The two elements of nibbana ⏳
The Nikayas often speak of two “elements of Nibbana,” the Nibbana element with residue remaining and the Nibbana element without residue remaining. The Nibbana element with residue remaining is described as the destruction of the three unwholesome roots while the Arahant is still alive. the “residue” is the composite of the five aggregates that was brought into being by the ignorance and craving from the previous life and that must continue on until the end of the lifespan. As for the Nibbana element without residue remaining, it is described as the passing away of the Arahant in which afterwords all that is felt, not being delighted in, will become cool right there. Since there is no more clinging to the five aggregates and no more craving for a new existence with a fresh set of aggregates, the occurance of the aggregates comes to an end and cannot continue, the process of the aggregates is extinguished (the literal meaning of Nibbana).
The Buddha, however, says nothing at all in terms of exitstence or nonexistence, the condition of the Arahant after death. It might seem logical that The five aggregates completely cease with the attainment of the Nibbana element without residue. The element itself must be a state of complete nonexistence, a state of nothingness. Yet no text within The Nikayas ever states this. To the contrary, they often refer to Nibbana in terms of actualities. It is an element, a base, a reality, a state, and so on. However, it is qualified in ways that indicate this state ultimately lies beyond all familiar categories and concepts. In a discourse within The Nikayas, the wanderer Vacchagotta asks The Buddha whether the Tathāgata is reborn or not after death. The Buddha refuses to concede any of the four alternatives. To say that the Tathāgata is reborn, is not reborn, both is and is not reborn, and neither is nor is not reborn—none of these is acceptable, for all accept the term Tathāgata as indicative of a real being, while from an internal point of view a Tathāgata has given up all clinging to notions of a real being. The Buddha illustrates this point with the simile of an extinguished fire. Just as a fire that has been extinguished cannot be said to have gone anywhere but must simply be said to have “gone out,” so too with the breakup of the body the Tathāgata does not go anywhere but has simply “gone out.” However, if this simile is interpreted as a Buddhist version of annihilationism, then this impression would rest on a misunderstanding of the Arahant as a “self” or “person” that is annihilated (see identity view). Our problem with understanding the state of the Tathāgata after death is compounded by our difficulty understanding the state of the Tathāgata while alive. The Buddhas simile of the great ocean underscores this difficulty. Since the Tathāgata no longer identifies with the five aggregates that constitute individual identity, he cannot be reckoned in terms of them, individually or collectively. Freed from reckoning in terms of the five aggregates, the Tathāgata transcends our understanding. Like a vast ocean, he is “deep, immesurable, and hard to fathom”.
References
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Bodhi, Bhikkhu. (2005). In the Buddha’s Words An Anthology of Discourses From the Pali Canon Chapter IX. SHINING THE LIGHT OF WISDOM (Location 5512). Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications.
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Itivuttaka 44; 38
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Majjhima Nikaya 72: Aggivacchagotta Sutta; I 486–88
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Type:🔵 Tags: Philosophy / Psychology Status:☀️