Chapter I +quot;This fire that has gone out... in which direction from here has it gone?+q
Chapter I
=========
"This fire that has gone out...
in which direction from here has it gone?"
The discourses report two instances where Brahmans asked the Buddha
about the nature of the goal he taught, and he responded with the
analogy of the extinguished fire. There is every reason to believe
that, in choosing this analogy, he was referring to a concept of fire
familiar to his listeners, and, as they had been educated in the Vedic
tradition, that he probably had the Vedic concept of fire in mind.
This, of course, is not to say that he himself adhered to the Vedic
concept, or that he was referring to it in all its details. He was
simply drawing on a particular aspect of fire as seen in the Vedas so
that his listeners could have a familiar reference point for making
sense of what he was saying.
Now, although the Vedic texts contain several different theories
concerning the physics of fire, there is at least one basic point on
which they agree: Fire, even when not manifest, continues to exist in
a latent form. The Vedic view of all physical phenomena is that they
are the manifestation of pre-existent potencies inherent in nature.
Each type of phenomenon has its corresponding potency, which has both
personal & impersonal characteristics: as a god and as the powers he
wields. In the case of fire, both the god & the phenomenon are called
Agni:
Agni, who is generated, being produced (churned) by men
through the agency of sahas.
RV 6,48,5
'Sahas' here is the potency, the power of subjugation, wielded by
Agni himself. Jan Gonda, in discussing this passage, comments, 'The
underlying theory must have been...that a man and his physical
strength are by no means able to produce a god or potency of Agni's
rank. Only the co-operation or conjunction of that special principle
which seems to have been central in the descriptions of Agni's
character, his power of subjugation, his overwhelming power, can lead
to the result desired, the appearance of sparks and the generation of
fire.' Further, 'a divine being like Agni was in a way already
pre-existent when being generated by a pair of kindling sticks' (1957,
pp. 22-3). As fire burns, Agni 'continues entering' into the fire (AV
4,39,9). Scattered in many places--as many separate fires--he is
nevertheless one & the same thing (RV 3,55). Other fires are attached
to him as branches to a tree (RV 8,19).
When fire is extinguished, Agni and his powers do not pass out of
existence. Rather, they go into hiding. This point is expressed in a
myth, mentioned frequently in the Vedic texts, of Agni's trying to
hide himself from the other gods in places where he thought they would
never perceive him. In the version told in RV 10,51, the gods finally
find the hidden Agni as an embryo in the water.
(Addressed to Agni): Great was the membrane and firm, that
enveloped you when you entered the waters....We searched for
you in various places, O Agni, knower of creatures, when you
had entered into the waters and plants.
RV 10,51
As Chauncey Blair notes, 'The concept of Agni in the waters does
not imply destruction of Agni. He is merely a hidden, a potential
Agni, and no less capable of powerful action' (1961, p. 103).
The implications of Agni's being an embryo are best understood in
light of the theories of biological generation held in ancient India:
The husband, after having entered his wife, becomes an
embryo and is born again of her.
Laws of Manu, 9,8
Just as ancient Indians saw an underlying identity connecting a
father & his offspring, so too did they perceive a single identity
underlying the manifest & embryonic forms of fire. In this way, Agni,
repeatedly reborn, was seen as immortal; and in fact, the Vedas
attribute immortality to him more frequently than to any other of the
gods.
To you, immortal! When you spring to life, all the gods
sing for joy...By your powers they were made
immortal...(Agni), who extended himself over all the worlds,
is the protector of immortality.
RV 6,7
Not only immortal, but also omnipresent: Agni in his manifest form
is present in all three levels of the cosmos--heaven, air, & earth--as
sun, lightning & flame-fire. As for his latent presence, he states in
the myth of his hiding, 'my bodies entered various places'; a survey
of the Vedas reveals a wide variety of places where his embryos may be
found. Some of them--such as stone, wood, plants, & kindling
sticks--relate directly to the means by which fire is kindled &
fueled. Others relate more to fire-like qualities & powers, such as
brilliance & vitality, present in water, plants, animals, & all
beings. In the final analysis, Agni fills the entire universe as the
latent embryo of growth & vitality. As Raimundo Panikkar writes,
'Agni...is one of the most comprehensive symbols of the reality that
is all-encompassing' (1977, p.325).
Agni pervades & decks the heaven & earth...his forms are
scattered everywhere.
