..续本文上一页dislikes (anusayaa). But where there arises no new kamma, there no further vipaaka can come about.
When, therefore, the result of previous kamma is exhausted, even the remnant of the aggregates of clinging will be broken up, and this is called an-upaadisesa-nibbaana or parinibbaana.
While Nibbaana is single in its nature, yet for the purpose of logical treatment it is thus considered as twofold. By using the two kinds of this logical distinction indiscriminately, endless confusion is caused. When thus Nibbaana if said to be a mental state, this applies only to the state of an Arahat who has overcome all the mental defilements (kilesa) and has broken all the fetters (sa.myojana) which bind to rebirth.
Like freedom is only a negative concept, being the absence of restrictions, thus the freedom (mokkha) of Nibbaana can only be explained as the absence of defilements and mental fetters. But as those defilements are exactly the roots of all evil, the cause of all suffering, Nibbaana can be called the deliverance from sorrow.
Where Nibbaana cannot be aimed at as a positive goal, for “not by striving can world”s end be reached” (gamanena na pattabbo lokass” anto kudaacana.m—AN 4), striving becomes possible in the overcoming of the hindrances and obstacles. Thus Nibbaana remains unconditioned (asa.nkhata) and uncreated (akata), not to be produced by cumulative virtue, not by purification of a soul, or by cleansing of a soul, or by cleansing of self. There is no “ego” to be made free from selfishness in order to obtain purity, but there is an “ego” to be got rid of, an “ego” misconceived by ignorance and born of craving.
When that “ego” is understood as a delusion, the first fetter (sakkaaya-di.t.thi) is broken and the stream which leads to Nibbaana is entered (sotaapatti). Like, while plunging into the water of a river, the land and the attractions thereof must be left behind, so when entering the stream of holiness, together with the delusion of self will also disappear all doubts and attachment to ritualistic performances. But in the stream itself further hindrances might occur, and they too have to be overcome. Antipathy (vyaapaada) and sense-pleasures (kaamacchanda) might retard the progress of the stream-winner, still causing rebirth, though not in woeful states. Only when even the last five obstacles will have been passed, which are desire for rebirth in form, or formless spheres, (ruuparaaga, aruuparaaga), conceit (maana) which is the final and most subtle stronghold of the dying “self,” agitation (uddhacca) and ignorance (avijjaa), the stream will lose itself in the ocean and the freedom of Nibbaana be attained. As the stream is still hemmed in on both sides by the river banks, so the Path to Nibbaana is beset with difficulties. But it is exactly in the overcoming of those difficulties that the freedom of Nibbaana can be realized. Once more, Nibbaana cannot be aimed at, desired or longed for, just because it is non-conditioned and does not arise dependent on conditions. But one can strive for the extinction of craving, for the abolition of the slavery of an imaginary self, for the overcoming of ignorance. The factors to this enlightenment (satta sambojjha.nga) include the perseverance of mindfulness (sati), the open-mindedness of investigation (dhammavicaya) with the steadiness of abiding energy (viriya), the enthusiasm of spiritual joy (piiti) together with the sobriety of tranquility of mind (passaddhi), the peacefulness of concentration (samaadhi) with the harmony of equanimity (upekkhaa).
Renunciation, not as mortification, but as a natural result of insight through which craving and clinging become impossible, is the way by which deliverance from the passi…
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