The concluding passage of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta gives a “prediction” of realization within a variable time period. The passage reads:
If anyone should develop these four satipaṭṭhānas in such a way for seven years ... six years ... five years ... four years ... three years ... two years ... one year ... seven months ... six months ... five months ... four months ... three months ... two months ... one month ... half a month ... seven days, one of two fruits could be expected for him: either final knowledge here and now, or, if there is a trace of clinging left, non-returning. So it was with reference to this that it was said:
Monks, this is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of dukkha and discontent, for acquiring the true method, for the realization of Nibbāna, namely, the four satipaṭṭhānas.1
I will first examine this prediction and discuss whether the progress towards realization is “gradual” or “sudden”. In the remainder of this chapter I will try to explore some ideas, perspectives, and suggestions on the goal of satipaṭṭhāna mentioned in the above passage, the “realization of Nibbāna”.
According to the above prediction, satipaṭṭhāna practice has the potential to lead to the higher two of the four stages of awakening, non-returning and arahantship. The fact that this passage speaks immediately of the two higher stages of realization underlines the thoroughness of satipaṭṭhāna as the “direct path” to Nibbāna, drawing attention to its capability of leading “at least” to the eradication of the five lower fetters (saṃyojana), and therewith to complete freedom from sensual desire and aversion.2
The other notable feature of this prediction is the variation in the length of time for satipaṭṭhāna practice to bear fruit.3 Apparently, even someone of inferior ability can gain freedom from desire and aversion within a maximum of seven years, while someone of superior ability can do so within only seven days.4 However, in evaluating this prediction it needs to be kept in mind that the number seven might have a more symbolic character in this context, indicating simply a complete period or cycle of time.5
The prediction to realization in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama allows for even quicker awakening than the Pāli discourses, suggesting that realization can occur in the evening even if practice has begun only that same morning.6 The possibility of such instant realization through satipaṭṭhāna, within just one day or night, is also recognized by the Pāli commentaries,7 while the discourses state this only in relation to the five “factors of striving” (pañca padhāniyaṅga).8
The variations in the time periods for satipaṭṭhāna to bear fruit suggest that the decisive breakthrough to realization can happen at any time during correct practice. That is, once sati is well established (supatiṭṭhita), every moment is pregnant with potential awakening.
This raises the question of the extent to which progress to realization follows a “gradual” pattern, as against an unexpected “sudden” breakthrough to awakening.9
According to the discourses, it is impossible to measure exactly the quantity of defilements eradicated during a day of practice, just as a carpenter cannot measure the extent to which the handle of his adze has worn out during a day of use.10 Nevertheless, just as after repeated use a carpenter will realize that the handle has worn out, so will a meditator, after repeated practice, realize that the defilements are growing weaker and are being eradicated. This simile indicates a gradual, though not precisely measurable, progress towards realization.
The gradual nature of the progress towards realization is in fact a recurring theme in the discourses.11 They explain that progress in the practice of the Dhamma deepens gradually, in a way comparable to the gradual deepening of the ocean.12 A passage in the Aṅguttara Nikāya illustrates the gradual character of the process of purification with the example of gradually refining gold, where at first gross and middling impurities are removed, followed by finer impurities.13 Similarly, in the realm of mental culture one at first removes the gross types of impurities, and is only then able to proceed to subtler levels.
Another simile compares the practice of the threefold training in ethical conduct (sīla), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā) to a farmer, who has to plant and water his crop in due time.14 Neither the farmer nor a practitioner of the threefold training has the magical power to say: “let my effort ripen now and bear fruit”, yet their constant effort will bring about the desired results. This simile indicates that progress to awakening follows a natural dynamic, comparable to the growth of plants in nature.
Another canonical illustration of the progress towards realization is that of a hen sitting on her eggs. In due course the hen’s unrelenting sitting on her eggs will lead to the hatching of the chicks, just as, in due course, a practitioner’s unrelenting practice will lead to realization.15 The chicks’ sudden emergence from their shells depends on a gradual process of inner development through the hen incubating the eggs. Similarly, the sudden breakthrough to Nibbāna depends on a gradual process of inner development and mental cultivation. Just as the hen cannot directly cause the chicks to break their shells, the breakthrough to Nibbāna cannot be directly made to happen. Both will occur in their own time, if the necessary conditions are in place.