RV 10,80
He (Agni) who is the embryo of waters, embryo of woods,
embryo of all things that move & do not move.
RV 1,70,2
In plants & herbs, in all existent beings, I (Agni) have
deposited the embryo of increase. I have engendered all
progeny on earth, and sons in women hereafter.
RV 10,183,3
You (Agni) have filled earth, heaven & the air between, and
follow the whole cosmos like a shadow.
RV 1,73,8
We call upon the sage with holy verses, Agni Vaisvanara the
ever-beaming, who has surpassed both heaven & earth in
greatness. He is a god below, a god above us.
RV 10,88,14.
This view that Agni/fire in a latent state is immortal &
omnipresent occurs also in the Upanishads that were composed circa
850-750 B.C. and later accepted into the Vedic Canon. The authors of
these texts use this view to illustrate, by way of analogy, the
doctrines of a unitary identity immanent in all things, and of the
immortality of the soul in spite of apparent death.
Now, the light that shines higher than this heaven, on the
backs of all, on the backs of everything, in the highest
worlds, than which there are no higher--truly that is the
same as the light which is here within a person. There is
this hearing of it--when one closes one's ears and hears a
sound, a roar, as of a fire blazing.
ChU 3.13.7-8
Truly, this Brahma (the god that the Upanishads say is
immanent in the cosmos) shines when fire blazes, and
disappears when it does not blaze. Its brilliance goes to
the sun; its vital breath to the wind.
This Brahma shines when the sun is seen, and disappears when
it is not seen. Its brilliance goes to the moon, its vital
breath to the wind. (Similarly for moon & lightning.)
Truly, all these divinities, having entered into wind, do
not perish when they die (disappear) in the wind; indeed,
from there they come forth again.
KauU 2.12
In the major non-canonical Upanishads--whose period of composition
is believed to overlap with the time of the Buddha--the analogy is
even more explicit:
As the one fire has entered the world
and becomes corresponding in form to every form,
So the Inner Soul of all things
corresponds in form to every form,
and yet is outside.
KathU 2.2.9
As the material form of fire,
when latent in its source,
is not perceived--
and yet its subtle form
is not destroyed,
but may be seized again
in its fuel-source--
So truly both (the universal Brahma
& the individual Soul)
are (to be seized) in the body
by means of (the meditation word) AUM.
Making one's body the lower friction stick,
and AUM the upper stick,
practicing the drill of meditative absorption,
one may see the god,
hidden as it were.
SvU 1.13-14
One interesting development in this stratum of the Vedic literature
is the positive sense in which it comes to regard extinguished fire.
The Vedic hymns & earlier Upanishads saw burning fire as a positive
force, the essence of life & vitality. These texts, though, see the
tranquillity & inactivity of the extinguished fire as an ideal image
for the soul's desired destination.
To that God, illumined by his own intellect,
do I, desiring liberation, resort for refuge--
to him without parts,
without activity,
tranquil,
impeccable, spotless,
the highest bridge to the deathless,
like a fire with fuel consumed.
SvU 6.18-19
As fire through loss of fuel
grows still (extinguished) in its own source,
so thought by loss of activeness
grows still in its own source...
For by tranquillity of thought
one destroys
good & evil karma.
With tranquil soul, stayed on the Soul,
one enjoys
unending ease.
MaiU 6.34
Whether this re-evaluation of the image of fire--seeing its
extinguishing as preferable to its burning--predated the founding of
Buddhism, was influenced by it, or simply paralleled it, no one can
say for sure, as there are no firm dates for any of the Upanishads.
At any rate, in both stages of the Vedic attitude towards fire, the
thought of a fire going out carried no connotations of going out of
existence at all. Instead, it implied a return to an omnipresent,
immortal state. This has led some scholars to assume that, in using
the image of an extinguished fire to illustrate the goal he taught,
the Buddha was simply adopting the Vedic position wholesale and meant
it to carry the same implications as the last quotation above: a
pleasant eternal existence for a tranquil soul.
But when we look at how the Buddha actually used the image of
extinguished fire in his teachings, we find that he approached the
Vedic idea of latent fire from another angle entirely: If latent fire
is everywhere all at once, it is nowhere in particular. If it is
conceived as always present in everything, it has to be so loosely
defined that it has no defining characteristics, nothing by which it
might be known at all. Thus, instead of using the subsistence of
latent fire as an image for immortality, he uses the diffuse,
indeterminate nature of extinguished fire as understood by the Vedists
to illustrate the absolute indescribability of the person who has
reached the Buddhist goal.
