by Tang Huyen
Just where one is, when one has gotten rid of the three poisons, one is in the uncomposed state, in Nirvāṇa.
"If nibbana is merely absence of dukkha, passions and will to exist (which btw is experienced as peace and all that, probably seen from where we stand now rather then when the absence 'is there'), then what 'more' should there be in it?"
None. It's in the early canon, in Chinese and Pāli.
"What is the cause, what is the condition for some beings in this world not blowing out in the present things? What is the cause, what is the condition for some beings in this world blowing out in the present things?"
"There are forms cognisable to the eye, if a monk has grasping for them, he does not blow out (sa-upadano bhikkhu no parinibbayati).... There are forms cognisable to the eye, if a monk has no grasping for them, he blows out (an-upadano bhikkhu parinibbayati)." SN, IV, 109 (35, 124).
So blowing out (Nirvāṇa, here as a verb with the prefix pari-: pari-nibbāyati) is in situ, when one no longer attaches to experience. One does not go anywhere else, but just in the daily world, one blows out when one does not grasp. Blowing out is merely an aspect of the same world, when one does not attach to it.
"The destruction of lust, hatred, error, is called Nibbāna." SN, IV, 251 (38, 1), SA, 490, 126b.
"The destruction of lust, hatred, error, is called the uncomposed/uncompounded (asaṅkhata, wu-wei)." SN, IV, 359 (43, 1), SA, 890, 224b.
So just where one is, when one has gotten rid of the three poisons, one is in the uncomposed state, in Nirvāṇa. (This is both in the Pāli and Chinese).
By the way, wu-wei is the traditional Daoist goal, where wu means "no, not" and wei means "to do, to act", so the traditional French translation is non-action, but in a fascinating book, La pensée du rien by Father Stanislas Breton, Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1992, I see the expression l'agir nul. Both wu-wei and l'agir nul correspond perfectly with Kant's Nichtstun and the Buddha's non-composition (a-saṅkhāra, a-samskāra), where the root kṛ- is shared with karman "deed, act".
"And what is the fire of the gift-worthy? Consider those recluses and brahmans who abstain from pride and indolence, who bear things patiently and meekly, each taming himself, each calming himself, each blowing himself out, this is called the fire of the gift-worthy (Katamo ca, brāhmaṇa, dakkhineyyaggi? Idha, brāhmaṇa, ye te samaṇa-brāhmaṇā parappavādā pativirattā khantissorrace nivitthā ekamattānaṃ damenti, ekamattānaṃ samenti, ekamattānaṃ parinibbapenti, ayaṃ vuccati, brāhmaṇa, dakkhineyyaggi)." AN, IV, 44 (7, 44).
The context in this latter text clearly is about a live person who tames himself alone (ekam-attānam damenti), calms himself alone (ekam-attānam samenti), blows himself out alone (ekam-attānam pari-nibbapenti — notice the prefix pari-).
When you enter the state of non-composition, which just means that you do not compose the compositions (the fourth aggregate), just that is to parinibbanate yourself. In that state you don't compose a self for yourself to carry around, and that's the absence of self.
The Buddha defines Nibbāna as the calming of all the compositions (sabba saṅkhāra samatho), and the three poisons (lust, hatred, error) drive the composing of the compositions.
There is no mystery to any of that.
Colophon
Posted to talk.religion.buddhism on October 9, 2003. Author: Tang Huyen (Laughing Buddha, Inc.). Message-ID: <[email protected]>.
Tang Huyen was a scholar of Buddhist studies with deep command of Pāli, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan sources. Posting to talk.religion.buddhism and related groups from 2003 to 2008, he was among the most rigorous analytical voices in the English-language Buddhist Usenet world. This post arose from a question about whether Nirvāṇa is "merely" the absence of the three poisons — Tang Huyen answers with canonical precision, citing both Pāli and Chinese Āgama sources, and adds a remarkable note on the convergence of the Buddhist non-composed state with Daoist wu-wei, Kant's Nichtstun, and Father Breton's l'agir nul.
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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