Are Musīla and Nārada Symbols of Rationalism and Mysticism?

초록

This thesis is a reconsideration of whether Musīla and Nārada, who appear in Kosambisutta, symbolize the two practices of paññā and jhāna as the path to nibbāna. Since the study of Vallée Poussin, who regarded Musīla and Nārada as representatives of rationalism and mysticism, these two figures have been frequently mentioned in studies dealing with paññā and jhāna, and in particular, Nārada’s metaphor has been cited as the basis for showing the indispensability of jhāna for enlightenment. In this paper, in order to clarify what these figures symbolize, I first examine the contents of Kosambisutta and the meaning of Nārada’s metaphor. Next, I review the opinions of Ray, who saw Musīla and Nārada as representing the ubhatobhāgavimutta and paññāvimutta, respectively. Since sekhas also possess the knowledge of paṭiccasamuppāda and nibbāna, Saviṭṭha’s questions to them are not appropriate for judging whether they are arahants. Nārada declares that he is not an arahant even though he possesses this kind of wisdom through the “metaphor of water.” Here, the meaning of water is nibbāna as the state of the arahantship, which has ceased the form of rebirth (bhava). Therefore, “knowing that there is water, but you cannot touch yourself to the water” means that one knows that nibbāna exists, but has not yet attained it— that is, one has not yet become an arahant because one has only the paññā of a sekha. Ray regards these figures as representing the ubhatobhāgavimutta, who needs both paññā and jhāna for enlightenment and the paññāvimutta, who is liberated by only paññā. However, it cannot be asserted that a paññāvimutta lacks jhāna, and if this is right, this Ray’s view cannot be accepted because, even though Nārada has not attained jhāna, he must be a paññāvimutta by his paññā, the same as Musīla, an arahant. © 2022, Korean Association of Buddhist Studies. All rights reserved.

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