The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana c5.s8: IX. The Sautrāntikas
The Conception of Buddhist Nirvāṇa c5.s8
- Language
- English
IX. The Sautrāntikas
c5.s8.1
According to the Sautrāntikas, Nirvāṇa was the absolute end of all manifestation known to us, the end of passion and life (Kleśa-Janmanoḥ kṣayaḥ), without any positive counterpart. They denied any residue or substance in which life was extinguished. In other words, like all the Mahāyānists, they denied materialistic Nirvāṇa.
c5.s8.2
They neither admitted the monistic spiritual principle (ālaya-vijñāna) of the idealistic Mahāyānists, nor the principle of relativity (śūnya-vāda) of the Mādhyamikas.
c5.s8.3
It appears from the works of the famous Sautrāntika, Vasumitra that according to this school, there were two kinds of elements (skandha)—those which were subject to total extinction, and a subtle consciousness which survived after Nirvāṇa, and of which the former were but a manifestation.