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Nirvana sutra

Enseñanzas

Escena del Parinirvana en esquisto, dinastía Kushan, finales del siglo II-principios del III d.C., Gandhara.

El sutra del Nirvana se sitúa en las últimas horas de la vida de Buda. A diferencia del Mahaparanibbana sutta, Ananda, el asistente de Buda, está casi ausente del sutra del Nirvana (en su lugar, el interlocutor principal es Mañjuśrī). El sutra del Nirvana también termina con el Buda acostado, pero no representa su parinirvāṇa (nirvana final a la muerte del cuerpo) real, ni la cremación, ni otros episodios posteriores a su muerte, como la división de las reliquias y Mahakashyapa rindiendo respeto a su cuerpo, etc.​​

Según Sallie B. King, la innovación más importante del sutra del Nirvana es la vinculación del término buddhadhātu (naturaleza de buda) con tathagatagarbha (útero o cámara del tathagata). El buddha-dhātu (naturaleza-buda, elemento-buda) se presenta como un "Ser" (ātman) atemporal, eterno (nitya) y puro.​​Esta noción de una teoría budista de un yo verdadero (es decir, presenta un ātman budista) es radical, causó mucha controversia y fue interpretada de muchas maneras diferentes.​​​

Otros temas doctrinales importantes en el sutra del Nirvana incluyen reinterpretaciones del no-yo (anātman) y la vacuidad (Śūnyatā) como un medio hábil que allana el camino para la enseñanza última de la naturaleza de buda, la doctrina del icchantika, la naturaleza eterna y docetica (lokottara) del Buda Shakyamuni y su cuerpo adamantino (vajra-kaya), la promoción del vegetarianismo y una enseñanza sobre el declive del Dharma del Buda.

El Buda Eterno

Cuerpo trascendente del Buda Shakyamuni saliendo de su tumba dorada, pintura del periodo Heian, siglo XI, Museo Nacional de Kioto.

Una enseñanza clave del sutra del Nirvana es la naturaleza eterna de Buda. Mark Blum señala que el sutra deja claro que el Buda no está sujeto a los procesos de nacimiento y muerte, sino que permanece para siempre en un estado imperecedero. Aunque el Buda parecerá morir (y manifestará parinirvāṇa, su nirvana final, la muerte aparente de su cuerpo), en realidad es eterno e inmortal, ya que nunca nació, y no tuvo principio ni fin.​ El sutra declara:

El cuerpo del Tathāgata es un cuerpo eterno (*nityakāya), un cuerpo indestructible (*abhedakāya), un cuerpo adamantado (*vajrakāya); no es un cuerpo sostenido por diversos tipos de alimentos. Es decir, es el Cuerpo del Dharma (*dharmakāya). No digas ahora que el cuerpo del Tathāgata es blando, que puede romperse fácilmente y que es igual al del común de los mortales. ¡Oh buen hombre! Sabe ahora que durante incontables billones de eones, el cuerpo del Tathāgata ha sido fuerte, firme e indestructible.​

Así pues, el sutra del Nirvana presenta al Buda como un ser eterno y trascendente (lokottara) que está más allá del ser y del no ser y es la asíidad (tathata), la realidad última, el eterno dharmakāya o "cuerpo del dharma" (que equivale al cuerpo del buda).​El sutra también afirma que el cuerpo del buda (buddhakaya) es un cuerpo adamantino (abhedavajrakāya) eterno, inmutable, sin impedimentos e indivisible. Como tal, aunque parece morir, su "modo de ser trascendente e indestructible" es algo que nunca muere verdaderamente, siendo no compuesto (asaṃskṛta).​​​El sutra del Nirvana equipara además el dharmakāya con la naturaleza de buda, y afirma que tiene cuatro perfecciones (pāramitās): permanencia, dicha, pureza y el ser.​

Según Shimoda y Radich, este tema es el tema central de la que quizá sea la capa textual más antigua del sutra del Nirvana.​Radich también señala que el sutra del Nirvana se refiere a sí mismo con títulos alternativos, entre ellos Tathāgataśāśvata-sūtra o Tathāgatanityatva-sūtra, que indican la eternidad del Tathāgata.​

Representación gandhariana del nacimiento milagroso de Buda (de Lorian Tangai). Algunos estudiosos, como Radich, sostienen que las doctrinas del sutra del Nirvana se desarrollaron a partir de relatos milagrosos anteriores sobre la gestación y el nacimiento de Buda.​

