Does “all Dhammas” include Nibbāna?

[Viveka]

Greetings Ven Sunyo I hope you are well.

All fair enough, but I responded as I read your posts in this thread. As always, I only aim to stimulate contemplation from different angles, as opposed to trying to convince anyone that my angle is correct. I often do this not so much only for the person writing but for all the ‘silent’ readers of the threads who do not participate, especially if I feel some aspect needs to be drawn out more.

Also I subsequently read another one of your posts on asankhata where I thought you expressed yourself very clearly on this subject. Here it is

@Sunyo

In my opinion the problem is the translation ‘unconditioned’. Asankhata literally means “without (what is) created”. The word sankhata is used with reference to a raft that is put together, for example, and we don’t say a raft is “conditioned”. (Snp1.2) So Thanissaro for example translates sankhata as ‘fabricated’, which I think is better than ‘conditioned’. The prefix a- in asankhata functions as a prefix of absence, not of opposite. As the Critical Pali Dictionary says for the prefix: “In adj. comp. with subst. = ‘without that’,” (Other dictionaries say similar things, but this is the one I could find quickest.) So asankhata refers to the absence of anything created.

I often use ‘constructed’ as well as fabricated. As for me this also indicates mental constructions/constructs/conceptualizations - so tying in with ‘volitional formations’ which I see as a hybrid between choices and fabrications…

Wishing you all the very best