Parinibbāna

In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained ''nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the ''skandhas''.

In some Mahāyāna scriptures, notably the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'', ''parinirvāṇa'' is described as the realm of the eternal true Self of the Buddha.

In the Buddha in art, the event is represented by a reclining Buddha figure, often surrounded by disciples.

Final nirvana at death

In the Buddhist view, when ordinary people die, each person's unresolved karma passes on to a new birth; and thus the karmic inheritance is reborn in one of the Six Paths 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. Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin explains:

Parinirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni

Accounts of the purported events surrounding the Buddha's 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 Mahāsāṃghikas. The historical event of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa is also described in several later works, such as the Sanskrit '' Buddhacarita,'' 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 is described in the '' Mahaparinibbana Sutta''. Because of its attention to detail, this Theravada ''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-Dhatu'' doctrine, the eternality of the Buddha, and the soteriological fate of the '' Icchantikas'' 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 was in the region of Rampurva: "I believe that Kusīnagara, where the Buddha died may be ultimately found to the North of Bettiah, and in the line of the Aśōka pillars which lead hither from Patna (Pāțaliputra)" in Bihar. It still awaits proper archaeological excavation.

In Mahayana literature

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, and the Pure. Dr. Paul Williams states that it depicts the Buddha using the term "Self" 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, 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
* Parinirvana Day
* Prabashvara
* Reclining Buddha
* The Final Death of the Buddha Sakyamuni - painting depicting Parinirvana in the Yale University Art Gallery

Notes

Sources

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External links

Complete translation of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra
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PDF

{{Gorakhpur division topics

Buddhist philosophical concepts
Gautama Buddha
Buddhism and death
de:Nirwana#Parinirvana