Nirvana as Opposed to Salvation

Paper Summary:

In this paper, the author contends that the idea of nirvana and salvation are fundamentally different one from the other. He proposes that salvation, the Christian concept, is based on the idea of one central deity being responsible for the believer's soul. In Buddhism, on the other hand, there is no central God and each individual is responsible for reaching his or her state of nirvana. The writer goes on to examine the state of nirvana as one of the central concepts of the Buddhist philosophy and discusses how the idea of nirvana is central to the Buddhist theology and philosophy.

From the Paper:

"In China, Buddhism is the dominant religion. Buddhism has a very different conception of the relationship between man and nature from that of Christianity and a different sense of the meaning of salvation and the route to achieve it. Salvation in Buddhism is an escape from the suffering of this world and is stated as the third of the Four Noble Truths, the extinction of suffering, a turning away that is possible only for the person who has recognized that everything is fleeting, subject to suffering, and without a self and yet who can face everything with serenity even with this knowledge. For the Buddhist, salvation is found in the state of nirvana, which involves the elimination of all pain and desire. It is essentially a way of escaping from immortality. The Four Noble Truths extend back some 2,500 years and have shaped the way the culture has developed."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ames, Van Meter. "Zen." In Japan and Zen, Betty Ames and Van Meter Ames (Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, 1961.
• Corless, Roger J. The Vision of Buddhism: The Space under the Tree. St. Paul, Minnesota: Paragon House, 1989.
• Gowans, Christopher W. Philosophy of the Buddha. New York: Routledge, 2003.
• Griffiths, Paul J. On Being Buddha: The Classical Doctrine of Buddhahood. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1994.
• King, Sallie B. Buddha Nature. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1991.

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