In
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, ''parinirvana'' (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: ';
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
: ') is commonly used to refer to nirvana-after-death, which occurs upon the death of someone who has attained ''
nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from ''
'',
karma
Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...
and
rebirth
Rebirth may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Film
* ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film
* ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film
* ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth
* ''The Re ...
as well as the dissolution of the ''
skandha
(Sanskrit) or (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the rise of craving and clinging. They are also ...
s''.
In some
Mahāyāna
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhism, Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BC ...
scriptures, notably the ''
Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra
The ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (Sanskrit; , ; Vietnamese: ''Kinh Đại Bát Niết Bàn'') or ''Nirvana Sutra'' is Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra of the Buddha-nature genre. Its precise date of origin is uncertain, but its early form ...
'', ''parinirvāṇa'' is described as the realm of the eternal true
Self
The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...
of the Buddha.
In the
Buddha in art
Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as Buddharūpa (literally, "Form of the Awakened One") in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure in ...
, the event is represented by a
reclining Buddha
A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his he ...
figure, often surrounded by disciples.
Nirvana after death
In the Buddhist view, when ordinary people die, each person's unresolved karma passes on to a new birth instantaneously; and thus the karmic inheritance is reborn in one of the six realms of ''
samsara''. However, when a person attains nirvana, they are liberated from karmic rebirth. When such a person dies, it is the end of the cycle of rebirth, the Samsara and the Karma.
Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin explains:
Parinirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni
Accounts of the purported events surrounding the Buddha's own parinirvāṇa are found in a wide range of Buddhist canonical literature. In addition to the Pāli Mahāparinibbāna sutta (DN 16) and its Sanskrit parallels, the topic is treated in the ''Saṃyutta-nikāya'' (SN 6.15) and the several Sanskrit parallels (T99 p253c-254c), the Sanskrit-based ''
Ekottara-āgama'' (T125 p750c), and other early sutras preserved in Chinese, as well as in most of the Vinayas preserved in Chinese of the early Buddhist schools such as the
Sarvāstivādins and the
Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika (Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in se ...
s. The historical event of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa is also described in a number of later works, such as the Sanskrit ''
Buddhacarita
''Buddhacharita'' (; ) is an epic poem in the Sanskrit ''mahakavya'' style on the life of Gautama Buddha by of Sāketa (modern Ayodhya), composed in the early second century CE.
The author has prepared an account of the Buddha's life and teach ...
'' and the ''Avadāna-śataka'', and the Pāli ''Mahāvaṃsa''.
According to Bareau, the oldest core components of all these accounts are just the account of the Buddha's ''parinirvāṇa'' itself at
Kuśinagara and the funerary rites following his death. He deems all other extended details to be later additions with little historical value.
Within the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Pali)
The ''parinirvana'' of the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
is described in the ''
Mahaparinibbana Sutta''. Because of its attention to detail, this
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
''sutta'', though first committed to writing hundreds of years after his death, has been resorted to as the principal source of reference in most standard studies of the Buddha's life.
[Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Paul Williams, Published by Taylor & Francis, 2005. p. 190]
Within the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra
In contrast to these works which deal with the Buddha's ''parinirvāṇa'' as a biographical event, the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra'' was written hundreds of years later. The Nirvana Sutra does not give details of the historical event of the day of the ''parinirvāṇa'' itself, except the Buddha's illness and
Cunda's meal offering, nor any of the other preceding or subsequent incidents, instead using the event as merely a convenient springboard for the expression of standard Mahayana ideals such as the ''
tathagata-garbha
Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...
''/''
buddha-dhatu
Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...
'' doctrine, the eternality of the Buddha, and the soteriological fate of the ''
icchantika In Mahayana Buddhism the ''icchantika'' is a deluded being who can never attain enlightenment (Buddhahood).
Description
According to some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, the ''icchantika'' is the most base and spiritually deluded of all types of bei ...
s'' and so forth.
Location of Gautama Buddha's death and parinirvana
It has been suggested by Waddell that the site of the death and ''parinirvana'' of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
was in the region of
Rampurva
The Rampurva capitals are the capitals of a pair of Ashoka Pillars discovered in by A. C. L. Carlleyle. The archaeological site is called Rampurva, and is located in the West Champaran district of the Indian state of Bihar, situated very close ...
: "I believe that Kusīnagara, where the Buddha died may be ultimately found to the North of
Bettiah
Bettiah is a city and administrative headquarters of West Champaran district ( Tirhut Division) - (Tirhut), near Indo-Nepal border, north-west of Patna, in Bihar state of India.
History
In 1244 A.D., Gangeshwar Dev, a Bhumihar Brahmin of ...
, and in the line of the
Aśōka pillars which lead hither from
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
(Pāțaliputra)" in Bihar. It still awaits proper archaeological excavation.
In Mahayana literature
![Parinirvana Miyajima](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Parinirvana_Miyajima.jpg)
According to the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (also called the ''Nirvana Sutra''), the Buddha taught that ''parinirvāṇa'' is the realm of the Eternal, Bliss, the
Self
The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...
, and the Pure. Dr. Paul Williams states that it depicts the Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics. However, the ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' is a long and highly composite Mahayana scripture, and the part of the sutra upon which Williams is basing his statement is a portion of the Nirvana Sutra of secondary Central Asian provenance - other parts of the sutra were written in India.
Guang Xing speaks of how the Mahayanists of the ''Nirvana Sutra'' understand the ''mahaparinirvana'' to be the liberated Self of the eternal Buddha:
Only in Mahaparinirvana is this True Self held to be fully discernible and accessible.
Kosho Yamamoto cites a passage in which the Buddha admonishes his monks not to dwell inordinately on the idea of the non-Self but to meditate on the Self. Yamamoto writes:
Michael Zimmermann, in his study of the
Tathagatagarbha Sutra
Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...
, reveals that not only the ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' but also the ''Tathagatagarbha Sutra'' and the ''Lankavatara Sutra'' speak affirmatively of the Self. Zimmermann observes:
[Zimmermann, Michael (2002)]
''A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra''
Biblotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica VI, The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, pp. 82–83
See also
*
Mahasamādhi
''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga ...
*
Parinirvana Day
Parinirvana Day, or Nirvana Day is a Mahayana Buddhist holiday celebrated in East Asia, Vietnam and the Philippines. By some it is celebrated on 8 February, but by most on the 15 February. In Bhutan, it is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the ...
*
Prabashvara
Prabhashvara is the color of the aura of Gautama Buddha.The Buddhist Channel (D.C. Ranatunga, Sunday Times), April 29, 20/ref> The actual spectrum of his aura consists of five colors:
Pāli:
* ''nīla'' ( sapphire blue)
* ''pīta'' (golden yell ...
*
Reclining Buddha
A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his he ...
Notes
Sources
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External links
Complete translation of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutrao
PDF*
ttps://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/nyregion/19buddha.html?_r=1 Article in The New York Times Buddha in Nirvana
{{Gorakhpur division topics
Buddhist philosophical concepts
Gautama Buddha
de:Nirwana#Parinirvana