Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s3.t26.26

c7.s3.t26.26

² The Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa is the state of one who after obtaining sopādiśeṣa-nibbanadhātu develops maitrī, benevolence or charity for the suffering millions and chooses not to let himself automatically pass, as he would otherwise, to anupādisesanibbāna-dhātu [Cf. Pañca. (A.S.B.ms.), leaf 157a : Śrāvakā nirupadhīśeṣanirvāṇadhātau pratiṣṭhitāḥ]. He is then said to be possessed of Nirvāṇa tinged with charity or benevolence. The Sūtrālaṅkāra (pp. 126-7) puts it very clearly: The Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, being devoid of love, fix their minds on Nirvāṇa, consisting in the cessation of all misery. The Bodhisattvas, however, being full of compassion, do not like to fix their minds on Nirvāṇa: hence they are said to be in the Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa. It will be noted that the Arhats are not entitled to seek the Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa; they pass directly from sopadhiśeṣa to nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇadhātu. The Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa can be obtained by Buddhas only, and hence it is a state superior to that of the Arhats. The Vijñaptimātratā adds that Buddhas in the Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa rise above the idea of Samsāra and Nirvāṇa (cf. Sūtrālaṅkāra, p. 36); hence Śākyamuni was not really influenced by love or charity after the attainment of Nirvāṇa. The Hinayānists conceive him as one without love (cf. Milindapañha, p. 160: vigatam tathāgatassa pemam vigato sineho), though in fact, they repeatedly mention that he preached the Truth out of compassion for the innumerable suffering beings (lokānukampāya bahujanahitāya sukhāya). Compassion presupposes the existence of love, which may be, and in fact in the case of Buddha (but not of Bodhisattvas) was purely unselfish and, as the Mahāyānists say, devoid of kleśa. For a detailed treatment of the Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa see Masuda, Die individualistische Idealismus der Yogācāra Schule, pp. 49 f.; Stcherbatsky, Con. of N., pp. 185, 245-6; Lévi, Mahāyāna Sūtrālaṅkāra, ii, pp. 21, 27; Keith, B. Phil., pp. 257-8; Bodhic., p. 75; Vijñaptimātratā, x, pp. 99 (ed. of Saeki Kiokuga).