The Buddha begins be emphasizing, yet again, that aseceticism and self-renunciation are not enough. Reaching out to others and explaining this sutra is immeasurably, inconceivably greater. This is because the Tathagata has expounded this sutra for those who wish to be bodhisattvas. Notice that there is no element of coercion, force, or judgment. A bodhisattva does not force another, indeed, cannot force another to embark on the Primary Path of bodhisattva-hood. Furthermore, a bodhisattva does not judge another for not embarking on this path. Indeed all beings are equal in the eyes of a bodhisattva; the concept of individual being breaking down, insufficient. We are all one. We are all humans. Some will not choose to be bodhisattvas; indeed some are constitutionally incapable of becoming bodhisattvas.
What is a bodhisattva? A reminder is appropriate here. This is the bodhisattva vow:
However many beings there are in whatever realms of being might exist, whether they are born from an egg or born from a womb, born from the water or born from the air, whether they have form or no form, whether they have perception or no perception or neither perception nor no perception, in whatever conceivable realm of being one might conceive of beings, in the realm of complete nirvana I shall liberate them all. And though I thus liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated.
A better translation might be that "I liberate all beings through complete nirvana" as opposed to "in the realm of." Complete nirvana is the state of complete unattachment, even to one's physical body. "incomplete nirvana" is detachment from most things, but still one is attached to the physical body. In some sense, death in Buddhist philosophy is joyous because when you die, you finally achieve the goal of complete detachment. It is a logical progression in a series. It really turns things on its head. The bodhisattva wishes not to be reborn, or perhaps more precisely, is not attached to the idea of being reborn. This flows from the idea that the self is an illusion. I change from moment to moment, so in what sense does my "self" persist? How much more so if I were to be reincarnated? I would be completely different. So in what sense am I reincarnated?
2 comments:
I would argue that death is not actually joyous, though it is not sad.
Death being joyous is actually a concept heavily hyped by religions promising an afterlife, and I think encourages one not to live in the moment, but to pine for a future time of perfection.
Well, I agree that death is not joyous... because the future does not exist. Nothing in the future is joyous, only what is happening right now. On the other hand death can be seen as a logical outcome of a lifetime of practice of non-attachment. It is the ultimate non-attachment as your individual consciousness dissolves and your elements return to the universe, the body of humanity continuing on.
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