The words 'extinction', 'liberation', 'awakening', 'realization', 'tranquillity' and 'non-arising' 'nirvāṇa' are all used to refer Buddhist liberation and often used interchangeably. The great nirvāṇasutra explains nirvāṇa as "the extinction of all defilements is nirvāṇa". The Abhidhamma commentary says, the meaning of nirvāṇa is, "the elimination of all afflictions, the extinction of the three fires (greed, anger and ignorance) and the extinction of the three aspects of all phenomena, and the leaving of all realms of existence". The discourse of the Buddha says nirvāṇa is "desire of greed forever ended, anger forever ended, ignorance forever ended and above all, all afflictions forever ended." The Buddhist concept of four Noble truths provide the framework to understand suffering, its nature, its causes, its cessation and its ways (mārga). Nirvāṇa is the third noble truth of the four noble truths, in which greed, anger, ignorance, wrong view, duality and affliction are all extinguished. It is a state of tranquillity and purity that transcends others and self. When the Buddha became enlightened under the bodhi tree, he awakened to the truth of the universe and attained perfect enlightenment. This perfect enlightenment is nirvāṇa. An attempt has been made in this paper to explain and examine the metaphysical implications of nirvāṇa found in four major Buddhist schools namely Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Mādhyamika and Yogācāra school of Buddhism.
目次
Abstract 23 Introduction 24 The nature of Nirvāṇa 24 1. The Vaibhāṣika notion of Nirvāṇa 27 2. The Sautrāntika notion of Nirvāṇa 29 3. The Mādhyamika notion of Nirvāṇa 31 4. The Yogācāra notion of Nirvāṇa 33 Conclusion 35 Notes 36 References 37