Just as the destination of a glowing fire
struck with a (blacksmith's) iron hammer,
gradually growing calm,
is not known:
Even so, there is no destination to describe
for those who are rightly released
--having crossed over the flood
of sensuality's bonds--
for those who have attained
unwavering ease.
Ud viii.10
'But, Venerable Gotama (the Brahman, Aggivessana
Vacchagotta, is addressing the Buddha), the monk whose mind
is thus released: Where does he reappear?'
'"Reappear," Vaccha, doesn't apply.'
'In that case, Venerable Gotama, he does not reappear.'
'"Does not reappear," Vaccha, doesn't apply.'
'...both does & does not reappear.'
'...doesn't apply.'
'...Neither does nor does not reappear.'
'...doesn't apply.'...
'At this point, Venerable Gotama, I am befuddled; at this
point, confused. The modicum of clarity coming to me from
your earlier conversation is now obscured.'
'Of course you're befuddled, Vaccha. Of course you're
confused. Deep, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see,
hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of
conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. For
those with other views, other satisfactions, other aims,
other teachers, it is difficult to know. That being the
case, I will now put some questions to you. Answer as you
see fit. How do you construe this, Vaccha: If a fire were
burning in front of you, would you know that, "This fire is
burning in front of me"?'
'...yes...'
'And suppose someone were to ask you, Vaccha, "This fire
burning in front of you, dependent on what is it burning?"
Thus asked, how would you reply?'
'...I would reply, "This fire burning in front of me is
burning dependent on grass & timber as its sustenance."'
'If the fire burning in front of you were to go out, would
you know that, "This fire burning in front of me has gone
out"?'
'...yes...'
'And suppose someone were to ask you, "This fire that has
gone out in front of you, in which direction from here has
it gone? East? West? North? Or south?" Thus asked, how
would you reply?'
'That doesn't apply, Venerable Gotama. Any fire burning
dependent on a sustenance of grass and timber, being
unnourished--from having consumed that sustenance and not
being offered any other--is classified simply as "out"
(nibbuto).'
'Even so, Vaccha, any physical form by which one describing
the Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata has
abandoned, its root destroyed, like an uprooted palm tree,
deprived of the conditions of existence, not destined for
future arising. Freed from the classification of form,
Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard-to-fathom,
like the sea. "Reappears" does not apply. "Does not
reappear" does not apply. "Both does & does not reappear"
does not apply. "Neither reappears nor does not reappear"
does not apply.
'Any feeling...Any perception...Any mental process...
'Any act of consciousness by which one describing the
Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata has
abandoned...Freed from the classification of consciousness,
Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard-to-fathom,
like the sea.'
M 72
The person who has attained the goal is thus indescribable because
he/she has abandoned all things by which he/she could be described.
This point is asserted in even more thoroughgoing fashion in a pair of
dialogues where two inexperienced monks who have attempted to describe
the state of the Tathagata after death are cross-examined on the
matter by Sariputta & the Buddha himself.
Sariputta: How do you construe this, my friend Yamaka: Do
you regard form as the Tathagata?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard feeling as the Tathagata?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: ...perception...?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: ...mental processes...?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: ...consciousness...?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard the Tathagata as being in form?
Elsewhere than form? In feeling? Elsewhere than feeling?
In perception? Elsewhere than perception? In mental
processes? Elsewhere than mental processes? In
consciousness? Elsewhere than consciousness?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard the Tathagata as
form-feeling-perception-mental processes-cognizance?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is
without form, without feeling, without perception, without
mental processes, without cognizance?
Yamaka: No, sir.
Sariputta: And so, my friend Yamaka--when you do not
ascertain the Tathagata even in the present life--is it
proper for you to declare, 'As I understand the Teaching
explained by the Exalted One, a monk with no more (mental)
effluents, on the break-up of the body, is annihilated,
perishes & does not exist after death'?
Yamaka: Previously, friend Sariputta, I did foolishly hold
that evil supposition. But now, having heard the Venerable
Sariputta's explanation of the Teaching, I have abandoned
that evil supposition, and the Teaching has become clear.
