Sramana 2006 01

SR No.: 525057
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 170
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 8 MB

Page 133

The Conception of Death in Buddhism and Jainism : 127
The former accepts the law of karman which links one life with another life. Thus, in the Buddhist philosophy, death is a link between two lives with the mediation of the law of Karma. A person is a peculiar combination of a group of elements. When this group complex disintegrates, death takes place. Therefore, death is a real event to some extent. The Buddhist position is slightly inconsistent if we consider the question of personal identity. If group A disintegrates, then how can group B be responsible for the deeds of group A? The candle analogy does not hold here because different candles burn with their own fuel. We cannot imagine why the light of candle "A" should affect the light of candle "B". Thus Buddhist metaphysics ends with silence. In fact, the Buddha had maintained silence about the ultimate questions of metaphysics. In the Majjhima-nikāya (483-8), we find the questions, which the Buddha refused to answer on the ground that they do not bring about spiritual edification. For instance, the Buddha avoided the question whether the saint exists after death and also nirvāņa. Itis quite significant because the Buddha could have identified the saint's death with his extinction. By avoiding any categorical answer, the Buddha kept his distance from the materialistic school. We read as follows in the Majjhima-nikāya:
"How is it, Gotama? Does Gotama hold that the saint both exists and does not exist after death, and that this view alone is true, and every other false?"
"Nay, Vaccha! I do not hold that the saint both exists and does not exist after death, and that this view alone is true, and every other false,"
"But how is it, Gotama? Does Gotama hold that the saint neither exists nor does not exist after death, and that this view alone is true, and every other false"?
"Nay, Vaccha! I do not hold that the saint neither exists nor does not exist after death, and that this view alone is true, and every other false.."