Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s3.t14.1

c7.s3.t14.1

Prof. Stcherbatsky thinks that Nirvāṇa being allied to Saṃjñāvedayitanirodha, it may be regarded as a state without a vestige of consciousness. In the account of Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Buddha enters into the Saṃjñāvedayitanirodha but he does not stay there permanently. He comes down to the lowest and then rises again to attain parinirvāṇa in the fourth dhyāna.² If Nirvāṇa had been a permanent form of Saṃjñāvedayitanirodha, then Buddha would have remained there and attained mahāparinirvāṇa.