Sariputta: Then, friend Yamaka, how would you answer if you
are thus asked: A monk, a worthy one, with no more mental
effluents, what is he on the break-up of the body, after
death?
Yamaka: Thus asked, I would answer, 'Form...feeling...
perception...mental processes...consciousness are
inconstant. That which is inconstant is stressful. That
which is stressful has stopped and gone to its end.'
S xxii.85
The Buddha puts the same series of questions to the monk Anuradha
who--knowing that the Tathagata after death could not be described in
terms of existence, non-existence, both or neither--had attempted to
describe the Tathagata in other terms. After receiving the same
answers as Yamaka had given Sariputta, the Buddha concludes:
'And so, Anuradha--when you do not ascertain the Tathagata
even in the present life--is it proper for you to declare,
"Friend, the Tathagata--the supreme man, the superlative
man, attainer of the superlative attainment--being
described, is described otherwise than with these four
positions: The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist
after death, both does & does not exist after death, neither
exists nor does not exist after death"?'
'No, venerable sir.'
'Very good, Anuradha. Both formerly & now, Anuradha, it is
only stress that I describe, and the stopping of stress.'
S xxii.86
Thus none of the four alternatives--reappearing/existing, not
reappearing/existing, both, & neither--cannot apply to the Tathagata
after death, because even in this lifetime there is no way of defining
or identifying what the Tathagata is.
To identify a person by the contents of his or her mind--such
things as feelings, perceptions, or mental processes--there would have
to be a way of knowing what those contents are. In ordinary cases,
the texts say, this is possible through either of two cognitive skills
that a meditator can develop through the practice of meditation, and
that beings on higher planes of existence can also share: the ability
to know where a living being is reborn after death, and the ability to
know another being's thoughts.
In both skills the knowledge is made possible by the fact that the
ordinary mind exists in a state of dependency on its objects. When a
being is reborn, its consciousness has to become established at a
certain point: This point is what a master of the first skill
perceives. When the ordinary mind thinks, it needs a mental object
to act as a prop or support (arammana) for its thoughts: This support
is what a master of the second skill perceives. The mind of a person
who has attained the goal, though, is free from all dependencies, and
so offers no means by which a master of either skill can perceive it.
Then the Blessed One went with a large number of monks to
the Black Rock on the slope of Isigili. From afar he saw
Ven. Vakkali lying dead on a couch. Now at that time a
smokiness, a darkness was moving to the east, moved to the
west, moved to the north, the south, above, below, moved to
the intermediate directions. The Blessed One said, 'Monks,
do you see that smokiness, that darkness...?'
'Yes, Lord.'
'That is Mara*, the Evil One. He is searching for the
consciousness of Vakkali the Clansman: "Where is the
consciousness of Vakkali the Clansman established?" But,
monks, it is through unestablished consciousness that
Vakkali the Clansman has attained total nibbana.'
S xxii.87
(The Buddha describes the meditative state of a person who has
achieved the goal and is experiencing a foretaste of nibbana after
death while still alive. We will discuss the nature of this
meditative state below. Here, though, we are interested in how this
person appears to those who would normally be able to fathom another
person's mind.)
There is the case, Sandha, where for an excellent
thoroughbred of a man the perception of earth with regard to
earth has ceased to exist; the perception of liquid with
regard to liquid...the perception of heat with regard to
heat...the perception of wind with regard to wind...the
perception of the sphere of the infinitude of space with
regard to the sphere of the infinitude of space...the
perception of the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness
with regard to the sphere of the infinitude of
consciousness...the perception of the sphere of nothingness
with regard to the sphere of nothingness...the perception of
the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception with
regard to the sphere of neither perception nor
non-perception...the perception of this world with regard to
this world...the next world with regard to the next
world...and whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized,
attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: the
perception with regard even to that has ceased to exist.
Meditating in this way, the excellent thoroughbred of a man
meditates dependent neither on earth, liquid, heat, wind,
the sphere of the infinitude of space, the sphere of the
infinitude of consciousness, the sphere of nothingness, the
sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, this world,
the next world, nor on whatever is seen, heard, sensed,
cognized, attained, sought after or pondered by the
intellect--and yet he does meditate. And to this excellent
thoroughbred of a man, meditating in this way, the gods,
together with Indra, the Brahmas & their chief queens, pay
homage even from afar:
Homage to you, O thoroughbred man.
