The History of Buddhist Thought c16.39

c16.39

Here we have three parallel expressions : the taking of the burden (bhāra-hāra), the grasping after it, and the laying it down. There is no doubt that bhāra-hāra means “burden-taking”, but it has been translated “burden-bearer”. The point is not very important, for in any case it is interpreted as being the individual. The laying down of the burden is by rooting out craving and thus attaining Nirvāṇa. But we are as far off as ever from proving by this single text that the individual is to be understood as a permanent entity and real or true in the highest sense.