Un elemento clave de la doctrina del cuerpo de buda eterno es una especie de docetismo mahayana, la idea de que el nacimiento y la muerte del Buda en la Tierra fueron una mera apariencia, un espectáculo convencional en aras de ayudar a los seres sintientes (una doctrina que ya se encontraba en la escuela Mahāsāṃghika).​Según el sutra del Nirvana, el Buda entró en el nirvāṇa hace eones (y, sin embargo, sigue beneficiando activamente a los seres). Como tal, el Buda simplemente parece nacer, practicar el camino, alcanzar el nirvana y morir para estar "de acuerdo con el mundo" (lokānuvartanā, Ch. suishun shijian, 隨順世間) para que la gente confíe en él como en un sabio humano. Sin embargo, en realidad, su naturaleza es eterna e inmutable.​​ Como dice Buda en el sutra del Nirvana, "a veces, me muestro [entrando en] parinirvāṇa en los Jambudvīpas de mil millones de mundos, y sin embargo, en última instancia, no tomo parinirvāṇa."​

Según Radich, la idea del tathāgatagarbha en el sutra del Nirvana está estrechamente relacionada con los elementos positivos de esta budología docetista, que se refiere a la idea de que, puesto que Buda no tuvo un cuerpo humano normal (ni se gestó en un útero normal), debió tener algún otro tipo de cuerpo trascendente (que requiere un útero trascendente, el tathāgata-garbha, "útero de Buda").​

Naturaleza de Buda

La doctrina del "buddha-dhātu" (naturaleza búdica, elemento búdico, chino: 佛性 foxing, tibetano: sangye yi khams), que se refiere a la naturaleza fundamental del Buda, es una enseñanza central del sutra del Nirvana.​ Según el sutra, "todos los seres sensibles poseen la naturaleza búdica sin distinción" (chino:一切眾生皆有佛性而無差別).​​ Mucho del foco central del Nirvana sutra recae en la existencia del buddha-dhatu, también llamado tathagata-garbha (‘buda-útero’ o ‘embrión de buddha’) que está en cada ser sensible, la completa visión que nos guía a la liberación de todos los sufrimientos y lleva como efecto la liberación final dentro del reino del gran nirvana.

El sutra del Nirvana también equipara la naturaleza de buda con el término "tathāgatagarbha" (lo que también hacen otros textos como el Aṅgulimālīya, el Mahābherī y el Uttaratantra). Según King, esto puede entenderse como un "tathāgata embrionario" o como el "vientre del tathāgata".​​ Los chinos tradujeron típicamente el término como rúlái zàng (如來藏, "almacén del tathāgata", "matriz del tathāgata" o "cámara del tathāgata").​​​Sin embargo, según Mark Blum, Dharmaksema traduce tathāgatagārbha como rúlái mìzàng (如來密藏, "tesoro oculto del tathagata"). Este tesoro es visto como una maravillosa verdad liberadora que está misteriosamente oculta.​Blum señala que las dos principales versiones chinas del sutra del Nirvana no utilizan el término chino literal de embrión o vientre, sino que hablan del "maravilloso tesoro interior del Buda" que siempre está presente dentro de todos los seres.​Este tesoro interior, una "reliquia búdica" pura, está oscurecido por las aflicciones mentales negativas de cada ser sintiente. Sin embargo, una vez eliminados estos estados mentales negativos, se dice que la naturaleza búdica brilla sin obstáculos.​

La explicación de la naturaleza búdica en el sutra del Nirvana es compleja. Karl Brunnholzl sostiene que existen tres significados principales de la naturaleza búdica en el sutra del Nirvana: (1) una naturaleza pura intrínseca que sólo tiene que revelarse, (2) una semilla o potencial que puede convertirse en Buda con las condiciones adecuadas, (3) la idea de que el camino del Mahayana está abierto a todos.​ El sutra del Nirvana afirma que la naturaleza búdica, como budeidad dotada de los poderes y cualidades de un buda, está libre de cualquier karma o aflicción (klesha), trascendiendo los cinco agregados y los doce eslabones del surgimiento dependiente.​ Sin embargo, para convertirse en verdaderos budas, los seres sensibles necesitan practicar las seis pāramitās que actualizan su potencial de buda en la plena budeidad. Esto se compara con la forma en que la leche se convierte en nata o mantequilla a través de condiciones adicionales.​Como tal, el sutra del Nirvana critica a aquellos que piensan que la naturaleza búdica significa que todos los seres ya son budas completos y no necesitan practicar el camino del bodhisattva.​

