DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0170
Buddha & the Gospel of Buddhism
to understand its implications to an orthodox Buddhist
and its meaning on the lips of Gautama.
Unfortunately, the term Nibbana (in its Sanskrit form
Nirvana) became familiar to European students long
before the Buddhist scriptures had been made accessible;
and the early western writers on Buddhism “ interpreted
Buddhism in terms of their own belief, as a state to be
reached after death. As such they supposed the ‘ dying
out ’ must mean the dying out of ‘ a soul ’; and endless
were the discussions whether this meant eternal trance, or
absolute annihilation of a soul.”1 How irrelevant was this
discussion will be seen when we realize that Nibbana is a
state to be realized here and now, and is recorded to have
been attained by the Buddha at the beginning of his
ministry, as well as by innumerable Arahats, his disciples;
and when we remember that Buddhism denies the existence
of a soul, at any time, whether before or after death.
In the Milinda Panha, Nibbana is compared to a “glorious
city, stainless and undefiled, pure and white, ageless,
deathless, secure, calm and happy ”; and yet this city is
very far from being a heaven to which good men attain
after death:
“There is no spot, O king, East, South, West or North,
above, below or beyond, where Nibbana is situate, and yet
Nibbana is; and he who orders his life aright, grounded
in virtue, and with rational attention, may realize it,
whether he live in Greece, China, Alexandria, or in
Kosala.”
1 But the Milinda Panha also speaks (erroneously) of an Arahat as
‘ entering into ’ Nibbana, saying that the layman who attains to Arahatta
must either enter the Order or pass into Nibbana, the latter alternative
here implying physical death (as in the case of Suddhodana, the father
of Buddha, p. 48).
Il6
to understand its implications to an orthodox Buddhist
and its meaning on the lips of Gautama.
Unfortunately, the term Nibbana (in its Sanskrit form
Nirvana) became familiar to European students long
before the Buddhist scriptures had been made accessible;
and the early western writers on Buddhism “ interpreted
Buddhism in terms of their own belief, as a state to be
reached after death. As such they supposed the ‘ dying
out ’ must mean the dying out of ‘ a soul ’; and endless
were the discussions whether this meant eternal trance, or
absolute annihilation of a soul.”1 How irrelevant was this
discussion will be seen when we realize that Nibbana is a
state to be realized here and now, and is recorded to have
been attained by the Buddha at the beginning of his
ministry, as well as by innumerable Arahats, his disciples;
and when we remember that Buddhism denies the existence
of a soul, at any time, whether before or after death.
In the Milinda Panha, Nibbana is compared to a “glorious
city, stainless and undefiled, pure and white, ageless,
deathless, secure, calm and happy ”; and yet this city is
very far from being a heaven to which good men attain
after death:
“There is no spot, O king, East, South, West or North,
above, below or beyond, where Nibbana is situate, and yet
Nibbana is; and he who orders his life aright, grounded
in virtue, and with rational attention, may realize it,
whether he live in Greece, China, Alexandria, or in
Kosala.”
1 But the Milinda Panha also speaks (erroneously) of an Arahat as
‘ entering into ’ Nibbana, saying that the layman who attains to Arahatta
must either enter the Order or pass into Nibbana, the latter alternative
here implying physical death (as in the case of Suddhodana, the father
of Buddha, p. 48).
Il6