá, self or soul, in the five aggregates. But belief in self is strong, and hard to abandon; and many people, forbidden to look for self inside the five aggregates, hope to find it outside;[a] and they sometimes come to think that nibbána must contain, or be, attá.
In thinking that nibbána is attá, two mistakes are made. The first may be seen from this text:
Ye hi keci bhikkhave samaná vá bráhmaná va anekavihitam attánam samanupassamáná samanupassanti, sabbe te pañcupádánakkhandhe samanupassanti, etesam vá aññataram.All thoughts about self are necessarily, whether the thinker is aware of it or not, thoughts about the five aggregates of clinging; and to think of nibbána as attá is to think of nibbána as consisting of one or more of these five aggregates.
(Khandha Samyutta 47)Whatever ascetics or recluses, monks, there may be who consider self in various forms, they are all considering the five aggregates of clinging or one of them.
The second mistake is to believe that there really is such a thing as self. The following text leaves no doubt about the matter.
Ahañ cánanda Vacchagottassa paribbájakassa, Atthattáti puttho samáno, Attháttati vyákareyyam; api nu me tam anulomam abhavissa ñánassa upádáya, Sabbe dhammá anattáti.Whatever the significance of sabbe dhammá anattá (a matter that will be discussed later), it is clear that an affirmative answer to the question 'Does self exist?' would not have been in accordance with the Buddha's knowledge.
No hetam bhante.
(Avyákata Samyutta 10)'If, Ánanda, when asked, "Does self exist?", I had answered the wanderer Vacchagotta, "Self does exist"; would that have been in accordance with the knowledge that I have, "All things are not-self"?'
'No indeed, Venerable Sir.'
It is quite evident that 'nibbána is attá' cannot be said.
Depending upon whether water is present or not, a piece of cloth may be either wet or dry; there is no third possibility: and it might seem that this alternative applies to all things. Whatever is not wet must be dry; whatever is not dry must be wet. Just so, it may be thought that whatever is not attá must be anattá, and whatever is not anattá must be attá. Since we cannot say 'nibbána is attá', it follows that nibbána must be anattá. But suppose a hole is made in the cloth by cutting a small piece of material from the middle: though the cloth itself must indeed be either wet or dry, the hole, as such, is neither. A hole is a negative, an absence of some material substance -- in this case, of cotton threads --, and we cannot ascribe to it qualities, such as wet and dry, that properly apply only to actual material substance. Nibbána, like the hole in the cloth, is a negative, an absence of what formerly was present; and attá and anattá can properly apply -- attá mistakenly, and anattá correctly -- only to the positive five aggregates. The attempt to ascribe these attributes to nibbána lands us in absurdities, as we may see when the Anattalakkhana Sutta (Khandha Samyutta 59) is travestied by substituting nibbána for the five aggregates:
Nibbánam bhikkhave anattá. Nibbánañca hidam bhikkhave attá abhavissa, na yidam nibbánam ábádháya samvatteyya, labbhetha ca nibbáne, Evam me nibbánam hotu, evam me nibbánam má ahosíti. Yasmá ca kho bhikkhave nibbánam anattá, tasmá nibbánam ábádháya samvattati, na ca labbhati nibbáne, Evam me nibbánam hotu, evam me nibbánam má ahosíti.To say that nibbána is attá is to think that we can alter our personal extinction to suit our taste, which is a very curious idea: but to say 'nibbána is anattá', in our haste to correct the mistaken view that nibbána is attá, is merely to assert that extinction leads to affliction -- to change, decay, and death --; and we escape out of the fire, but only into the frying-pan. Those who hold the view that nibbána is attá are, indeed, doubly mistaken -- they misunderstand nibbána, and they believe in the reality of attá. But although those who hold that nibbána is anattá may not believe in the existence of attá, or may think they do not believe in it,[b] they still confound nibbána, consciously or unconsciously, with the five aggregates.Extinction, monks, is not-self. For if, monks, extinction were self, then extinction would not lead to affliction, and one would obtain of extinction, 'Let my extinction be thus, let my extinction not be thus'. And indeed, monks, extinction is not-self, so extinction leads to affliction, and it is not obtained of extinction, 'Let my extinction be thus, let my extinction not be thus'.
If it is remembered, that permanent abiding attá can only be thought of in connexion with the five aggregates; that, in fact, such a thought is mistaken, since it rests on an ontological deception, a mirage, the illusion 'I am'; that the five aggregates are consequently without attá, or unchanging principle or essence; that, since they have no unchanging principle or essence, they are powerless to resist impermanence and inevitably 'lead to affliction' -- to change, decay, and death --; and that this impotence in the face of change is the characteristic of anattá: and if it is also remembered that nibbána is both void of the five aggregates and permanent, -- then it should not be difficult to see why nothing is attá, why the five aggregates are anattá, and why it cannot be said that nibbána is either.
Certainly, a statement by the Buddha that nibbána
is attá or that it is anattá is
nowhere to be found it the Suttas.
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Footnotes:
[1] Superseded. [Back to text]
[2] This article is out of date and, from [5] onwards, seriously mistaken. The earlier part, though not wrong, needs re-writing. Ñánavíra. 12.iii.65. [Back to text]
[3] [The typescript reads 'Basis Left' and 'becoming' throughout. These are crossed out in pencil and 'Remainder' and 'being', respectively, written over them in pencil.] [Back to text]
[4] ['the process of' is crossed out in pencil.] [Back to text]
[a] The practice of supposing that the Buddha, in his condemnation of attaváda, only denied the existence of an illusory personal self and approved belief in a real universal Self is sometimes to be met with. This distinction -- presumably derived from the jívátman and paramátman of the Vedanta -- is quite gratuitous, since no distinction can be detected in the Pali of the Suttas between a false and a true attá: the Buddha's Teaching is perfectly consistent without this borrowed interpretation, and its introduction violates the principle of Occam's razor, or the law of parsimony. [Back to text]
[b] Nibbána is permanent; by predicating anattá
of it they make it positive; and such a permanent positive state is a first
cousin of the paramátman of the Vedanta. The wheel comes full circle.
[Back to text]