Sin embargo, otros símiles del sutra del Nirvana contienen caracterizaciones ligeramente diferentes de la naturaleza búdica. Por ejemplo, un símil compara la naturaleza búdica con un tesoro enterrado bajo la tierra, o con una mina de oro (ambos se encuentran en el Tathāgatagarbha sūtra, que se cita por su nombre en el sutra del Nirvana). Estos símiles sugieren una comprensión más inmanente de la naturaleza búdica en la que el elemento búdico es meramente algo que debe revelarse.​Además, otros símiles rechazan la idea de que la naturaleza búdica habite en absoluto en los seres sensibles, afirmando que la naturaleza búdica no habita en ninguna parte, como el sonido producido por un laúd no está localizado en ninguna parte del laúd.​

Reliquias de Buda que originalmente se encontraban en el interior de la cámara (garbha) de la estupa de Kanishka en Peshawar (Pakistán).

Ilustración del relicario y la cámara de reliquias encontrados en la estupa n.º 2 de Sanchi por Frederick Charles Maisey, publicada en 1850.

El término índico "dhātu" se utilizaba en el budismo primitivo para referirse a las reliquias de un Buda, así como a los constituyentes básicos de la realidad o "materia prima" (como los dieciocho "dhātus" que conforman cualquier personalidad).​​El sutra del Nirvana se basa en este término y lo aplica a la verdadera naturaleza de un buda, que es permanente (nitya), pura, dichosa y reside en el interior de todos los seres sensibles (de forma análoga a como las reliquias puras de buda se alojaban en el interior de una estupa).​ Algunos eruditos, como Shimoda y Radich, consideran que la idea de la naturaleza búdica surge de la interiorización del culto a las estupas y reliquias. En lugar de venerar las reliquias externamente, la enseñanza de la naturaleza búdica se vuelve hacia la reliquia búdica interior que todos llevamos dentro.​​​ Según Jones, el término "tathāgatagarbha" también podría haberse referido a "la cámara (garbha) para un Buda (tathāgata): el espacio en el centro de una estupa, donde yace oculto aquello que es esencial para un Buda y lo más preciado para el mundo después de su (aparente) partida de él."​

El término "cámara para una reliquia" (sct. dhātugarbha) está atestiguado en muchos textos budistas. Debido a esto, Radich sostiene que el término tathāgatagarbha también se desarrolló como una reliquia búdica interiorizada que llegó a referirse a la presencia de las cualidades, el modo de ser o el cuerpo de un buda que no se encontraba en una estupa, sino en los seres sensibles.​

Otro aspecto clave de la naturaleza búdica, tal como se enseña en el sutra del Nirvana, es que sólo puede ser percibida directamente por un Buda plenamente despierto, aunque el sutra dice que un bodhisattva en la décima etapa (bhūmi) también puede percibir la naturaleza búdica de manera imperfecta e indistinta.​ Dado que, según el sutra del Nirvana, "la naturaleza del Tathāgata es difícil de ver", el sutra subraya la importancia de la fe (śraddhā) tanto en el propio sutra del Nirvana como en la naturaleza búdica, diciendo que "sólo quien sigue las enseñanzas del Tathāgata, comprometiéndose fielmente con ellas, ve después su igualdad [con el Buda]."​​

Buddhadhātu como ātman y las cuatro perfecciones.

Este «yo verdadero» o «gran yo» del reino nirvánico, se dice que es el soberano, y se llega a ser obtenido en la mañana del Budeidad (en los principios de la conciencia Búdica), y que es omnipresente (que está en todo lugar). Buddha-dhatu está siempre presente, en todos los tiempos y en todos los seres vivientes, pero es obscurecido por la visión mundana por el efecto de «cortina» (apariencia o ilusión creada por la mente humana), por las tenaces aflicciones (enfermedad o dolencia) mentales (kleshas) dentro de cada ser viviente (los más notables son codicia, odio, ilusión y orgullo). El Buddha-dhatu dice que de la esfera búdica hay cuatro virtudes que quitan estos impedimentos (Buddha-dhatu / visaya), esfera en la que conscientemente se puede entrar y de esta manera ahí dentro obtener la inmortal conciencia del nirvana. Se compara a una «joya preciosa» y se describe como siendo «indestructible como un diamante» (la sustancia más dura e invulnerable conocida por la humanidad).

