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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s3.t13: Is Samjñāvedayitanirodha a Foretaste of Nirvāṇa?

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c7.s3.t13

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Is Samjñāvedayitanirodha a Foretaste of Nirvāṇa?

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It is, however, striking that both Profs. Stcherbatsky and Poussin have tried to form an idea of Nirvāṇa on the basis of the quiescent state attained by a yogin at the highest altitude of his meditation. Both agree that it is this quiescence which is aimed at by all saints, including the arhats. To Prof. Stcherbatsky, Nirvāṇa was the highest form of quiescence imaginable and hence it is a condition where there is no vestige of consciousness—an absolute annihilation of life,¹ while to Prof. Poussin it is a condition where the mind (*citta*) does not function, but the body is pervaded by an extremely pleasant feeling; the mind, being inactive, does not enjoy the pleasure.

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¹ *Con. of N.*, p. 28.

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Prof. Poussin formed his impression mainly from the utterances of perfected saints in the *Udāna* and the *Thera-* and *Theri-gāthā*. His conception of Hinayānic Nirvāṇa appears to my mind to be the magnified form of the pleasant sensation felt by saints in the second and third trances. The *Nikāyas* often speak of the pleasant sensation in the second and third trance as similar to that of a person when his body is besmeared with fine powder by an expert bath attendant; but they do not speak about the sensation felt by a saint while in Nirvāṇa. Prof. Poussin is justified in regarding the highest meditation of Saṃjñāvedita- (or vedayita-) nirodha as a foretaste of Nirvāṇa in this world, but his view that the body of the saint is pervaded by blissful sensation is unwarranted.² The Pāli texts are quite clear about their definition of this highest meditation. In the *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta*,³ Buddha entered into meditation before attaining parinirvāṇa and rose from the lowest to the highest samādhi, the *Saññāveditanirodha*, when Ānanda, imperfect as he was, took him to be dead (parinibbuta). This is the highest meditation to which an adept can reach.⁴ The condition of a person in this meditation is almost the same as that of a dead man. The *Saṃyutta Nikāya*⁵ explains the differences thus: There is a complete cessation of the activities in a dead man as well as in a person in the highest samādhi,—*i.e.*, of the (i) physical activities (*kāyasaṅkhāro*) *e.g.*, inhalation and exhalation, (ii)

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² *Nirvāṇa* pp. 83-4: la possession du recueillement de la cessation de l'idée et de la sensation, possession réservée aux saints complets ou incomplets, recueillement semblable à l'entrée dans le Nirvāṇa et dont on a conscience par le corps puisque la pensée y est interrompue.

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³ *Dīgha*, II, p. 156.

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⁴ *M. Vr.*, p. 48.

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⁵ *Saṃyutta*, IV, pp. 293 f. cf. *Majjhima*, I, p. 301.

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speech activities (vacīsaṅkhāro) e.g., reflection and deliberation (vitakkavicāra), and (iii) mental activities (cittasaṅkhāro), e.g., ideation and feeling (saññā ca vedanā ca)¹. The life (āyu) of the man engaged in meditation is not exhausted as also his internal heat (usmā), and his organs of sense remain in a placid condition, while in the deceased person there is no life (āyu) and no internal heat (usmā) and his sense-organs are defunct. In the Saññāvedayitanirodha, a saint cannot at will rise from it. Before entering into the samādhi, he fixes the time-limit after which he would revert to the ordinary state of consciousness and he does so at the fixed moment. This meditation in which the mind, the body, and the power of the speech completely cease to function may be likened to the condition of deep sleep (suṣupti) of a man. It is similar to the Upaniṣadic conception of "deep-sleep consciousness" in which there is no consciousness either of the objective world or of the self². The Pāli texts nowhere mention a blissful sensation enjoyed by the body apart from the mind. The feeling of ease enjoyed by an ascetic in the highest trance is generated within the body, and not by any contact with an external material thing³. The verses in the Thera- and Theri-gatha and the passages in the Mahāparinibbāna sutta describing the last trance of Buddha only express the ecstasy experienced by a perfected saint when he is in the highest trance. It is really the foretaste of what he is going to experience permanently. At the Arhat stage, i.e., on the attainment of the Sopādisesanibbānadhātu, he is assured of the fact that the supreme bliss in the inexpressible form of existence is going to be permanently his after the dissolution of his physical body.

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¹ Cf. Patañjali Yoga-Sūtra, I. 2 : Yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ. 2 Ranade, Constructive Survey of Upanisadic Philosophy, p. 269. 3 There are passages in the Nikāyas, in which it is said that "vimokkhe kāyena phassitvā viharati" (Aṅguttara, II, 90). The Vimokkhas do not refer to Nibbāna but to the eight meditations (Dīgha, III, pp. 261-2) or to the three Samādhis called Animitta, Appaṇihita, and Suññata vimokkhas (Vis. M., p. 658). These refer only to experiences of meditating saints felt within themselves and not by coming into contact with something external.

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or in other words, he is going to be established in the Anupādisesa-nibbānadhātu permanently. The close relation between the meditation of Saññāvedayitanirodha and Nibbāna will be apparent from the verses of the Udāna describing the parinibbāna of Dabba Mallaputta:

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Abhedi kāyo nirodhi saññā vedanā pi 'tidahamsu sabbā,
vupasamimsu saṅkhārā viññāṇam attham agamā ti.
[The body is disintegrated, perception stops, all sensations are burnt away, the (three) activities cease and the (constituted) consciousness disappears.]

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The Saññāvedayitanirodha, therefore, is very similar to parinibbāna. The Majjhima Nikāya¹ adds that a perfect saint not only attains it but also destroys his āsavas (impurities) by knowledge and thus goes beyond the clutches of Māra. Hence, the Saññāvedayitanirodha of a saint is tantamount to a foretaste of Nibbāna only when it is accompanied by the other necessary conditions, viz., destruction of āsavas, insight into the truth and so forth.

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¹ Majjhima, I, p. 160; III, p. 45.

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