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130 :
śramaņa, Vol 57, No. 1/January-March 2006
"As ripe fruit are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death.
"As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals.
"Both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of death; all are subject to death.
"So the world is afflicted with death and decay, there the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world.?
From the above sermon, it is clear that the Buddha accepts temporality and finitude as the central characteristics of human existence. The other systems of Indian philosophy confined changes to the external and non-essential dimensions of human existence. But as this sermon reveals, the Buddha ascribes much more reality to death than the classical philosophers. But he does not corroborate the materialistic approach to death.
We come across a discussion about eschatological matters in the "Mahāparinibbāna Sutta". There the Buddha presents his position regarding death in philosophical terms. He points out that the individuals in bondage have to go though suffering and death again and again but liberated individuals are free from anxiety about death. Speaking of hint the Buddha declares.
"Hell is destroyed for me, and rebirth as an animal, or a ghost, or in any place of woe. I am converted; I am no longer liable to be reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of final salvation".
Speaking of the advanced spiritual practitioners, the Buddha declares that death is no longer a torment for them. Death gradually loosens its grip over such enlightened persons and ultimately they break out of the chains of death. He says: -
"Those who have died after the complete destruction of the three bonds of lust, of covetousness and of the egotistical clinging
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