The Nirvana sutra describes Buddhahood and buddha-nature as a true self (ātman), a “supreme essence” (Tibetan: snying po’i mchog) and as a "great self" (mahātman, 大我) that is eternal, pure and blissful, and is also separate from the five aggregates and beyond samsaric phenomena.​​​​​ For example, the sutra states:

The real self is the nature of the Tathāgata ( 如來性). Know that all sentient beings have this, but as those sentient beings are enshrouded by immeasurable afflictions, it is not manifested.​

The Indic term "ātman" generally referred to "the permanent and indestructible essence, or an unchanging central element, of any human or other sentient being", and the idea that such a thing existed was widely rejected by mainstream Indian Buddhism.​ In teaching the existence of a permanent element (Tibetan: yang dag khams) in sentient beings that allows them to become Buddhas, the sutra is self consciously adopting a Buddhist version of ātmavāda (“discourse about the self”) which was popular in Indian thought, while also modifying the Buddhist doctrine of not-self (anātman) that completely rejected any notion of a self.​​

The teaching that the buddha-nature is a self is one of the "four inversions" (viparyāsas), a key theme in the Nirvana sutra. Early Buddhism held that living beings have four distortions in how they perceive reality: they see what is impermanent as permanent (nitya), they see what is not-self as a self (ātman), they see what is impure as pure (śubha/śuci) and they see what is suffering as being pleasant or blissful (sukha).​ The Nirvana sutra claims that while these four do apply to samsaric phenomena, when it comes to the "supreme dharma(s)" (zhenshifa 真實法, *paramadharma, like Buddha and buddha-nature), the opposite is the case.​ As the sutra states:

Monks, whatever you mentally cultivate, repeatedly and increasingly and with full acceptance, to be in all instances impermanent, unsatisfactory, without self, and impure, amid these there is that which exhibits permanence, bliss, purity and selfhood...​

As such, the Nirvana sutra claims that buddha-nature (and the Buddha's body, his Dharmakaya) is characterized by four perfections (pāramitās) or qualities (which are denied in classic Buddhist doctrine): permanence (nitya), bliss (sukha), self (ātman), and purity (śuddha).​​ The four perfections as a feature of buddha-nature is also found in the Śrīmālādevī sūtra.​

El "yo" y el "no-yo" como medios hábiles

Paul Williams also notes that while we can speak of the tathāgatagarbha as a Self, this is a much more complex issue since the sutra also speaks of the importance of the not-self teaching, saying that those who have notions of a self cannot perceive buddha-nature.​​

The Nirvana sutra is aware that there are numerous non-buddhist accounts of a self which might sound similar to its own self theory and it argues that if they seem similar, this is due to two reasons. The first is that non-buddhist ātmavāda theories are often misinterpretations or misrememberings of what was taught by a bodhisattva and the second is that they may be skillful means taught to non-buddhists by Buddhas and bodhisattvas.​ Furthermore, numerous non-buddhist doctrines of a self are rejected in the Nirvana sutra (including some of the theories taught in the Upanishads), in which the self is "some kernel of identity hidden within the body" which is a "person" (pudgala), a jīva, a "doer" (kartṛ) or a "master" (zhu 主).​ According to Williams, the "Self" taught in the Nirvana sutra "is not a Self in the worldly sense taught by non-Buddhist thinkers, or maintained to exist by the much-maligned ‘man in the street’", since these are considered to lead to egoistic grasping.​

Thus, the Nirvana sutra often portrays the teaching of the tathāgatagarbha as a Self as being a skillful means, a useful strategy to convert non-buddhists and to combat annihilationist interpretations of the Dharma.​ For example, in Nirvana sutra, the Buddha proclaims "I do not teach that all sentient beings are without a self! I constantly teach that all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature; is Buddha-nature not the self? Hence, I have not taught an annihilationist view."​ ​ The Buddha then states states the reason he teaches not-self (and impermanence, suffering, and impurity) is because sentient beings do not see the buddha-nature. Later on in the sutra, the Buddha also states:

Good son, this Buddha-nature is in truth not the self; for the benefit of sentient beings is it called the self.… Buddha-nature is absence of self, [but] the Tathāgata teaches the self [for the sake of some audiences]: because of his permanence, the Tathāgata is the self, but he teaches absence of self, because he has achieved sovereignty [zizai 自在, possibly Skt. aiśvarya].​

