Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c9.s2.17

v1.c9.s2.17

Both the Hīnayānists and the Mahāyānists agree in holding that there is no persisting entity (*pudgala*) in a being apart from the *skandhas*, and any question about the existence of the Tathāgata after his passing away really raises the issue whether there is any persisting entity in a being, and whether that entity continues to exist after the being is thoroughly cleansed of his impurities and passes away for ever. To put it in another way, does the entity (*pudgala*) exist in Nirvāṇa eternally, or not? As both the Hīnayānists and the Mahāyānists deny the existence of that entity—the personality of beings, both refuse to give any answer to the question whether there is Tathāgata (the person) after he has passed away, for a question like that cannot arise and hence any answer, if given, would be misleading,¹ and so it is safer and better to leave it as *avyākata* or *anirvacanīya*.