rceiving this objection, I have not adopted
any of these theories." "Then has Gotama any theory of his own?"
"Vaccha, the Tathagata has nothing to do with theories, but this is what
he knows: the nature of form, how form arises, how form perishes: the
nature of perception, how it arises and how it perishes (and so on with
the other skandhas). Therefore I say that the Tathagata is emancipated
because he has completely and entirely abandoned all imaginations,
agitations and false notions about the Ego and anything pertaining to
the Ego." But, asks Vaccha, when one who has attained this emancipation
of mind dies where is he reborn? "Vaccha, the word 'reborn' does not fit
the case." "Then, Gotama, he is not reborn." "To say he is not reborn
does not fit the case, nor is it any better to say he is both reborn and
not reborn or that he is neither reborn nor not reborn." "Really,
Gotama, I am completely bewildered and my faith in you is gone."

"Never mind your bewilderment. This doctrine is profound and difficult.
Suppose there was a fire in front of you. You would see it burning and
know that its burning depended on fuel. And if it went out (nibbayeyya)
you would know that it had gone out. But if some one were to ask you, to
which quarter has it gone, East, West, North or South, what would you
say?"

"The expression does not fit the case, Gotama. For the fire depended on
fuel and when the fuel is gone it is said to be extinguished, being
without nourishment."

"In just the same way, all form by which one could predicate the
existence of the saint is abandoned and uprooted like a fan palm[515],
so that it will never grow up in future. The saint who is released from
what is styled form is deep, immeasurable, hard to fathom, like the
great ocean. It does not fit the case to say either that he is reborn,
not reborn, both reborn and not reborn, or neither reborn nor not
reborn." Exactly the same statement is then repeated four times the
words sensation, perception, sankharas and consciousness being
substituted successively for the word form. Vaccha, we are told, was
satisfied.

To appreciate properly the Buddha's simile we must concentrate our
attention on the fire. When we apply this metaphor to annihilation, we
usually think of the fuel or receptacle and our mind dwells sadly on the
heap of ashes or the extinguished lamp. But what has become of the fire?
It is hardly correct to say that it has been destroyed. If a particula