The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana — Th. Stcherbatsky (1927)
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1 Ibid. p. 432 ff. 2 Ibid. p. 432.10.
3 The Hinayanistic Buddha is not real, he has no svabhava, cp. XXII. 2, 4, 16, but the
Mabayanistic one has a svabhava. The synonym of dharma-Kaya is svabhdva-Kdya.
4 Ibid. p. 443.2, cf. XXV. 84 . 5 Ibid. 442.13.
6 Svadhimukti-daridra , ibid. p. 443.1. 7 Ibid. p. 442.8.
8 Ibid. p. 443.il. 9 Ibid. p. 443.13.
10 Ibid. p. XXII.il. ii Ibid. p. 444.4.
XVI. THE mahayanist nirvana or infinite, and whether the Buddha survives after Nirvana are referred just to this impossibility of whatsoever determination . 1 It you insist that there is a Buddha, you needs must concede that after Nirvana there is none . 2 But if you realise the relativity of the conception, never will the question about his existence occur to you. Buddha is merged quiescent in nature and beyond every possible determination . 3 Those who proceed to dychotomise him as eternal or non-eternal, existent or non-existent, relative or non-relative, omniscient or non-omniscient, are all misled by words . 4 They have no direct intuition (na pasyanti) of the absolute Buddha . 5 Just as a man who is blind from birth cannot see the sun , 6 just so are men in the throes of conventional conceptions, they do not perceive the Buddha directly, but wish to detail (prapancayanti) him conceptually. Only by them can He not be seen directly (< aparoksa-vartin ). 7 Buddha must be regarded as the cosmical order ( dharmatah ), his Body is the Cosmos ( dharmatd ). The essence of the Cosmos is incognisable, it is impossible to know what it is con¬ ceptually . 8 The reality of Buddha is the reality of the Universe, and as far as the Buddha has no separate reality (; nihsvabhava), neither the Universe has any, apart from him. All the elements of existence, when sifted through the principle of Relativity, become resplendent . 9 All the millions of existences (bhutakoti) must be regarded as the Body of the Buddha manifested in them. This is Relativity, the climax of wisdom (prajndpdramitd)
XVI. The new conception of Nirvana
Space and that kind of eternal death which was termed Nirvana were entered in the list of ultimate realities by the schools of Early Buddhism and the Yaibhasikas, on the score that they possessed a character (dharma), a reality (vastu), an individuality (svalaksana), an existence ( bhava ) of their own (sva-bhdva), since they fitted into the current definition of reality
1 Ibid. p. XXII.12. 2 Ibid. p. XXII.u.
3 Ibid. p. 448.1. 4 Ibid. p. XXII.15.
5 Ibid. p. 448.10. 6 Ibid. p. 448.10.
7 Ibid. p. 448.9. Such a definition of sense perception, pratyaksam aparoksam (sc. artha not jfidna) is opposed by Candrakirti to the definition of Dignaga pratyaksam kalpanapodham , cp. M. vr. p. 71. 10. It has been later accepted by the Vedantins (cp. Vedantaparibhasa) and others; brahma the Absolute, is then declared to be cognised by sense-perception by pratyaksa.
g Ibid. p. 448,14-15.
9 Prakrti-prabhdsvarah sarvadharmah prajndpdramitd-parisuddhyd, ibid. 444,9.
'0 Tathdgata-kdyo bhutu-koti-prabhdvito drastavyo yad uta prajndpdramitd, A§tas., 94.14.
NIRVANA