『숫따니빠따』에서 산냐(saññā) 해석의 문제

초록

Saññā refers to the operation by which the characteristics of an object are apprehended and conceptually recognized. This process is accompanied by linguistic discrimination through naming. In the cognitive process that follows contact, saññā plays a central role in generating discrimination and conceptual proliferation. Therefore, the Suttanipāta identifies saññā as a cause of proliferation and repeatedly emphasizes the need to be “free from all the bonds of saññā.” Within this framework, the disappearance of form is discussed in tracing back the arising of perception through contact, since without form there can be no contact and no arising of perception. Regarding this state, verse 874 explains that one is “neither percipient through perception, nor percipient through distorted perception, nor without perception, nor one whose perception has disappeared.” According to the commentary Paramatthajotikā, this verse indicates that even if a practitioner attains all stages of the immaterial absorptions—from the sphere of infinite space through the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception—the resulting state of consciousness is neither saññā nor non-saññā. The perceptions of “absence” or “disappearance” still retain the function of saññā; thus, there is no complete disappearance of form. A practitioner seeking liberation, therefore, must not abide in any mode of saññā. Another possible interpretation of verse 874 is that it addresses the condition that arises after death, when the material body has disappeared. In this regard, the “Sutta before Death” mentioned in the commentary provides an important clue. Grasping at the moment of death, along with attachment and craving for existence, cannot be regarded as fully conscious activity, yet neither is it entirely unconscious. It is also noteworthy that, among various forms of discourse concerning postmortem existence, there appears the notion of a being that is “neither saññā nor non-saññā.” This may suggest that one who no longer enters the stream of rebirth no longer possesses any saññā regarding a future existence.

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