Thus, according to the Nirvana sutra, the Buddha uses the term self when needed (to overcome nihilistic interpretations of not-self) and teaching not-self when needed (to overcome grasping at what is not the self). This is part of his skillful means (upaya) to guide beings to liberation.​​

The Nirvana sutra states that those who see everything as empty and fail to see what is not empty do not know the true middle way. Likewise, those who see everything as not-self but fail to see what is Self also fail to see the true middle way, which is the buddha nature.​ According to Mark Blum, the Nirvana sutra sees the Buddhist doctrine of not-self as "a very important doctrine to be expounded when the listener is attached to his or her notion of selfhood or personality, because it deconstructs that object of attachment, revealing its nature as a fantasy."​ However, the sutra understands both the not-self and emptiness teachings as being skillful means, not ultimate truths. The Nirvana sutra also affirms the truth of "non-emptiness", which is a real genuine self, the buddha-nature.​

The Nirvana sutra compares the not-self teaching to a milk-based medicine which is useful for certain ailments, but not for all. Because of this, a physician who only prescribed this single medicine would be an unskillful one. The Buddha in the Nirvana sutra says he taught not-self in order to get rid of certain mistaken views of self in order that the correct teaching about the self (i.e. the buddha-nature) could be given.​ This is why according to the Nirvana sutra, "the Buddha teaches that the nature of the Tathāgata (如來性) is the real self (真實我), but if with respect to this tenet one mentally cultivates [the thought] that it is not the self, this is called the third distortion."​

Using another medicinal simile, the Nirvana sutra compares the teaching of not-self to a medicine which requires a mother to stop breast feeding her infant. The mother thus smears her breast with a pungent ointment and tells her child that it is poison. When the medicine is fully ingested, the mother removes the ointment and invites the child to nurse at her breast again. In this simile, the medicine is the skillful notion of not-self, and the mother's milk is the teaching of "the nature of the Tathāgata, which is the supermundane, supreme self" (離世真實之我, possibly *lokottaraparamātman).​

Another important element of the relationship between not-self and true self in the Nirvana sutra is that they are seen as non-dual (advaya), as two sides of the same coin so to speak. Thus, according to the Nirvana: "the wise know that the existence of the self and absence of self are non-dual."​ In making this claim, the sutra also cites two sutras, the Sarvapuṇyasamuccayasūtra (possibly Taisho no. 381–382) and a Prajñāpāramitā sutra (the most likely candidate being the Suvikrāntavikrāmiparipṛcchā).​

Icchantikas

Despite the fact that the Buddha-nature is innate in all sentient beings, there is a class of people who called icchantikas ("extremists" or "dogmatists") which are either excluded from Buddhahood or will find it very difficult to ever reach it.​ The Nirvana sutra discusses this class of people often. According to scholars like Blum and Brunnholzl, the exact status and nature of the icchantika in the Nirvana sutra is difficult to ascertain, as the topic is discussed in different ways throughout the sutra.​ ​ In some parts, icchantikas are said to be like scorched seeds who can never sprout and thus of being incurable and incapable of Buddhahood. In other passages, they are said to also posses buddha-nature and to be able to attain buddhahood (their potential for buddhahood is also depicted much more positively in the longer versions of the sutra). ​ As such, the icchantika doctrine has caused much controversy and debate in East Asian Buddhism.​ ​

According to Karashima, the word icchantika derives from the verb icchati (to claim, to hold, to maintain) and the term is thus best understood as "someone who [makes] claims; an opinionated [person]." Specifically, the icchantika is someone who rejects and is hostile to the buddha nature teaching of the Nirvana sutra.​

The Nirvana sutra describes them as follows:​

[A]ny person, no matter whether they are a monk, a nun, a lay-man or lay-woman, who rejects this sûtra with abusive words, and does not even ask for forgiveness afterwards, has entered the icchantika path.​

In spite of their hostile dogmatism, the longer version of the Nirvana Sutra explains that because all beings have the buddha-nature, all beings without exception, even icchantikas (the most incorrigible and spiritually base of beings), can eventually attain liberation and become Buddhas.​​ This is possible if they gain faith in buddha-nature, as the Dharmakṣema translation of the Nirvana states: "If an icchantika were to have faith in the existence of Buddha-nature, know that he will not descend into the three bad [destinies], and also is then not called an icchantika."​

