Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 210

8. PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES
191
craving after worldly prosperity. Nirvāṇa is thus "a state of mind to be realised and enjoyed by a man here, on this earth, in this life, and in this life only”.If grounded in virtue, and mentally alert, “the man who orders his life aright, wheresoever he may be, will realise Nirvāņa." It is peace beyond compare.
In the Buddhist view, it is immaterial to ask what becomes of the emancipated saint after he has passed away. In the Aggi-Vacchagotta-sutta of the Majjhimanikāya, Vacchagotta is asked by the Buddha whether he can tell in what direction an expiring fire goes, whether to east, west, north or south. The reply is na upeti, the question does not apply. The fire has simply gone out for lack of fuel to sustain it. Similarly, it is pointed out, everything by which the emancipated saint might be denoted, has passed away, has been completely extirpated; 'reborn does not apply to him nor not reborn nor any combination of such terms'.
Nirvāṇa is in a sense freedom from rebirth. The man who sees the peril in the cycle of births (pavatta ), says the Milindapañha, realises that it is all “burning, and blazing, full of pain and of despair”, and yearns for a state in which there is no becoming (appavatta), and concentrates his mind on it; and, after mighty endeavour, having gone far beyond the cycle of
ce, attains freedom from saṁsāra. “And when he has gained that, the man who has ordered his life aright has realised Nirvāņa."
The only criticism which Somadeva offers in respect of the Buddhist view of Nirvāṇa is that the soul which remains imperishable through a succession of births cannot become extinct in the state of salvation. Somadeva's criticism is, however, beside the mark, as Nirvāṇa is not salvation to be enjoyed by an imperishable soul after death. As Rhys Davids says, “the parts and powers of the perfect man will be dissolved, and no new being will be born to sorrow. The wise will pass away, will go out like the flame of a lamp, and their Karma will be individualized no longer....
1 'उदकं किलंततसितपिपासितधम्माभितत्तानं जनपसुपजानं पिपासाविनयनं; एवमेव निब्बानं कामतण्हाभवतहाविभव
तण्हापिपासाविनयनं ।' 2 Ibid. p. 181. f. n. 1. 3 'यथ कवचि पि ठितो सम्मापटिपन्नो निब्बानं सच्छिकरोति ।' 4 Cf. 'Brat Teh Hara' 317 acara qarat Ariya pariyesana Sutla,
Majjhima-Nikāga (26). 5 See Further Dialogues of the Buddha, Vol. I, pp. 343, 344. 6 751 I 37TTÀ HÀI See Rhys Davids: Pali-English Dictionary under
pavatta. 7 The Questions of King Milinda (op. cit.), p. 201.
8 345 diadata144: HTTI TETHETTET 17:19 || P. 272