These passages clearly indicate that progress to awakening follows a gradual course. On the other hand, however, several realizations of stream-entry described in the discourses take place in a rather “sudden” manner, usually while listening to a discourse given by the Buddha. On considering these instances it seems almost as if to hear a discourse were sufficient for awakening, without much need to develop concentration gradually and engage in insight meditation.16 Here, however, it needs to be taken into consideration that if someone had realized stream-entry while meditating alone and in seclusion, this did not occasion a discourse and therefore was not recorded later.17 But when someone realized stream-entry while listening to the Buddha, the circumstances of the event caused it to become part of the later reported discourse. Thus it is to be expected that mainly the latter type of stream-entry realizations are recorded in the discourses. The same discourses do in fact document the potential for insight meditation to lead to the realization of stream-entry, which would be a meaningless statement if stream-entry were to depend solely on listening to a discourse.18 Besides, if simply listening to and understanding a discourse were sufficient for realization, the Buddha would not have given so many exhortations to meditate.19
A fairly condensed version of the gradual path can be found in one instance when a layman, despite being slightly drunk, was nevertheless able to gain stream-entry. On meeting the Buddha for the first time, this man sobered up and, after receiving a gradual discourse, he then and there realized stream-entry.20 In this particular case, the impact of personally meeting the Buddha was apparently so powerful that the breakthrough to stream-entry could take place, in spite of the fact that just a few moments earlier he had been inebriated. This layman is not the only such case, for the discourses also report the attainment of stream-entry at the time of death by another layman, who during his lifetime had been unable to abstain from alcohol.21 A closer consideration of this discourse suggests that this layman was probably someone who had earlier progressed so far on the path that stream-entry had to take place (at the latest) at death, despite the fact that in the meantime his ethical foundation had deteriorated.22
“Sudden” experiences of awakening can even lead all the way to arahantship. A case in point is the ascetic Bāhiya, whose full awakening came within minutes of his first meeting with the Buddha, immediately after receiving a short but penetrative instruction.23 Bāhiya is certainly a prototype for “sudden” awakening. From consideration of the background to his awakening it becomes apparent that Bāhiya’s gradual development took place outside the Buddhist scheme of training. At the time of his encounter with the Buddha, Bāhiya already possessed a high degree of spiritual maturity, so that the brief instructions he received were sufficient to trigger a complete breakthrough.24
Most of the instances mentioned so far reveal the powerful influence of the Buddha’s personal presence, which provided a potent catalyst for realization. On further perusing the discourses, additional examples of at times remarkably “sudden” realizations can be found. In an all-out attempt to reach realization, Ānanda finally gained full awakening at precisely the moment when he had given up striving and was about to lie down to rest.25 Elsewhere, a nun, and on another occasion a monk, both on the verge of committing suicide, were “saved”, as it were, by awakening.26 The commentaries even recount the story of an acrobat who gained realization while balancing on the top of his pole.27 All these instances demonstrate the sudden and unpredictable nature of the event of awakening. They show that, although a gradual progress towards realization is the rule, the time required for such gradual preparation to bear fruit varies greatly according to the individual. This is also a central implication of the different time periods listed in the prediction of realization at the close of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Thus early Buddhism proposes a gradual development as the necessary preparation for an eventual sudden breakthrough to realization. Viewing the path in this way, as a combination of these two aspects, reconciles the apparent contradiction between the frequently recurring emphasis in the discourses on the need for a particular type of conduct and for the development of knowledge, while other passages show that the realization of Nibbāna is not simply the result of conduct or knowledge.28
Not only is it impossible to predict the precise moment when realization will take place, but, from the viewpoint of actual practice, even the gradual progress towards realization does not necessarily unfold uniformly. Instead, most practitioners experience a cyclic succession of progression and regression, oscillating within a fairly broad spectrum.29 If these recurring cycles are considered within a longer time frame, however, they reveal a slow but consistent gradual development, with an ever-increasing potential to culminate in a sudden realization of Nibbāna. To the implications of such a realization I will now turn in more detail.
