The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana — Th. Stcherbatsky (1927)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
(Buddha has proclaimed) the monistic Principle of Relativity, 4 the principle that nothing (in the Universe) can disappear, nor can (anything new) arise, nothing has an end, nor is there anything eternal, nothing is identical with itself, nor is there anything differentiated (in itself), there is no motion, neither towards us, nor from us, etc. etc. (everything is relative).
3. li. The subject matter (the central idea) ol the treatise is the monistic princiciple of Relativity characterised by these eight (negative) characteri¬ stics, nothing disappears, etc.
4. l. The aim of the treatise is indicated (in the same salutation). It is
Final Deliverance, Nirvana, which is characterised as the bliss of the Quies¬ cence of every Plurality. 5
The salutation itself is expressed by the words «I praise this highest ot all Teachers.»
1 mahatmyam sc. sastrasya. The ideal scientifical work for India is the Grammar of Pauini with the Mahabhasya of Patahjali. A mahdSdstra is a icistra possessing mahatmyn, i. e., treating the subject with the thoroughness exhibited by’both these authors in theirgreat work.
2 sam-prakaSana—samyak prakasana.
3 Buddha’s Cosmical Body ( dharma-kaya) is the unique transcendental essence of the Universe and it is synonymous with Sunyntd, cp. de la Vallee Poussin, The three Bodies, J. R. A. S. 1906, p. 952.
4 pra1itya-samutpada—sunyatd=antadvaya-rahitatva.
5 On Mahayanistic Nirvana see above and Suzuki, op. cit., p. 339 If., S. Schayer, Die Mahayanistischen Erlobsungslehren (Muncheu. 1921).
appendix: CANDRAKlRTl'S comment on relativity
This is, first of all, the general meaning of the first two stanzas. We 4. 3 are now going on to detail the meaning of every word.
«To disappear)) means to be evanescent. The split (of all existence into 4 . 5 discrete) point-instants is here meant.
(Nothing new can arise), to «arisen means to emerge as an individual existence.
(Nothing has an end), an «end» means cutting off the stream of (con¬ secutive point-instants). 1
« Eternal)) means perpetual, existing through all times.
(Non-identical). Being identical means not being separate, not being discrete.
(Non-differentiated). Differentiated means being different, i. e., dis¬ crete.
«Motion hither», means the motion of distant objects into a near place.
The «motion thither», means the motion of objects from a near into a remote place.
II. The meaning of Pratitya-samutpada according to the author preposition prati). The root i means motion, the preposition prati means «reaching)). But the preposition (when added to a verbal root) modifies its meaning. It has been said that «the meaning of a verbal root (is changed by the preposition as if it were) violently dragged into another place, just as the sweet waters of the Ganges (change their savour when reaching) the waters of the ocean.» Therefore the word pratitya , being a gerund, means ((reaching)) in the sense of being dependent (or relative). The word samutpada means appearance, manifestation. It comes from the verbal root pad which with the preposition samut has this meaning. Thus the term pratit¬ ya - samutpada (in our system) conveys the idea of a manifestation of (separate) entities as relative to their causes and conditions. 2
1 prdbandha = ksana-santana.
2 hetu -pratyaya - aptksa.
NIRVANA
III. The meaning of this term in Hinayana
5. 7 . Others, (Srllabha and other Hinayanists), 1 maintain that pratltyasamutpada means (appearance and immediate) disappearance of everything. The verb i means to go, to disappear; itya is the participle, meaning «fit to disappear)). The preposition prati generalises. Pratltya is thus (not a gerund), but a derivative noun (meaning that everything is momentary). The evanescent momentary things appear—that is their explanation.
IV. The Hinayanist interpretation rejected.
6. i. This interpretation fits very well such passages of the Scripture as the following one, «0 Brethren! I will teach you the Dependent Origination (of everything). Those who will get an insight into it, will have grasped the teaching (of the Buddha), etc.» The sense of generalisation and the suggested grammatical composition of the term can be accounted for.
6. 3. But (in other passages) there is altogether no generalisation, 2 because a single particular case is directly referred to. E.g.,in the following words, ((visual consciousness appears when coordinated with the faculty of vision and (a patch) of colour.)) In this expression «in coordination with the faculty of vision», the word «in coordination)) takes into account one single flash 3 of consciousness, produced also from one single (moment) of the faculty of vision. There is no generalisation.
6. 5. But (the interpretation which we propose applies in both cases). The meaning of relativity applies when the word pratltya does not refer to a single case. It then means relative existence (in general), origination relatively