OK, Here's Ven Nanananda's analysis:
http://www.beyondthenet.net/calm/nibbana18.htmHis translation.
"This was said by the Exalted One, said by the Worthy One, so have I heard:
`Monks, there are these two Nibbàna elements. Which two? The Nibbàna element with residual clinging and the Nibbàna element without residual clinging.
And what, monks, is the Nibbàna element with residual clinging? Herein, monks, a monk is an arahant, with influxes extinct, one who has lived the holy life to the full, done what is to be done, laid down the burden, reached one's goal, fully destroyed the fetters of existence and released with full understanding. His five sense faculties still remain and due to the fact that they are not destroyed, he experiences likes and dislikes, and pleasures and pains. That extirpation of lust, hate and delusion in him, that, monks, is known as the Nibbàna element with residual clinging.
And what, monks, is the Nibbàna element without residual clinging? Herein, monks, a monk is an arahant, with influxes extinct, one who has lived the holy life to the full, done what is to be done, laid down the burden, reached one's goal, fully destroyed the fetters of existence and released with full understanding. In him, here itself, all what is felt will cool off, not being delighted in. This, monks, is the Nibbàna element without residual clinging.'
To this effect the Exalted One spoke and this is the gist handed down as `thus said'.
`These two Nibbàna elements have been made known,
By the one with vision, unattached and such,
Of relevance to the here and now is one element,
With residual clinging, yet with tentacles to becoming snapped,
But then that element without residual clinging is of relevance to
the hereafter,
For in it surcease all forms of becoming.
They that comprehend fully this state of the unprepared,
Released in mind with tentacles to becoming snapped,
On winning to the essence of Dhamma they take delight in seeing to an end of it all,
So give up they, all forms of becoming, steadfastly such-like as they are."
And some comments (but it would be better to read the whole thing, lest I be accused of selective quotation...
)
In the definition of the Nibbàna element without residual clinging, the same standard phrase recurs, while its distinctive feature is summed up in just one sentence: Tassa idheva sabbavedayitàni anabhinanditàni sãtibhavissanti, "in him, here itself, all what is felt will cool off, not being delighted in". It may be noted that the verb is in the future tense and apart from this cooling off, there is no guarantee of a world beyond, as an asaïkhata dhàtu, or `unprepared element', with no sun, moon or stars in it.
The two verses that follow purport to give a summary of the prose passage. Here it is clearly stated that out of the two Nibbàna elements, as they are called, the former pertains to the here and now, diññhadhammika, while the latter refers to what comes after death, samparàyika. The Nibbàna element with residual clinging, sa-upàdisesà Nibbànadhàtu, has as its redeeming feature the assurance that the tentacular craving for becoming is cut off, despite its exposure to likes and dislikes, pleasures and pains, common to the field of the five senses.
As for the Nibbàna element without residual clinging, it is definitely stated that in it all forms of existence come to cease. The reason for it is none other than the crucial fact, stated in that single sentence, namely, the cooling off of all what is felt as an inevitable consequence of not being delighted in, anabhinanditàni.
Why do they not take delight in what is felt at the moment of passing away? They take delight in something else, and that is: the very destruction of all what is felt, a foretaste of which they have already experienced in their attainment to that unshakeable deliverance of the mind, which is the very pith and essence of the Dhamma, dhammasàra.
...
Nibbàna is solely the realization of the cessation of existence or the end of the process of becoming. So there is absolutely no question of a hereafter for the arahant. By way of clarification, we have to revert to the primary sense of the term Nibbàna. We have made it sufficiently clear that Nibbàna means `extinction' or `extinguishment', as of a fire.
...
The popular interpretation of the term anupàdisesà Nibbànadhàtu leaves room for some absolutist conceptions of an asaïkhata dhàtu, unprepared element, as the destiny of the arahant. After his parinibbàna, he is supposed to enter this particular Nibbànadhàtu. But here, in this discourse, it is explained in just one sentence: Tassa idheva, bhikkhave, sabbavedayitàni anabhinanditàni sãtibhavissanti, "in the case of him" (that is the arahant) ", O! monks, all what is felt, not having been delighted in, will cool off here itself."
But when it comes to the distinction between sa-upàdisesa and anupàdisesa, the element upàdi has to be understood in a more radical sense, in association with the word upàdiõõa. This body, as the product of past kamma, is the `grasped' par excellence, which as an organic combination goes on functioning even in the arahant until his last moment of life.
...
This cooling off happens just before death, without igniting another spark of life. When Màra comes to grab and seize, the arahant lets go. The pain of death with which Màra teases his hapless victim and lures him into another existence, becomes ineffective in the case of the arahant. As he has already gone through the supramundane experience of deathlessness, in the arahattaphalasamàdhi, death loses its sting when at last it comes. The influx-free deliverance of the mind and the influx-free deliverance through wisdom enable him to cool down all feelings in a way that baffles Màra.
So the arahant lets go of his body, experiencing ambrosial deathlessness. As in the case of Venerable Dabba Mallaputta, he would sometimes cremate his own body without leaving any ashes.[37] Outwardly it might appear as an act of self-immolation, which indeed is painful. But this is not so. Using his jhànic powers, he simply employs the internal fire element to cremate the body he has already discarded.
This, then, is the Buddha's extraordinary solution to the problem of overcoming death, a solution that completely outwits Màra.
What I find interesting about Ven Nanananda is that, although he argues (very eloquently) for a momentary interpretation of Dependent Origination in his earlier Sermons, and he argues (again eloquently) that there are problems with many of the classical interpretations of the details, his overall conclusion seems rather classical: the Arahant has ended the round of rebirth.
Mike