XIV.2 NIBBĀNA AND ITS ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS
Taken in its literal sense, “Nibbāna” refers to the going out of a lamp or a fire. The image of an extinguished lamp occurs in fact several times in the discourses as a description of the experience of Nibbāna.30 The corresponding verb nibbāyati means “to be extinguished” or “to become cool”. Such extinction is probably best understood in a passive sense, when the fires of lust, aversion, and delusion become cool through lack of fuel.31 The metaphor of an extinguished fire in its ancient Indian context has nuances of calmness, independence, and release.32
Judging by the evidence in the discourses, contemporary ascetics and philosophers used the term Nibbāna with predominantly positive connotations. The Brahmajāla Sutta, for example, lists five positions advocating Nibbāna “here and now”, which were five different conceptions of happiness: the pleasures of worldly sensuality and of the four levels of absorption.33 Another discourse reports a wanderer taking “Nibbāna” to refer to health and mental well-being.34 Similar positive connotations underlie the standard definition in the Pāli discourses, according to which Nibbāna stands for freedom from the unwholesome mental roots of lust, anger, and delusion.35
This definition highlights in particular the ethical implications of realizing Nibbāna. These ethical implications require further examination, since at times realization of Nibbāna has been taken to imply the transcendence of ethical values.36 Such transcendence seems, at first sight, to be advocated in the Samaṇamaṇḍikā Sutta, since this discourse associates awakening with the complete cessation of wholesome ethical conduct.37 On similar lines, other passages in the Pāli canon speak in praise of going beyond both “good” and “evil”.38
Taking the passage from the Samaṇamaṇḍikā Sutta first, a close examination of the discourse reveals that this particular statement does not refer to the abandoning of ethical conduct, but only to the fact that arahants no longer identify with their virtuous behaviour.39 Regarding the other passages, which speak of “going beyond good and evil”, one needs to distinguish clearly between the Pāli terms translated as “good”, which can be either kusala or puñña. Although the two terms cannot be completely separated from each other in canonical usage, they often carry quite distinct meanings.40 While puñña mostly denotes deeds of positive merit, kusala includes any type of wholesomeness, including the realization of Nibbāna.41
What arahants have “gone beyond” is the accumulation of karma. They have transcended the generation of “good” (puñña) and of its opposite “evil” (pāpa). But the same cannot be said of wholesomeness (kusala). In fact, by eradicating all unwholesome (akusala) states of mind, arahants become the highest embodiment of wholesomeness (kusala). So much is this the case that, as indicated in the Samaṇamaṇḍikā Sutta, they are spontaneously virtuous and do not even identify with their virtue.
Nibbāna, at least as understood by the Buddha, has quite definite ethical implications. Arahants are simply unable to commit an immoral act, since with their full realization of Nibbāna, all unwholesome states of mind have been extinguished.42 The presence of any unwholesome thought, speech, or deed would therefore directly contradict the claim to being an arahant.
In the Vīmaṃsaka Sutta, the Buddha applied this principle even to himself, openly inviting prospective disciples to examine his claim to full awakening by thoroughly investigating and observing his behaviour and deeds.43 Only if no trace of unwholesomeness was found, he explained, would it be reasonable for them to place their confidence in him as a teacher. Even a Buddha should exemplify his teachings by his deeds, as indeed he did. That which the Buddha taught was in complete conformity with his behaviour.44 This was so much the case that even after his full awakening the Buddha still engaged in those activities of restraint and careful consideration that had brought about purification in the first place.45 If the Buddha made himself measurable by common standards of ethical purity, there is little scope for finding moral double-standards in his teaching.
Even if awakening takes place only at the level of stream-entry, the experience of Nibbāna still has definite ethical consequences. A major consequence of realizing stream-entry is that stream-enterers become unable to commit a breach of ethical conduct serious enough to lead to a lower rebirth.46 Although they have not yet reached the level of ethical perfection of the Buddha or an arahant, the first realization of Nibbāna has already caused an irreversible ethical change.
In order to provide additional perspectives on Nibbāna, I will now briefly consider some canonical descriptions of it.
XIV.3 THE EARLY BUDDHIST CONCEPTION OF NIBBĀNA
The early Buddhist conception of Nibbāna was not easily understood by contemporary ascetics and philosophers. The Buddha’s consistent refusal to go along with any of the four standard propositions about the survival or the annihilation of an arahant after death was rather bewildering to his contemporaries.47 According to the Buddha, to entertain these different propositions was as futile as to speculate about the direction in which a fire had departed once it had gone out.48
The Buddha found the existing ways of describing a state of realization or awakening inadequate to his realization.49 His understanding of Nibbāna constituted a radical departure from the conceptions of the time. He was well aware of this himself, and after his awakening he immediately reflected on the difficulty of conveying what he had realized to others.50
Despite these difficulties, the Buddha did try to explain the nature of Nibbāna on several occasions. In the Udāna, for instance, he spoke of Nibbāna as something beyond this world or another world, beyond coming, going, or staying, beyond the four elements representing material reality, and also beyond all immaterial realms. This “sphere” (āyatana), he pointed out, objectless and without any support, constitutes “the end of suffering”.51 This description shows that
Nibbāna refers to a dimension completely different from ordinary experiences of the world, and also different from experiences of meditative absorption.
