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The Two Nibbāna Elements

Iti 44, the Nibbānadhātu Sutta — set 5, Advanced and Reference Texts

Reading time: about 2 min · 345 words

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Before you read

A very short reference text, and a technical one. It asks what actually changes in a person who has finished the work, and answers in two parts.

The first part is the surprising one. Someone whose passion, aversion, and delusion are worn away still has working senses — they still meet what is pleasant and what is unpleasant, and still feel both. The text is explicit that nothing has been shut off. What ended was the reacting, not the experiencing.

The second part is what the tradition usually reaches for the word nibbāna to describe, and this text is unusually restrained about it: everything felt, not relished, becomes cool. It does not say what that is like, and neither does this translation.

If you are new here, this is a text to come back to rather than start with — it assumes you already know what the terms mean.

Translation

The Two Elements

This was said by the Buddha, said by the arahant — so I heard:

"Bhikkhus, there are these two nibbāna elements. What two? The nibbāna element with remainder, and the nibbāna element without remainder.

The Element With Remainder

And what is the nibbāna element with remainder, bhikkhus?

Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is an arahant, whose outflows are worn away, who has lived the spiritual life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the goal, worn away the fetters of becoming, and is rightly released through final knowledge.

Their five sense faculties still stand, and because these are unimpaired they still meet what is agreeable and what is disagreeable, and still feel the pleasant and the painful.

It is their wearing away of passion, their wearing away of aversion, their wearing away of delusion — this, bhikkhus, is called the nibbāna element with remainder.

The Element Without Remainder

And what is the nibbāna element without remainder, bhikkhus?

Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is an arahant, whose outflows are worn away, who has lived the spiritual life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the goal, worn away the fetters of becoming, and is rightly released through final knowledge.

Bhikkhus, for them, right here, everything felt — being not relished — will become cool.

Bhikkhus, this is called the nibbāna element without remainder.

Bhikkhus, these are the two nibbāna elements."

This is what the Buddha said. And in reference to this, it was said:

Verses

"These two nibbāna elements were made plain by the one with vision, independent, unshaken.

One element belongs to what is visible here and now: with remainder, the conduit to becoming worn away.

The element without remainder belongs to what comes after, in which every becoming quenches.

Those who know this unconditioned state, whose heart is released and whose conduit to becoming is worn away, have reached the heart of the Dhamma and delight in the wearing away. They have given up every becoming."

This too was said by the Buddha — so I heard.

The seventh discourse is finished.

Words used in this translation (15)
arahant
Someone who has completed the path and has nothing further to do. Left untranslated; "saint" and "perfected one" both mislead.
aversion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and delusion -- the pushback against what's unwanted or unpleasant.
becoming
This project's rendering of "bhava" -- the settling of experience into a way of being that feels like somebody being something. Often translated "existence."
bhikkhu
A Buddhist monk -- someone who has left household life to practise full time. Left untranslated because "monk" carries centuries of unrelated European associations.
bhikkhus
Buddhist monks -- those who have left household life to practise full time. The Buddha's usual way of addressing the assembly, roughly "friends" in force.
burden
The five clung-to heaps pictured as a load: experience taken personally. Ignorant wanting picks it up; someone who has laid down the burden no longer takes it up.
delusion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and aversion -- the confusion that keeps you from seeing what's actually happening.
Dhamma
The Buddha's teaching taken as a whole -- both what he taught and the way things actually are, which the teaching describes.
faculties
The capacities used in practice, especially confidence, energy, remembering, unification of mind, and discernment. You can train them and bring them into balance.
heart
This project's rendering of "citta": the feeling side of mind. It takes on moods, wants, leans, and reacts. Practice can gladden, steady, train, and release it. Some call it the "heart-mind" or "feeling mind". Here "heart" does not mean only emotion, or the physical organ.
nibbāna
The end of greed, hatred, and confusion -- the traditional goal of Buddhist practice. Left untranslated because no single English word covers it; "quenching" is the closest one-word gloss.
outflows
This project's rendering of "āsavā" -- deep-running habits that keep seeping out and driving behaviour, classically sensuality, becoming, and ignorance. Often translated "taints" or "defilements."
spiritual life
The Buddhist path of practice as a whole -- not just a set of beliefs, but a whole way of living.
unconditioned
This project's rendering of "asaṅkhata" -- what did not come about that way. The word says only what it is not; the texts deliberately do not describe it further.
wearing away
The gradual using-up of something until it runs out completely. The texts use it especially for what has to run out before release.
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