Homage to you, O superlative man--
of whom we have no direct knowledge
even by means of what it is
you meditate dependent on.
A xi.9
Thus the mind that has attained the goal cannot be known or
described from the outside because it is completely free of any
dependency--any support or object inside it--by which it might be
known. This point forms the context for the dialogue in which the
Brahman Upasiva asks the Buddha about the person who attains the goal.
Upasiva:
And does he stand firm there, unaffected
All-seeing for many years?
Right there would he be cooled & released?
Would (his) consciousness be of such a sort?
The Buddha:
As a flame overthrown by the force of the wind
Goes to an end that cannot be classified,
So the sage freed from naming (mental) activity
Goes to an end that cannot be classified.
Upasiva:
He who has reached the end:
Does he not exist,
Or is he for eternity free from affliction?
Please, sage, declare this to me
as this phenomenon has been known by you.
The Buddha:
One who has reached the end has no criterion
By which anyone would say that--
it does not exist for him.
When all phenomena are done away with
All means of speaking are done away with as well.
Sn v.6
The important term in the last verse is pamana: 'criterion'. It
is a pregnant term, with meanings both in philosophical and in
ordinary usage. In philosophical discourse, it refers to a means of
knowledge or a standard used to assess the validity of an assertion or
object. In the Buddha's time, and later, various schools of thought
specialized in discussing the nature and role of such criteria, and
the Maitri Upanishad contains one of their basic tenets:
Because of its precision, this (the course of the sun
through the zodiac) is the criterion for time. For without a
criterion, there is no ascertaining the things to be
assessed.
MaiU 6.14
Thus when a mind has abandoned all phenomena, there is no means or
criterion by which anyone else could know or say anything about it.
This much is obvious. But the verse also seems to be saying that the
goal is indescribable from the inside--for the person experiencing
it--as well. First, the verse is in answer to Upasiva's inquiry into
the goal as the Buddha has known it. Secondly, the line, 'it does not
exist for him,' can mean not only that the person experiencing the
goal offers no criteria to the outside by which anyone else might
describe him/her, but also that the experience offers no criteria from
the inside for describing it either. And as we have already noted,
the outside criteria by which a person might be described are
determined precisely by what is there inside that person's mind.
Thus, for the person experiencing the goal, there would not even be
any means of knowing whether or not there was a person having the
experience. There would simply be the experience in & of itself.
This is where the ordinary meaning of pamana--as limit or
measurement--comes in. This meaning goes back to the Vedic hymns.
There, the act of measuring is seen as an essential part of the
process of the creation (or 'building,' like a house) of the cosmos.
In one Rg Vedic hymn (X.129), for example, the creation of mind is
followed by the appearance of a horizontal limit or measuring line
separating male from female (heaven from earth). From this line, the
rest of the cosmos is laid out.
So to say that no criterion/measurement/limit exists for the person
experiencing the goal means that the person's experience is totally
free of all the most elementary perceptions & distinctions that
underlie our knowledge of the cosmos. And the word "free"--one of the
few the Buddha uses in a straightforward way to describe the mind that
has attained the goal--thus carries two meanings: free from
dependency, as we have already seen, and free from limitations, even
of the most abstruse & subtlest sort.
This second reading of the verse--dealing with the limitlessness &
undescribability of the goal for the person experiencing it--is
supported by a number of other passages in the Pali Canon referring
explicitly to the inner experience of the goal.
Consciousness without feature, without end
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the stopping
of (the activity of) consciousness,
each is here brought to an end.
D 11
There is, monks, that sphere where there is neither earth
nor water, nor fire nor wind, nor sphere of the infinitude
of space, nor sphere of the infinitude of consciousness, nor
sphere of nothingness, nor sphere of neither perception nor
non-perception, nor this world, nor the next world, nor sun,
nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming nor
going nor stasis, nor passing away nor arising: without
stance, without foundation, without support (mental object).
This, just this, is the end of stress.
Ud viii.1
Where water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing:
There the stars do not shine,
the sun is not visible,
the moon does not appear,
darkness is not found.
And when a sage, a worthy one, through sagacity
has known (this) for himself,
Then from form & formless,
from pleasure & pain,
He is freed.
Ud ii.10
Consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all
around, does not partake of the solidity of earth, the
liquidity of water, the radiance of fire, the windiness of
wind, the divinity of devas (and so on through a list of the
various levels of godhood to) the allness of the All.
