The Christian will see in these aspirations and yearnings the promise of a speedy fulfilment, when men see the Majesty and the Love of God revealed in Christ: and he will welcome the teachings of Gautama the Buddha as the utterance of a prophet and a seer.

NOTE

Nirvana is thus explained in the Abhidhammattha-Sangaha, translated by Mr. Shwe Zan Aung, and published by the Pali Text Society under the title Compendium of Philosophy.

OF NIBBANA

Now Nibbana, which is reckoned as beyond these worlds, is to be realised through the knowledge belonging to the Four Paths. It is the object of those Paths, and of their Fruits. It is called Nibbana, in that it is a "departure" from that craving which is called Vana, lusting. This Nibbana is in its nature single, but for purposes of logical treatment it is twofold, namely, the element of Nibbana, wherewith is yet remaining stuff of life, and the element without that remainder. So, too, when divided into modes, it is threefold--namely, Void, Signless, and Absolute Content.

MNEMONIC

Great Seers, wholly from Vana--lust set free,
Declare Nibbana such a path to be:--
Past death, past end (it goes, this blessed way),
Uncaused, having no beyond, they say.

Thus, as fourfold, Tathagatas
The ultimate kinds of things we know and feel:--
Mind first, and next, concomitants of mind,
Body as third, Nibbana last in kind.

Printed by Hazel, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury, England.

Footnotes

^102:* Upasama implies both the idea of Peace and the idea that there has been a struggle to win it.

^104:* cf. stanza 32: where "near to Nirvana" should probably be rendered "in the very presence of Nirvana." (RHYS DAVIDS.)

^105:* From a more positive point of view we may say that for the Buddhist, Peace is an ideal of equilibrium now and of unconsciousness hereafter: for the Christian, Peace is an ideal of conscious fellowship with God begun now and hereafter consummated.

^105:+ This collection, published by the Pali Text Society, will go far to prove how real and deep was the ethical experience of the early Buddhists.

^106:* In technical phraseology the ethical Nirvana is called Savupadisesanibbanam, or Nirvana, in which the five skandhas or elements of being remain; and the metaphysical Nirvana is called Anupadisesanibbanam, or Nirvana, in which they cease to exist. (See Note at end.)

^108:* Majjhima Nikaya, 32.

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THE WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES

Edited by L. CRANMER-BYNG and Dr. S. A. KAPADIA

THE SERIES AND ITS PURPOSE