[Buddha-l] Re: Nirvana si, bodhi no!

[Bruce Burrill]

At 11:28 PM 5/17/2005, you wrote:
>If one is speaking of Pali texts, the criterion for anuttara-samyak-
>sambodhi is clear enough, and by that criterion none of us can possibly
>achieve it as long as there is memory of the Buddha Gotama. One one
>buddha in a world system can achieve it. But in the Lotus Sutra it takes
>on an entirely different meaning, and in that text the criteria are very
>murky indeed---much less specific than the criteria of nirvana.

Richard,

This raises an interesting question. In the Pali suttas there seems to be a 
fushion of the Buddha and the arahant. Words such as tathagata and buddha 
are not infrequently used for the arahant. We also find the Buddha 
frequently saying such things as:

***I [the Buddha], monks dwell, having actualized here and now the higher 
knowledges, freed through the heart/mind and freed through wisdom. Kassapa, 
too, monks, dwells having actualized here and now the higher knowledges, 
freed through the heart/mind and freed through wisdom.***  - S II, 214

Using the exact same wording in describing his awakening and the awakening 
of the arahants. One of the most interesting examples is:

***At Saavatthi. "Bhikkhus, the Tathaagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly 
Enlightened One, liberated by nonclinging through revulsion towards form 
(feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness), through 
its fading away and cessation is called a perfectly Enlighted One. A 
bhikkhu liberated by wisdom, liberated by nonclinging through revulksion 
towards form (feeling, perception, volitional formations, and 
consciousness), through its fading away and cessation is called one 
liberated by wisdom.

...

"Therein, bhikkhus, what is the distinction, what is the disparity, what is 
the difference between the Tathaagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly 
Enlightened One and a bhikkhu liberated by wisdom?"[

The Tathagata, monks, who, being Arahant, is fully awakened, it is he who 
causes a way to arise which has not arisen before; who proclaims a way not 
proclaimed before; who is a knower of a way, who understands a way, who is 
skilled in a way. And now, monks, his disciples are wayfarers who follow 
after him. That, monks, is the distinction, the specific feature which 
distinguished the Tathagata who, being arahant, is fully awakened, from the 
monk who is freed by insight.*** Samyutta Nikaya III 66.

So, the questions: what exactly in the suttas (not the commentaries) is 
bodhi, and how does it differ, if at all, from that of the arahant?

The PTS dictionary states:

The moment of supreme enlightenment is the moment when the Four Truths 
(ariya--saccani) are grasped S V.423..

A few more texts that suggest this fusion in the suttas of the Buddha and 
the arahant, just because I like working with them:

In S.N. IV 359 and S.N. 362 we find:

  "That which is the destruction of greed, hatred and delusion is 
_asankhata_."

In the S.N. IV 251 and IV 321 we find:

  "That which is the destruction of greed, hatred and delusion is nibbana."

  "The destruction of greed, hatred, and delusion is arahantship [the state 
of being worthy because of attaining the goal]."   SN IV XXXVIII 2.

Itivuttaka 57:

  "Whoever frees himself from the passions of lust, hatred, and ignorance, 
they call him, one who is self developed, made divine, thus-gone 
(tathagata), awake (buddha), one who has left fear and hatred, and one who 
has let go of all."

Dhammapada 419:  "Who knows in every way the passing away and rebirth of 
beings, unattached, well-gone [sugata], awakened [buddha], That one I [the 
Buddha] call _brahmana_."

It is after the death of the Buddha that we get this "Buddha-ology" that 
focuses on the whys, hows and whatnots of the what its to be a Buddha and 
how the Buddha became so, and as the Kathavatthu makes quite clear, the 
Buddha became valorized, defied in same cases, after his death and became 
separated from the arahant, which of course open the way to the Mahayana.

Anyway, you thoughts on this would be of interest, if not entettainment.

Bruce.