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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
138
Atman and Mókşá
lity at the basis, is the anātman, the non-self. Therefore, Paul Dahlke says "To understand one's Self is to dissolve one's Self, as a light reveals itself only by consuming itself. In other words the I is comprehensible only-as not-I, becomes not-I in being comprehended."!
Buddha and his followers were not speculative philosophers. They did not pursue knowledge for the sake of mere knowledge. They sought and pursued knowledge only as a means of achieving freedom from suffering. Buddha mainly dealt with the existence of sorrow, its cause and its removal. All knowledge was, therefore, to Buddha only instrumental to attaining complete freedom from sorrow. Just as he maintained 'all is impermanent' (afari) so also he believed 'all is sorrow' (adg:). The world is transient and impermanent. Everything in the world has only a moment's existence. Because everything lasts only for a moment man cannot derive lasting pleasure from it. A thing which is dear to an individual, causes disappointment and pain in him by ceasing to exist immediately after its occurrence. Man has an inborn tendency to expect long long duration of a thing which gives him some kind of pleasure or satisfaction. Momentary things give only momentary pleasures. The moment an in. dividual begins to enjoy the pleasure, it disappears. It is inherent in the nature of things to be evanescent and transient. Transiency or the short duration of the things to which men attach their minds neces
1 Dahlke D. T. : Buddhist Essays, p. 269.
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