devanagari

an-utpannah    a-niruddhah     a-malah    a-vimalah    an-unah     a-paripurnah
|         |             |        |             |      |         |       |           |      |         |        |
neg. N.m.       neg.   N.m.     neg. N.m.   neg.   N.m.     neg. N.m.   neg.   N.m.
|     Nom.pl.      |    Nom.pl.     |  Nom.pl.   |   Nom.pl.    |   Nom.pl.  |    Nom.pl.
|_____|             |____|             |____|        |____|           |____|        |_____|
     |____________|____________|________|___________|_________|

a-/an-, prefix of negation,

utpanna-, adj.: arisen (ppp. of ut+pad-),

niruddha-, adj.: stopped, destroyed (ppp. of ni+rudh-),

mala-, adj.: defiled,

vimala-, adj.: purified,

una-, adj.: lacking,

paripurna-, adj.: complete (ppp. of pari+pr-),

not arisen, not destroyed, not defiled, not purified, not lacking, not complete.

    Now according to Sarvastivada, unconditioned dharmas of course are not arisen, not destroyed. But Nirvana itself is the state, where all the conditioned events are stopped, destroyed in a sense. And of course, unconditioned dharmas are purified and complete.
    On the other hand, as for the conditioned dharmas, they arise and are destroyed, they are defiled (and to win an awakenment means to purify them), they are incomplete, lacking.
    Here, Avalokitewvara again shocks Wariputra by shattering this carefully polished model of the world - none of the dharmas - be they conditioned or unconditioned - have arisen or are destroyed! None of them are defiled or purified! They don't lack anything and they are not complete! By attributing to them the "characteristic of emptiness", by equating all the dharmas with emptiness he erases this traditional distinction between conditioned and unconditioned dharmas.

Go back