M 49
The phrase 'does not partake of the allness of the All' can best be
understood with reference to the following three passages:
What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose
& odors, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations,
intellect & ideas. This, monks, is termed the All. Anyone
who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe
another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds
for his statement, would be unable to explain, and
furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies
beyond range.
S xxxv.23
If the six senses & their objects--sometimes called the six spheres
of contact--constitute the All, is there anything beyond the All?
MahaKotthita: With the remainderless stopping & fading of
the six spheres of contact (vision, hearing, smell, taste,
touch, & intellection) is it the case that there is anything
else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: With the remainderless stopping & fading of
the six spheres of contact, is it the case that there is not
anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: ...is it the case that there both is & is not
anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: ...is it the case that there neither is nor is
not anything else?
Sariputta: Do not say that, my friend.
MahaKotthita: Being asked...if there is anything else, you
say, 'Do not say that, my friend'. Being asked...if there
is not anything else...if there both is & is not anything
else... if there neither is nor is not anything else, you
say, 'Do not say that, my friend'. Now, how is the meaning
of this statement to be understood?
Sariputta: Saying...is it the case that there is anything
else... is it the case that there is not anything else...is
it the case that there both is & is not anything else...is
it the case the there neither is nor is not anything else,
one is differentiating non-differentiation. However far the
six spheres of contact go, that is how far differentiation
goes. However far differentiation goes, that is how far the
six spheres of contact go. With the remainderless fading &
stopping of the six spheres of contact, there comes to be
the stopping, the allaying of differentiation.
A iv.173
The sphere of non-differentiation, although it may not be
described, may be realized through direct experience.
Monks, that sphere should be realized where the eye (vision)
stops and the perception (mental noting) of form fades.
That sphere is to be realized where the ear stops and the
perception of sound fades...where the nose stops and the
perception of odor fades...where the tongue stops and the
perception of flavor fades...where the body stops and the
perception of tactile sensation fades...where the intellect
stops and the perception of idea/phenomenon fades: That
sphere should be realized.
S xxxv.116
This experience of the goal--absolutely unlimited freedom, beyond
classification and exclusive of all else--is termed the elemental
nibbana property with no 'fuel' remaining (anupadisesa-nibbana-dhatu).
It is one of two ways in which nibbana is experienced, the distinction
between the two being expressed as follows:
Monks, there are these two forms of the nibbana property.
What two? The nibbana property with fuel remaining, and the
nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
And what is the nibbana property with fuel remaining? There
is the case where a monk is a worthy one devoid of mental
effluents, who has attained completion, finished the task,
laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the
bonds of becoming, and is released through right knowledge.
His five sense faculties still remain, and owing to their
being intact, he is cognizant of the pleasant & the
unpleasant, and is sensitive to pleasure & pain. That which
is the passing away of passion, aversion, & delusion in him
is termed the nibbana property with fuel remaining.
And what is the nibbana property with no fuel remaining?
There is the case where a monk is a worthy one...released
through right knowledge. All that is sensed by him, being
unrelished, will grow cold right here. This is termed the
nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
Iti 44
The phrase referring to the range of feeling as 'growing cold right
here' is a set expression describing death as experienced by one who
has reached the goal. The verse following this passage states
explicitly that this is what is meant here.
These two
nibbana properties
proclaimed by the one with vision
the one independent
the one who is Such:
one property, here in this life
with fuel remaining
from the ending of craving,
the guide to becoming
and that with no fuel remaining
after this life
in which all becoming
stops completely.
Those who know this state uncompounded
their minds released
through the ending of craving,
the guide to becoming,
they, attaining the Teaching's core,
delighting in the depletion of craving,
have abandoned all becoming:
They, the Such.
Iti 44
The Verses of the Elder Udayin suggest a simile to illustrate the
distinction between these two nibbana properties:
A great blazing fire
unnourished grows calm
And while its embers exist
is said to be out:
Conveying a meaning,
this image is taught by the cognizant.
Great Nagas* will recognize
the Naga as taught by the Naga
As free from passion
free from aversion
free from delusion
without mental effluent.
His body discarded, the Naga
will go totally out
without effluent.
