Buddhism: 'Feminist Interpretation Of Nibbana'

While Lamotte states, “Buddhists are assailed by a terror of desire” (Lamotte, 1961, p. 18), the Third Noble Truth reveals that there is an escape from dukkha: Nibbana. However, despite the number of books written about Nibbana (see for example, ‘Nibbana- The Ultimate Truth of Buddhism’ by Chandrkaew (1982); ‘In the Hope of Nibbana’ by King (2003) or Hsiao-Lun’s (2011) feminist interpretation of Nibbana in ‘This-Worldly Nibbana’), the state of ‘extinction’ remains shrouded in mystery. Pandit (1992) states that this is due to the fact that the Buddha did not explain Nibbana in terms of its location, size, or shape, leading to suggestions that Nibbana is simply a useless term to describe ‘nothing’. For Osho (1976), it seems absurd that one could …show more content…
This is what happened to the Buddha after he took his last breath in the fourth jhana at Kusinara, and is known as ‘parinibbana’ or full Nibbana. While this state is often compared to a flame being extinguished or the final fading away (Collins, 2010), Nibbana after death is not simply cessation or annihilation. In a way, it is a final escape into the realm of emptiness even though Nibbana itself is beyond emptiness. As a state outside of human comprehension, the Buddha is said to have stated that it was meaningless to discuss Nibbana after death (Harvey, 2013, p. 78-79) considering that there was simply “no way of knowing…the destiny of Arahats” (Sayadaw, 1981, p. 109). In this regard, while figuratively speaking Nibbana can be described as no mass, no abode, no occurrence of mind or matter or a non-place beyond the shores, the reality is that Nibbana as a place between existence and non-existence is simply unknown. Like Mara reaching in all directions for Godhika’s rebirth-consciousness (Warren, 1987, p. 382), the quest to locate, describe, reach out or see Nibbana beyond death is thus in