Nirvana Sutra - Overview

Nirvana Sutra or Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (Chinese: Niepan Jing (涅槃經); Japanese: Nehankyō (涅槃経)) is one of the major texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Note that this is one of two Buddhist texts having approximately the same title, the other being part of the Pali Canon. However, both for historical reasons and for the sake of clarity, the former is generally referred to by its Sanskrit title, Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (or simply "Nirvana Sutra"), and the latter by its Pali title, Mahaparinib ...

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• Nirvana Sutra - Overview
• Nirvana Sutra - Versions
• Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra
• Nirvana Sutra - Textual history
• Nirvana Sutra - English edition

Read more here: » Nirvana Sutra: Encyclopedia - Nirvana Sutra

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra is a major Mahayana scripture which purports to enshrine the Buddha's "final explanation" of his Doctrine, an explanation characterised by "exhaustive thoroughness" and allegedly delivered on the last day before his parinirvana (his physical death). The Buddha in this sutra declares that this scripture is the "all-fulfilling conclusion" of authentic Dharma (verbalised Truth) and that "all the various secret gates to Dharma, the words of implicit meaning uttered by the tathagatas [Buddhas] are gathered up in t ...

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Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Overview, Nirvana Sutra - Versions, Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Textual history, Nirvana Sutra - English edition

Read more here: » Nirvana Sutra: Encyclopedia II - Nirvana Sutra - Overview

The text contained in the Faxian and Tibetan translations is roughly equivalent to just the first quarter of the greatly expanded Dharmaksema version. Given that all known Sanskrit fragments correspond solely to material found in the Faxian and Tibetan versions, and the corresponding part of Dharmakshema, it is generally accepted that this portion of the text was compiled in India, possibly, as the text itself hints, somewhere in southern India, before it was transferred to Kashmir. The additional material in the long Dharmakshema ...

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Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Overview, Nirvana Sutra - Versions, Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Textual history, Nirvana Sutra - English edition

Read more here: » Nirvana Sutra: Encyclopedia II - Nirvana Sutra - Textual history

The text of the Nirvana Sutra in the original Sanskrit has survived only in a number of fragments, which were discovered in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Japan. It does exist in Chinese and Tibetan versions of varying lengths. Faxian, the monk who initially brought the text to China from India, prepared a brief translation containing six fascicles, but Dharmakṣema's slightly later translation had forty fascicles. Still later, Huiguan, Huiyan, Xie Lingyun, and others during the Liu Song dynasty integrated and amended the translations ...

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Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Overview, Nirvana Sutra - Versions, Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Textual history, Nirvana Sutra - English edition

Read more here: » Nirvana Sutra: Encyclopedia II - Nirvana Sutra - Versions

The Buddha on his eternal and blissful ultimate nature as he stands on the brink of physical death: " ... if you perceive things truly, you will become free from attachment, separated from them, you will indeed be liberated. I have well crossed the watery waste of existence. I abide in bliss, having transcended suffering, therefore I am devoid of unending desire, I have eliminated attachment and gained Liberation [moksha]. There is no old age, sickness or death for me, my life is forever without end. I proceed burning br ...

See also:

Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Overview, Nirvana Sutra - Versions, Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra, Nirvana Sutra - Textual history, Nirvana Sutra - English edition

Read more here: » Nirvana Sutra: Encyclopedia II - Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra