The Concept of Non-Abiding Nirvāṇa in Indian Mahāyāna Philosophy

Abstract

The concept of non-abiding nirvāṇa was introduced in Mahāyāna Buddhist phi­losophy to denote the state achieved by bodhisattvas in the moment of enlighten­ment. It is considered as higher and more religiously valuable than the state of arhattva aimed at in Hīnayāna practices. The non-abiding nirvāṇa is above all the differences including the difference between nirvāṇa and saṃsāra, and its achievement is identical to the knowledge of the true reality, essentially non-dual. It does not depend on consciousness aiming at it, nor on the efforts exerted by a sentient being to get it, nor on the differences between sentient beings, for these differences are illusory. This is an undetermined state unlike the Hīnayāna nirvāṇa and therefore the bodhisattvas’ compassion is not conditioned by any­thing and manifests itself freely. This state is treated as real nirvāṇa also because it overcomes not only individual suffering but suffering per se, for Hīnayāna in­terpretation of nirvāṇa as elimination only individual suffering is based on the no­tion of difference between sentient beings, and the notion is, according to Mahāyāna, essentially false and does not lead to real enlightenment.