Other discourses refer to such a totally different experience as a “non-manifestative” consciousness.52 A related nuance comes up in a somewhat poetic passage that compares the “unstationed” consciousness of an arahant to a ray of sunlight passing through the window of a room without an opposing wall: the ray does not land anywhere.53
Another discourse in the Udāna describes Nibbāna with the help of a set of past participles as “not-born” (a-jāta), “not-become” (a-bhūta), “not-made” (a-kata), and “not-conditioned” (a-saṅkhata).54 This passage again emphasizes that Nibbāna is completely “other”, in that it is not born or made, not produced or conditioned. It is owing to this “otherness” that Nibbāna constitutes freedom from birth (jāti), becoming (bhava), karma (kamma), and formations (saṅkhārā).55 Birth (jāti) in a way symbolizes existence in time, while Nibbāna, not being subject to birth or death, is timeless or beyond time.56
These passages show that Nibbāna is markedly different from any other experience, sphere, state, or realm. They clearly indicate that as long as there is even a subtle sense of a somewhere, a something, or a someone, it is not yet an experience of Nibbāna.
XIV.4 NIBBĀNA: NEITHER ALL-EMBRACING UNITY NOR ANNIHILATION
In order further to clarify the distinctive character of the Buddha’s conception of Nibbāna, in the remainder of this chapter I will set it off against the realization of all-embracing unity (as envisaged by the “non-dual” religious traditions), and also against annihilationism. While early Buddhism does not deny the distinction between subject and object, it does not treat this distinction as particularly important. Both are insubstantial, the subject being nothing other than a complex of interactions with the world (object), while to speak of a “world” is to speak of what is being perceived by the subject.57
Unity, in terms of subjective experience, entails a merging of the subject with the object. Experiences of this kind are often the outcome of deep levels of concentration. Nibbāna, on the other hand, entails a complete giving up of both subject and object, not a merger of the two.58 Such an experience constitutes an “escape” from the entire field of cognition.59 Although Nibbāna partakes of non-duality in so far as it has no counterpart,60 its implications nevertheless go far beyond experiences of oneness or unity.61
Experiences of oneness were actually not unknown to the early Buddhist community, but even their most refined forms, experienced with the immaterial attainments, were not considered to be the final goal.62 Just as the Buddha himself did not feel satisfied with what he had experienced based on the indications received from his first teachers,63 so he admonished his disciples to go beyond and transcend such “transcendental” experiences.64 Some of his disciples had achieved various non-dual experiences, while others had realized full awakening without experiencing any of the immaterial attainments.65 The latter were the living proof that such attainments, far from being identifiable with Nibbāna, are not even necessary for its realization.
In order properly to assess the early Buddhist concept of Nibbāna, it needs not only to be distinguished from views based on experiences of unity, but also has to be differentiated from the theories of annihilation held among the deterministic and materialistic schools of ancient India. On several occasions the Buddha was in fact wrongly accused of being an annihilationist.66 His humorous reply to such allegations was that he could rightly be called so if this meant the annihilation of unwholesome states of mind.
A consideration of the discourses shows that Nibbāna is described in both positive and negative terms. Negative expressions occur frequently in a practical context, indicating the work still to be done.67 Other passages, however, refer to Nibbāna with a variety of positive epithets, calling it a state of peace, of purity, and of freedom, sublime and auspicious, wonderful and marvellous, an island, a shelter, and a refuge.68 The happiness of freedom contingent upon having realized Nibbāna constitutes the highest possible form of happiness.69 Described as the source of supreme happiness, as a state of freedom, sublime and auspicious, Nibbāna seems to have little in common with mere annihilation.
In fact, according to the Buddha’s penetrating analysis the attempt to annihilate self still revolves around a sense of selfhood, though being motivated by disgust with this self. In this way annihilationism is still in bondage to a sense of self, comparable to a dog moving in circles around a post to which it is bound.70 Such craving for non-existence (vibhavataṇhā) forms indeed an obstacle to the realization of Nibbāna.71 As the Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta explains, to think in terms of: “I shall not be” is a form of conceiving as much as the thought: “I shall be”.72 Both are to be left behind in order to proceed to awakening.
To maintain that an arahant will be annihilated at death is a misunderstanding, since such a proposition argues the annihilation of something that cannot be found in a substantial sense even while one is still alive.73 Therefore any statement concerning the existence or annihilation of an arahant after death turns out to be meaningless.74 What Nibbāna does imply is that the ignorant belief in a substantial self is annihilated, an “annihilation” which has already taken place with stream-entry. With full awakening, then, even the subtlest traces of grasping at a sense of self are forever “annihilated”, which is but a negative way of expressing the freedom gained through realization. Fully awakened to the reality of selflessness, the arahant is free indeed, like a bird in the sky, leaving no tracks.75