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Studies
in
Buddhadharma
On Arathood or Liberation
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"As a lotus, fair and lovely,
By the water is not soiled,
By the world am I not soiled,
Therefore, Brahmin, am I Buddha."
Ekottarāgama (Anguttara-nikāya),
II.6.
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The "Arhat" ("worthy one") or Foe Destroyer
attained the highest level in the Lesser Vehicle, the stage of "no
more learning". All defilements ("āsrava") and passions ("kleśa")
have been extinguished and will not arise again. Ignorant craving
and hatred are completely gone, while nearly all ignorance has been
annihilated. During life, Arhathood is conditioned "nirvāna"
("sopadhiśeśa-nirvāna"), attaining full
extinction immediately following this life. The main emphasis of the
Arhat is to gain his own salvation. He is free of the ten
fetters.
Liberation or enlightenment (in the Lower Vehicle, the two are not distinguished), involve the breaking of a succession of "fetters" ("samyojana"),
ten in number : (1) separate selfhood, (2) sceptical doubt, (3) attachment
to rules and rituals for their own sake, (4) sexual desire, (5) ill will,
(6) desire for existence in the world of form, (7) desire for existence in
the formless world, (8) conceit, (9) restlessness, (10) ignorance.
Four stages mark the supramundane path leading to Arhathood
("lokottaramārga") :
-
the
"stream-enterer" ("śrotāpanna")
: has eradicated the first three fetters. He
has only seven rebirths in the human or god realms before liberation ;
-
the "once-returner"
("sakridāgamin") : reborn once more, has weakened the fourth &
fifth fetter ;
-
the "non-returner"
("anāgamin") : has broken all the first five fetters and
is reborn in the god realm from where liberation is attained ;
-
the Arhat or "Worthy One"
: has broken all ten fetters and has won liberation in
this life.
Together, these four stages define
the "Ārya-Sangha", the Sangha Jewel of Early Buddhism.
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In the Mahāyāna, stressing
Bodhicitta,
Arhathood became a lesser goal than the one realized by the Superior
Bodhisattva :
Buddhahood. The
Lesser Vehicle
only leads to liberation, a "personal" kind of "nirvāna" characterized by
the end of samsaric suffering, but not to Awakening, the full
enlightenment intended by the Buddha. This implies the Arhat has in fact
not eliminated all obscurations. While the foes of desire, hatred
and ignorance have been destroyed, achieving liberation from cyclic
existence, he has not annihilated both the ignorance assenting to the
false appearance of inherent existence, nor the false appearance itself.
Indeed, in the Lower Vehicle tenet systems, "own-form" ("sva-bhāva") is
maintained.
In the Lesser Vehicle, Buddhahood is identified with the complete
destruction of all afflictive emotions. This is done by attaining a
special knowledge of all phenomena. A Buddha is all-knowing in the sense
of being able to know anything he wishes by merely turning his mind to it,
but not in the Greater Vehicle sense of realizing everything
simultaneously. For the Greater Vehicle, the Arhat still has a
non-afflicted type of ignorance as obstructions preventing omniscience,
the simultaneous knowledge of all things, directly realizing phenomena and
their emptiness at the same time.
The Arhat achieves wisdom without the practice of the perfections, but
only through limitless analysis. So he only overcomes the obstructions to
liberation, freedom from cyclic existence. While there is not a difference
in the type of wisdom between the Lesser & Greater Vehicles, there is a
difference in the mode of cultivation and so in the eventual
effect. By engaging in the practices of the
Great
Perfection Vehicle, the Mahāyāna Bodhisattva approaches Buddhahood. To
achieve it, he has to perfect wisdom by eliminating innate self-grasping.
The Foe Destroyers cannot approach Buddhahood, but only realize freedom
from the suffering of "samsāra".
While the Foe Destroyer has eliminated all afflictive emotions,
self-cherishing and acquired self-grasping and so is liberated from
the sorrows of cyclic existence, he has not annihilated all innate
self-grasping and so his mind still posits inherent existence. Realizing
identitylessness of persons, he has not approached identitylessness of
phenomena. The Seventh until the 10th Bodhisattva Stages have not been
completed. So the difference between Arhathood and Buddhahood is defined
by subtle cognitive obstructions. To eliminate these, in particular
substantial instantiation, the Bodhisattva has his Vow as the Great
Perfection method assisting him. Lacking this, the Arhat cannot eliminated
subtle self-grasping and is therefore "stuck" in his own, little private
"nirvāna" ...
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