瑜伽師地論 義疏通講 · 冊16

Is Nirvāṇa Not Total Extinction? Why Then Divide It into "With Remaining" and "Without Remaining"?

The seventeen stages, arriving at the sixteenth, reach "fruit." Yet at the very outset there is an awkward point to be gotten past: is nirvāṇa not the extinction of all things, still and without remainder? Since the arhat has already realized nirvāṇa, how can it still be said that he abides in the "stage with remaining basis" — that he still "has remainder," still has something on which to "rest"? Can it be that nirvāṇa, too, is somehow incomplete?

The treatise does not lay down a definition head-on; instead, by three marks, it takes this "remaining basis" apart to be seen: which stages it covers (the establishment-by-designation of the stage), what kind of "quiet" its quiescence is (the establishment-by-designation of quiescence), and on what the arhat still rests (the establishment-by-designation of the basis). Read through these three marks, and that awkward point dissolves of itself: it turns out that "remaining basis" is not nirvāṇa at a discount, but says this — the afflictions and the causes of suffering have been utterly stilled; only this body (the aggregates) that has carried a whole lifetime still remains, the span of life not yet relinquished. What is stilled is delusion, karma, and suffering; what remains is one final body. Jinaputra pierces it in a single line: "The arhats and the like abide in the stage of the adept, complete with the four quiescences, and there is a slight remaining basis; therefore it is named the Stage with Remaining Basis" 〔Jinaputra's Commentary〕.

The Four Quiescences: The "Quiet" of Nirvāṇa Is a Living Equanimity, Not a Dead Extinction

What most repays deep savoring is the mark of the "establishment-by-designation of quiescence." The treatise sets up four kinds of quiescence — the quiescence of suffering (the manifold sufferings-to-come are forever cut off, as when a palm tree has had root and crown severed and does not arise again), the quiescence of the afflictions (greed, hatred, and delusion utterly not arising), the quiescence of not harming sentient beings (committing no evils, cultivating the wholesome), and the quiescence of equanimity. The first three are easy to picture: the causes of suffering are cut off, the afflictions exhausted, no more evil committed. But it is the fourth, the "quiescence of equanimity," that points out the true face of nirvāṇa's "quiet."

What is the quiescence of equanimity? The treatise says that the arhat "in the six constant dwellings, constantly and without interruption, for the most part abides thus" — "having seen a visible form with the eye, he is neither gladdened nor grieved, but abides in supreme equanimity, with right mindfulness and right awareness"; and so likewise with the ear hearing a sound, the nose smelling a scent, the tongue tasting a flavor, the body feeling a tangible, the mind cognizing a dharma. Look closely: the arhat has not failed to see form or to hear sound. He still sees as before, hears as before, is aware of the six sense-fields as before — only, having seen and heard, he is neither gladdened nor grieved, abides in supreme equanimity, with right mindfulness and right awareness. The quiescence of nirvāṇa, it turns out, is not a dead stillness that has extinguished seeing, hearing, and awareness, but the living, breathing equanimous dwelling of "seeing form and hearing sound while the mind is not dragged along."

This one point of meaning connects exactly back to the treatise's opening first stage. The Stage Associated with the Five Sense-Consciousnesses had said: in a single thought of seeing and hearing, the first spontaneous touch upon the object is originally indeterminate, and "it is only after the deciding mind that there is defilement or purity" — defilement is born in the deciding-and-grasping that comes after the seeing. Now, arriving at the fruit-stage, the arhat's "quiescence of equanimity" is precisely the consummation of that same meaning: at the point of "deciding" he no longer gives rise to gladness, grief, or grasping. It is the same eye seeing form; but the ordinary being is defiled after the deciding, while the arhat is equanimous after the deciding. From Stage One's "defilement lies after the deciding" to Stage Sixteen's "seeing form, neither gladdened nor grieved" is one and the same road of consciousness, walked to its very end. Nirvāṇa is nowhere else — it is right in this present moment of "seeing yet undefiled."

The Eight Bases: A Precise Inventory of "What Still Remains"

The third mark, the "establishment-by-designation of the basis," lists eight kinds of basis — the designation-basis (the five appropriated aggregates), the appropriation-basis (the seven matters of appropriation), the sustaining-basis (the four foods), the transmigration-basis (the four stations of consciousness and the twelvefold dependent origination), the obstruction-basis (the celestial demons), the affliction-and-distress-basis (the desire realm), the delight-basis (the pleasure of concentration), and the final-basis (the aggregates in the continuum of the arhat). The eight bases look tedious, yet the single question-and-answer at the treatise's close gathers them into an exceedingly clear inventory: the arhat abiding in the remaining basis — with which bases, after all, is he still associated?

