The narrative frame of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra(Nirvāṇa Sūtra) takes the form of traditional catechism, along withthe use of meditative methods such as double inquisition, doublenegation, and double affi rmation that express its peculiar view point.The method of double inquisition in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra is differentfrom its conventional definition elsewhere, which means the way ofjuxtaposing and thus comparing two different perspectives on the same level in order to solve one of the perspectives as a problem with the help of the other. In the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, however, the two compared perspectives are no longer on the same level, and the relation between the two perspectives is more than that between a problem and a solution. The latter usually transcends the former, embodying an idea obtained from further thinking. The method of double negation serves mainly two functions in ㄩthe Nirvāṇa Sūtra. Sometimes it is used to designate that truth can neither dwell in the former perspective nor stagnate in the latter, and that it can thus only be told in a manner of neither-this-nor-that. Sometimes it is used to describe the prātihāya of the Buddha, which never takes a fi xed from. In this case, double negation demonstrates the uncountable life-forms the Buddha has lived through while enlightening and delivering people. As for the method of double affirmation, it takes the form of “the wise one sees both emptiness and non-emptiness” in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. Here, the “emptiness” witnessed by the wise one does not designate suffering (duḥkha), vanity (śūnya), non-essence (anātmya), and impermanence (anitya) claimed by Hinayāna Buddhism, but what is realised and gained through the trayah samādhayah practice of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Emptiness and non-emptiness becomes the two sides of the same coin. “Emptiness” depicts the pure state of mind of the wise one free from all the disturbances, whilst “non-emptiness” characterises the richness of his life refined by practices such as saptatriṃśad bodhy-pakṣya-dharmāḥ, saṃgraha-vastu, and catvāry apramāṇān, which not only eliminate disturbances but also perfect a life mature and enriched. The use of these meditative methods sufficiently expresses profound ideas unprecedented in traditional canons.
