DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0171
Nibbana
He enters into this city who ‘ emancipates his mind in
Arahatta.’
The literal meaning of the word Nibbana is: ‘dying out,’
or ‘extinction,’ as of a fire.1 To understand its technical
import we must call to mind the simile of flame so con-
stantly employed in Buddhist thought: “ The whole
world is in flames,” says Gautama. “ By what fire is it
kindled? By the fire of lust (raga), of resentment (dosa),
of glamour (moha); by the fire of birth, old age, death,
pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief and despair it is kindled.”
The process of transmigration, the natural order of Be-
coming, is the communication of this flame from one
aggregate of combustible material to another. The
salvation of the Arahat, the saint, then, is the dying
down—Nibbana—of the flames of lust, hate, and glamour,
and of the will to life. Nibbana is just this, and no more
and no less.
Nibbana (nirvana) is the only Buddhist term for salvation
familiar to western readers, but it is only one of many that
occur in the orthodox Buddhist scriptures. Perhaps the
broadest term is Vimokhd, or Vimutti, ‘ salvation ’ or
1 Other etymologies are possible: thus “ It is called Nibbana, in that it
is a * de-parture ’ from that craving which is called vana, lusting ”—
(Anuruddha, Compendium of Philosophy, iv, 14). It is important to
remember that the term Nirvana is older than Buddhism, and is one
of the many words used by Gautama in a special sense. In the
Upanishads it does not mean the dying out of anything, but rather
perfect self-realization; to those in whom the darkness of ignorance has
been dispersed by perfect knowledge, ‘ as the highest goal there opens
before them the eternal, perfect, Nirvanam’—(Chandogya Upanishad,
8, 15, 1). Buddhist usage emphasizes the strict etymological significance
of ‘dying out;’ but even so, it is not the dying out of a soul or an indi-
viduality, for no such thing exists, and therefore no such thing can die
out; it is only the passions (craving, resentment and delusion) that can
die out. As to what remains, if anything, early Buddhism is silent.
117
He enters into this city who ‘ emancipates his mind in
Arahatta.’
The literal meaning of the word Nibbana is: ‘dying out,’
or ‘extinction,’ as of a fire.1 To understand its technical
import we must call to mind the simile of flame so con-
stantly employed in Buddhist thought: “ The whole
world is in flames,” says Gautama. “ By what fire is it
kindled? By the fire of lust (raga), of resentment (dosa),
of glamour (moha); by the fire of birth, old age, death,
pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief and despair it is kindled.”
The process of transmigration, the natural order of Be-
coming, is the communication of this flame from one
aggregate of combustible material to another. The
salvation of the Arahat, the saint, then, is the dying
down—Nibbana—of the flames of lust, hate, and glamour,
and of the will to life. Nibbana is just this, and no more
and no less.
Nibbana (nirvana) is the only Buddhist term for salvation
familiar to western readers, but it is only one of many that
occur in the orthodox Buddhist scriptures. Perhaps the
broadest term is Vimokhd, or Vimutti, ‘ salvation ’ or
1 Other etymologies are possible: thus “ It is called Nibbana, in that it
is a * de-parture ’ from that craving which is called vana, lusting ”—
(Anuruddha, Compendium of Philosophy, iv, 14). It is important to
remember that the term Nirvana is older than Buddhism, and is one
of the many words used by Gautama in a special sense. In the
Upanishads it does not mean the dying out of anything, but rather
perfect self-realization; to those in whom the darkness of ignorance has
been dispersed by perfect knowledge, ‘ as the highest goal there opens
before them the eternal, perfect, Nirvanam’—(Chandogya Upanishad,
8, 15, 1). Buddhist usage emphasizes the strict etymological significance
of ‘dying out;’ but even so, it is not the dying out of a soul or an indi-
viduality, for no such thing exists, and therefore no such thing can die
out; it is only the passions (craving, resentment and delusion) that can
die out. As to what remains, if anything, early Buddhism is silent.
117