Thag xv.2
Here Ven. Udayin compares the nibbana property with fuel
remaining--the state of being absolutely free from passion, aversion,
& delusion--to a fire whose flames have died out, but whose embers are
still glowing. Although he does not complete the analogy, he seems to
imply that the nibbana property without fuel remaining--when the
Worthy One discards his body at death--is like a fire so totally out
that its embers have grown cold.
Thus the completely free & unadulterated experience we have been
discussing is that of nibbana after death. There are, though, states
of concentration which give a foretaste of this experience in the
present life and which enabled the Buddha to say that he taught the
goal on the basis of direct knowledge.
Ananda: In what way, venerable sir, might a monk attain
concentration of such a form that he would have neither the
perception of earth with regard to earth, nor of water with
regard to water, nor of fire...wind...the sphere of the
infinitude of space...the sphere of the infinitude of
consciousness...the sphere of the infinitude of
nothingness... the sphere of neither perception nor
non-perception...this world...nor of the next world with
regard to the next world, and yet he would still be
percipient?
The Buddha: There is the case, Ananda, where he would be
percipient of this: 'This is peace, this is exquisite--the
resolution of all mental processes; the relinquishment of
all the paraphernalia of becoming; the ending of craving;
dispassion; stopping; nibbana.'
A x.6
(Ananda puts the same question to Sariputta, who responds that he
himself once had experienced such a concentration.)
Ananda: But what were you percipient of at that time?
Sariputta: 'The stopping of becoming--nibbana--the stopping
of becoming--nibbana': One perception arose in me as
another perception stopped. Just as in a blazing woodchip
fire, one flame arises as another flame disappears, even so,
'The stopping of becoming--nibbana--the stopping of
becoming--nibbana': One perception arose in me as another
one stopped. I was percipient of the stopping of
becoming--nibbana.
A x.7
Ananda: It is amazing, my friend, it is marvelous, how the
Master has attained & recognized the opportunity for the
purification of beings...and the direct realization of
nibbana, where the eye will be, and forms, and yet one will
not be sensitive to that sphere; where the ear will be, and
sounds...where the nose will be, and odors...where the
tongue will be, and flavors...where the body will be, and
tactile sensations...where the intellect will be, and ideas,
and yet one will not be sensitive to that sphere.
Udayin: Is one insensitive to that sphere with or without a
perception in mind?
Ananda: ...with a perception in mind...
Udayin: ...what perception?
Ananda: There is the case where with the complete
transcending of perceptions dealing with form, and the
passing away of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding
perceptions of diversity, thinking, 'infinite space,' one
remains in the sphere of the infinitude of space: Having
this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that
sphere.
Further, with the complete transcending of the sphere of the
infinitude of space, thinking, 'infinite consciousness,' one
remains in the sphere of the infinitude of consciousness:
Having this perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that
sphere.
Further, with the complete transcending of the sphere of the
infinitude of consciousness, thinking, 'There is nothing,'
one remains in the sphere of nothingness: Having this
perception in mind, one is not sensitive to that sphere.
Once, friend, when I was staying in Saketa at the Game
Refuge in the Black Forest, the nun Jatila Bhagika went to
where I was staying, and on arrival--having bowed to
me--stood to one side. As soon as she had stood to one
side, she said to me: 'The concentration whereby--neither
pressed down nor forced back, nor with mental processes kept
blocked or suppressed--still as a result of release,
contented as a result of stillness, and as a result of
contentment one is not agitated: This concentration is said
by the Master to be the fruit of what?'
I said to her, '...This concentration is said by the Master
to be the fruit of gnosis (the knowledge of Awakening).'
Having this sort of perception, friend, one is not sensitive
to that sphere.
A ix.37
In this extraordinary state of mental poise--neither pressed,
forced, blocked, or suppressed--nibbana in the present life is
experienced as freedom from all perception dealing with the six
sensory spheres & the spheres of meditative absorption. Although one
is conscious, and these spheres are present, one does not partake of
them.
On the level of ordinary sensory experience, however, nibbana in
the present life is experienced by the Worthy One as the passing away
of passion, aversion, & delusion. This implies that these three
states are analogous to fire; and as we saw in the Introduction, they
are directly referred to as fires at various points in the Canon. On
the surface, the notion of passion & aversion as fires hardly requires
explanation, but in order to gain a fuller appreciation of the
analogies that the Canon draws between fire on the one hand, and
passion, aversion, & delusion on the other, we first need some
background on the specifically Buddhist views on fire it contains.
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