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THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION
171
When all the passions are removed from consciousness, it is known as pratisamkhyā-nirodha whereas when they may not arise again and are totally removed for ever it is called apratisamkhyā-nirodha. “It is the complete extinction of the causal efficiency of the elements, and nonproduction of their effects". 35
The Theravādins held nirväng to be negative in character, so it is often referred to by such negative terms as tanhakkhaya, extinction of thirst, asamkhata, uncompounded or unconditioned, virāga, absence of desire, nirodha, cessation, nibbāna, blowing out or extinction. It is that state where all the six elements : solidity, fluidity, heat, motion, space and consciousness disappear. All the sensations become pacified with the dissolution of the body, just as the flame of a lamp goes out when oil and wick give out.36
It is generally understood by many scholars that nirvāṇa is just like the extinguished flame of a lamp when the wick and oil are finished. It is totally wrong to compare nirvāṇa with a fire or a lamp gone out. W. Rahula states : “Here it should be clearly and distinctly understood without any confusion, that what is compared to a flame or a fire gone out is not nirvāņa, but the ‘being' composed of the five aggregates who realized nirvana.''37
These five aggregates are the real constituents for the arising as well as cessation of suffering (dukkha). Lord Buddha himself declares : "within this fathom-long sentient body itself, I postulate the world, the arising of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.”:38 Here the word 'world' (loka) is used in place of dukkha.
For the Sautrāntikas also Nirvāna is not a real state. It is the end of passions and life without any positive character. It is the annihilation of momentary manifestations and nothing remains after this annihilation. Stcherbatsky states : “Nirvāņa means only the end of the process of life, without any lifeless substance as the residue or the substratum in which life has been extinguished.”39
Some later Sauträntikas believe that there is no possibility of complete annihilation but they hold in the "survival of subtle con
35.
36. 37. 38. 39.
J.N. Sinha, A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. II, p. 357; A.K. Lad, op. cit., p. 66. W. Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, p. 39. Ibid., pp. 41-42. W. Rahula, op. cit., p. 42. Stcherbatsky, Conception of Buddhist Nirvana, p. 29.
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