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From: heatherh@guitar.Berkeley.EDU (Heather Hatakeyama)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Nirvana
Message-ID: <14668@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 19 Mar 90 14:33:52 GMT
Sender: mukund@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
Lines: 28
Approved: mukund@phoenix.Princeton.EDU

crm@romeo.cs.duke.edu (Charlie Martin) writes:

(lines deleted)

>Nirvana comes from the root "to extinguish", and means the end of
>the ego, the part of you that calls itself "I".  In Buddhism, nirvana
>is "desirable" because the one who attains is liberated from the cycle
>of samsara, the wheel of birth and death, having to work late to get a
>delivery finished, the desire to obtain a paycheck, and taxes.  A Buddha
>disappears at the end of the current lifetime, never is reincarnated,
>and otherwise gets the week off.

I just wanted to point out that in some sects of Buddhism, the Buddha,
while having the option to check out of the daily grind, may (and perhaps
must, compelled by the strong element of compassion inherent in the
concept of becoming enlightened) choose to continue with the cycle of
birth and death voluntarily, in order to teach those of us who continue
to suffer how to become enlightened (I believe that most sects of
Buddhism hold that all equally possess the potential for enlightenment).

There's a passage in the Lotus Sutra where Shakyamuni Buddha states: "This is 
my constant thought/How I can cause all living beings/To gain entry to the 
highest Way/And quickly attain Buddhahood".  For the sake of this goal,
an enlightened being may choose to return to paychecks and taxes.

>Charlie Martin (crm@cs.duke.edu,mcnc!duke!crm)

Heather Hatakeyama