THE FUTURE HOPE : NIRVANA
So much has been said on the subject of Nirvana^
that Httle can be added to the information we already
possess. Dr. Edkins, in a paper written for an
Oriental Congress, has given us the following account
of a conversation he held with a Buddhist priest sixty-
years of age, of good repute as a learned scholar, and
reported to be the best-read monk in either of the
eight monasteries which are found together in one
nook of the western hills, ten miles from Peking.
*' Do you think there is a future life or not ? " " We
neither say there is or is not." " Do not some men
at death become sheep, and others, horses? " " I do
not say they will. There is one thing that is really
important. It is good conduct, good morality." " Virtuous conduct," he added, " is the basis of all
religion. As for dogmas, they are true for those who
accept them." " What then of Nirvana, is it death
or something different from death ? " " No," he said,
'' it is not death, for it signifies the absence of birth
and death." " What is your view of the dogma of the
non-reality of existing things?" "Things are proved,"
he said, "to be not real by their destructibility. You
burn them, they are reduced to ashes. You say you are an Englishman : you think of England and you
are there. There is no reality in your thought. You
are deluded if you think there is reality in it." He
was very distinct, Dr. Edkins continues, on the point
that definite belief is a fault. It is sticking to form.
It is " cho yii sia?ig " was his expression. This is literally sticking to form. The moment you form
ideas too pronounced on the existence of a future
life, or the Nirvana, or on the non-reality of existing
things, you cease to become a consistent Buddhist.
This priest belonged to the Lin-tsi branch of the
contemplative school of Chinese Buddhists. With
them the essence of religion is quietism ; to have no
strong belief on any point except the necessity of
virtue and good conduct,—the rest will adjust itself.
Referring to the books, however, we receive definite
information as to the early and late belief of northern
Buddhists on this subject of Nirvana. It is spoken
of as a deliverance consequent on destruction. So
Buddhasays : "After my Nirvana, 7C'0-;/iie-f?i-/ieu,^'iha.tis,
after my body has been destroyed, and in consequence
deliverance obtained. But what is the "deliverance"?
The oft-repeated answer is— a deliverance from "birth
and death " (smg sse). The truth is, so it would seem
at least, that sorrow was regarded as inseparable from
organised life, or from life as a separate item in
any condition. And, therefore, without defining it, the
primitive belief was that the supreme happiness was
exemption from re-birth. Does not this contain in it the germ of the later Pantheism or spiritualism into
which the system grew ? For, if there is to be no birth,
we must go back to the condition before birth began: that is, as it seems, to the condition of the " Eternal
one." Whether this word Nirvana has not some
reference to that condition of a non-breathing life,
that is, of the Creator ere he began his creative
work (as we speak), is not satisfactorily answered.
It has been propounded as a possible explanation of
the word, and if it could be borne out, the idea, at any
rate, of Nirvana would be brought to a determinate
issue. For if, as the Buddhists say, we are possessed
of the one nature of Buddha, and if by recovering
this we reach our goal of perfection, then this per-
fection consists in going back to that nature ere it became deluded and darkened by ignorance. At
least, the definition of destruction as a part of the
formula for Nirvana alludes to the destruction of every
part of the being called " man." The bodily form, of
course, but beyond that the faculties of perception
{vedand ; Ch., sheu), consciousness or the receptive
power of thought {sa7igfia ; Ch., siang), discrimination
(^^A!/^^r^/Ch.,///«^), and conscious knowledge {z'{/«^«^/
Ch., shih). So that, if these perish, it would seem that
all must disappear, and the result be annihilation.
But this is not so : for the result is described as deliverance from the fetters of existence ; that is,
from the bonds which constitute sorrow. Beyond
this, however, we find in the developed form of the
doctrine the positive assertion that Nirvana consists
in joy, permanence, personality, and purity. " It may
be compared," Buddha is supposed to say, " to the
absence of something different from itself. In the
midst of sorrow there is no Nirvana, and in Nirvana
there is no sorrow. So we may justly define Nirvana as that sort of existence which consists in the absence
of something essentially different from itself." Again,
in another place, Buddha says : " I do not affirm that
the six organs of sense, &c., are permanent, but what
I state is that that is permanent, full of joy, personal,
and pure which is left after the organs of sense and
the objects of sense are destroyed. When the world,
weary of sorrow, turns away and separates itself from
the cause of all this sorrow, then by this rejection of
it there remains that which I call the ' true self,' and
it is of this I speak when I say it is permanent, full
ofjoy, personal, and pure." So in the later speculation
this thought is repeatedly brought out, that Nirvana
is a positive condition of unfettered bliss.
We need hardly dwell on this subject further. It
might admit of an indefinite amount of discussion
;
but, for the purpose of this inquiry, it is enough to
know that the theory of an annihilation of existence
is not by any means an acknowledged explanation of
the meaning of Nirvana. The difference between
the destruction of all elements of limited existence
and the cessation of being is a distinct one and
perfectly recognisable. It may be and is a baseless
vision of the future condition, that it admits of no
positive description ; but yet, as it is full of joy, and
pure, and permanent, and in a high sense a personal
one, it affords a sufficient motive to what the Peking
priest described as the basis of all religions, —correct
and virtuous conduct.
book : Buddhism in China
BY
THE REV. S. BEAL,
RECTOR OF WARK-ON-TYNR, NORTHUMBERLAND.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
APPOINTED BY THE
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
26, ST. George's place, hyde park corner, s.w. BRIGHTON : 135, north street.
New York : E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
1884.