The answer is clean-cut: he is constantly associated with the "final-basis" alone; with the six matters of appropriation he is "not commonly associated"; with the transmigration-basis and the obstruction-basis he is "constantly and entirely not associated at all"; and with the rest he is "neither associated nor not-associated." Read this inventory, and the arhat's situation stands plainly before the eyes: the "transmigration-basis" that binds a person within birth-and-death (the stations of consciousness, dependent origination) has been utterly severed — he no longer transmigrates along with the twelvefold dependent origination; even the "obstruction-basis" of the celestial demons can no longer lay hold of him. What remains is only one thing, the "final-basis" — the aggregates of this one last body, still being "borne and held up," like a palm tree whose root has been severed: though it grows no more, its trunk still stands there for a time. This "slight remaining basis" is the whole weight of the two words "with remaining."

Its Place Among the Four Nirvāṇas: The Two Vehicles Halt at "Abiding in Quiescence"

Set this stage into the whole map of nirvāṇa in Consciousness-Only, and its place and its limit both become clear. The Cheng Weishi Lun establishes four nirvāṇas: first, the nirvāṇa of intrinsically pure nature (possessed innately by all sentient beings); second, the nirvāṇa with remaining basis (suchness emerged from the afflictive obstruction — though there is a slight support of suffering not yet extinguished, the obstruction is forever stilled); third, the nirvāṇa without remaining basis (the afflictions already exhausted, the remaining basis also extinguished, the manifold sufferings forever stilled); fourth, the non-abiding nirvāṇa (suchness emerged from the cognitive obstruction, ever aided by great compassion and prajñā, whereby one abides neither in birth-and-death nor in nirvāṇa, benefiting and gladdening sentient beings to the very end of the future). And it judges: "All sentient beings possess the first one; those of the two vehicles who are adepts may possess the first three; only our World-Honored One may be said to possess all four" 〔Cheng Weishi Lun〕.

With this, the place of the present stage is clear: the Stage with Remaining Basis is precisely the nirvāṇa-position of "the adept of the two vehicles" — the arhat has emerged from the afflictive obstruction, gained the remaining basis, and thereupon the [nirvāṇa] without remaining basis. But the two vehicles halt here: their nirvāṇa is "abiding in quiescence" — proceeding into extinction and abiding within it. By contrast, the fourth, the "non-abiding nirvāṇa," is the state in which the bodhisattva, by great compassion and prajñā, "abides neither in birth-and-death nor in nirvāṇa."

This stroke, again, connects up the line of the three vehicles. The Pratyekabuddha Stage had said that the pratyekabuddha "wholly proceeds toward quiescence," awakened yet thin in compassion; now the Stage with Remaining Basis marks out the fruit-position of "proceeding toward quiescence" as well — the two vehicles' remaining-basis / without-remaining-basis is a quiescence that "abides" in quiescence. Whereas the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa is a quiescence that "does not abide" in quiescence. From the five consciousnesses' "defilement after the deciding" (which can be undefiled) → the pratyekabuddha's "awakened, yet proceeding toward quiescence" → the remaining basis's "quiescence, yet abiding in quiescence" → the bodhisattva's "quiescence, yet not abiding," the objects, vehicles, and fruits of the Basic Section illumine one another from first to last at this single point of nirvāṇa: it is the same "quiescence," yet abiding-or-not-abiding is what divides the two vehicles from the great vehicle.

Carrying Forward

The meaning of the remaining basis here in the Basic Section is carried forward by the later Consciousness-Only treatise-canon. The Cheng Weishi Lun, in its tenth fascicle, sets up the four nirvāṇas, and defines this one — "the nirvāṇa with remaining basis = suchness emerged from the afflictive obstruction; the slight support of suffering not yet extinguished, yet the obstruction forever stilled" — thereby settling its sense and judging that the adepts of the two vehicles may possess the first three; this is the treatise-source into which the Basic Section's eight bases and four quiescences are gathered as their conclusion. The Section on Ascertainment further re-ascertains the two stages, with-remaining-basis and without-remaining-basis 〔and it distinguishes the perpetual extinction of all feelings within the two nirvāṇa-realms〕. Jinaputra's Commentary outlines this stage point by point through the eight bases and the four quiescences, and marks out that "there is a slight remaining basis; therefore it is named the Stage with Remaining Basis" — the ancient masters' settled exposition of this stage.