by Tang Huyen

Nirvana is not the unconditioned, but the uncomposed — the state in which all compositions are quiesced whilst one still is fully aware of what happens.

The Buddha is not consistent on this topic of the
scope of suffering.

On one hand, in his sober moments, he says that
only the compositions (saṅkhāra, the fourth
aggregate) are suffering. All thing-events (dhamma)
are devoid of self. This is represented in the Seals
of the Law or the Marks of the Law.

The closest Daoist parallel to the state without the
compositions (including the volitions) is the full
flowing state, which does not linger on anything,
does not stop on anything, does not get stuck on
anything. This state is happy and not suffering.

By the way, this state does not cut up the sensible
input and process the bits according to the baskets
and cages, like concepts and categories. The sensible
input is left whole and intact, though it is not
mentated as whole and intact. It is not mentated
at all, though it is differentiated.

The three marks (lakṣaṇa, lakkhaṇa), the three
or four seals (dharma-mudrā), the four summaries
of the Law (dharmoddāna) are listed at Lamotte,
Vimalakirti, 165, n. 51.

1. "All the compositions are impermanent" (Sanskrit
anityāḥ sarva-saṃskārāḥ, Pali sabbe saṅkhārā
aniccā).

2. "All the compositions are suffering" (Sanskrit
duḥkhāḥ sarva-saṃskārāḥ, Pali sabbe
saṅkhārā dukkhā).

3. "All the thing-events are no-self" (Sanskrit
anātmānaḥ sarva-dharmāḥ, Pali sabbe dhammā
anattā). Notice the switch from the compositions
to thing-events.

4. "Nirvana is peaceful" (nirvāṇaṃ śāntam,
śāntaṃ nirvāṇam, both in Sanskrit) is the third or
fourth seal, depending on sources; not in Pali.
It happens in this life.

The Chinese Conjoined Agama (Saṃyukta-Āgama)
has four: all compositions are impermanent, all
compositions are suffering, all thing-events are without
self, Nirvana is peaceful. 66b14, 66c7 and 66c21.

Most Great Vehiclistic sources have the four. The
Tibetans tend to follow All-Exists, Root-All-Exists,
and Great Vehiclistic sources, and therefore mention
four.

That said, Nirvana, which is peaceful and happy, is
not the unconditioned, but the uncomposed — the
state in which all compositions (including the volitions)
are quiesced whilst one still is fully aware of what
happens. The Buddha defines it as the calming of all
the compositions (sabba-saṅkhāra-samatho). When
all the compositions are quiesced, no more suffering
occurs and happiness and joy occur, and that state is
Nibbana. Even it is devoid of self.

Thus the person experiencing Nirvana is just like us,
still lives in the same world as we do, but just does
not compose the compositions (including the
volitions). He has not changed the world — has not
escaped into another world which would be
unconditioned — but has simply calmed himself down
all the way, and quiesced his compositions. He
receives the sensible input in rapt attention but does
not build an interpretation on top of it. Such an
interpretation would be blockage, and not flowing.

On the other hand, the Buddha gets theatrical — he is
a born Thespian — and blows suffering all out of
proportion to drive the point home:

"Bhikkhus, All is impermanent" (Sabbaṃ, bhikkhave,
aniccan). Saṃyutta N. 35:43.

"Bhikkhus, All is Dukkha" (Sabbaṃ, bhikkhave,
dukkhaṃ). Saṃyutta N. 35:44.

The Buddha then goes on to qualify what he means
by the "All" in these suttas:

"And what is the all that is dukkha?
The eye is dukkha.
Forms are dukkha.
Eye-consciousness is dukkha.
Eye-contact is dukkha.
Whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as
condition is dukkha.

The ear is dukkha... the tongue is dukkha...
the body is dukkha... the mind (mano) is dukkha...

Seeing thus, bhikkhus, the instructed noble disciple
experiences disenchantment towards the eye,
towards forms, towards eye-consciousness, towards
eye-contact, towards whatever feeling arises with
eye-contact as condition. He experiences
disenchantment towards the ear, tongue, body,
mind, etc. Experiencing disenchantment, he
becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion his mind
is liberated. When it is liberated there comes the
knowledge: it is liberated. He understands: 'Destroyed
is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be
done is done, there is no more for this state of
beings.'" Saṃyutta N. 35:44.

Colophon

Posted to talk.religion.buddhism on July 5, 2004, in reply to a question from "kamerm" (visiting from alt.philosophy.taoism) about whether suffering in Buddhism extends to all of life or only to the fragmented, composed aspects of experience. Author: Tang Huyen. Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

Tang Huyen's key distinction is between the compositions (saṅkhāra) — which include the volitions and comprise the fourth aggregate — and thing-events (dhamma) in general. Only the compositions are suffering. All thing-events are without self. Nirvana is therefore not an escape into an unconditioned realm but the in-situ quiescing of compositions: the freed person inhabits the same world, receives the same sensory input, but no longer builds an interpretation on top of it. The post also includes a precise description of the full flowing state — the closest Daoist parallel — which receives sensory input whole and undivided, without mentating it as whole or as parts. The quotation from SN 35:44 with the Buddha's own definition of "the All" anchors the theatrical claim that "All is dukkha" in a precise list of sense faculties and their objects.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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