El declive del Dharma

Parts of the Nirvana Sutra are very concerned with the decline of the Dharma and with eschatology, describing how in the times of Dharma decline, there will be false monks, false teachings and all sorts of calamities.​​ Hodge argues that the earliest portion of the sutra was written in India by people who believed they were living in an age of decline in which the Buddha-dharma would perish.​ The sutra states that during the age of Dharma decline, the Mahayana sutras will be lost (including the Nirvana sutra itself), false teachings will spread, and monks will act unethically, owning servants, cattle and horses, and engaging in lay jobs like farming, smithing, painting, sculpture and divination (instead of focusing on the Dharma).​

The sutra responds to this situation of decline with the proclamation of the innate Buddhahood that is present in all (though it remains concealed by the defilements).​ The Nirvana sutra sees itself as the final teaching of the Buddha that has the power to lead people to discover their own innate buddha-nature (as long as they listen to it with faith). As such, it seens itself as the ideal solution to the era of Dharma decline.​

Versiones

The Indic text of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (in Sanskrit) has survived only in a number of fragments, which were discovered in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Japan. Four full editions of the Nirvana sutra of varying lengths survive in Chinese and Tibetan.​​ The fragments are written in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit and indicate that they were written by speakers of a Prakrit language.​

Chinese

According to early Chinese sutra catalogues such as the Lidai Sanbao ji (歷代三寶紀), a part of the core portion of the sutra was translated previously into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa (fl. c. 260-280), though this version is now lost.​ Chinese canonical records also mention that another lost translation was made by the Chinese monk Zhimeng who studied in India from 404-424 CE. According to Zhimeng's own account, he also obtained his manuscript from the same layman in Pataliputra as Faxian did some years earlier.​​

The "six fascicle text"

This translation, often called the "Six fascicle text", and titled Dabannihuan jing (大般泥洹經, Taisho no. 376.12.853-899), is the shortest and earliest translation into Chiense. It is attributed to Faxian and Buddhabhadra during the Jin dynasty (266–420) between 416 and 418. Though the translation of this version in six fascicles (juàn 卷) is conventionally ascribed to Faxian (法顯), this attribution is probably inaccurate. According to Faxian's own account, the manuscript copy forming the basis of the six juan Chinese version was obtained by him in Pāṭaliputra from the house of a layman known as Kālasena, during his travels in India. The earliest surviving Chinese sutra catalogue, Sengyou's Chu Sanzang Jiji (出三藏記集), which was written less than 100 years after the date of this translation, makes no mention of Faxian. Instead it states that the translation was done by Buddhabhadra and his assistant Baoyun (寶雲), quoting earlier catalogues to corroborate this attribution. The idea that Faxian was involved in the translation only emerges in later catalogues, compiled several hundred years after the event.​

Dharmakṣema's "northern" edition

The "Northern text", titled Dabanniepan jing (大般涅槃經), is a translation in 40 fascicles (Taisho no. 374.12.365c-603c), completed by the Magadhan Indian monk translator Dharmakṣema (c. 385–433 CE) between 421 and 430 in the Northern Liang kingdom. This "northern" version of the text is "around four times the length" of the "six fascicle" version and the later Tibetan translation, extending for a further thirty fascicles, beyond the first ten fascicles of the "core" sutra material.​ This version was also later translated into Classical Tibetan from the Chinese.

The first ten fascicles of the northern edition may be based on a birch-bark manuscript from North-Western India that Dharmakṣema brought with him, which he used for the initial translation work of his version. This version corresponds overall in content to the "six fascicle" version and the Tibetan version.​​​

Many scholars doubt the Indian provenance of the extra material found in the northern edition (the content beyond the first ten fascicles).​ The chief reasons for this skepticism are the following:​

• No traces of an extended Sanskrit text has ever been found. Sanskrit manuscript fragments of twenty four separate pages distributed right across the core portion of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra have been found over the past hundred years in various parts of Asia;​ Likewise, there are no quotations from this latter portion in any Indian commentaries or sutra anthologies.​
• No other translator in China or Tibet ever found Sanskrit copies of this portion.​ The Chinese monk-translator Yijing traveled to India and searched for this material but only found manuscripts corresponding to the core text.​​

Some textual scholars argue the latter portion of the northern edition may have been a Central Asian composition, and some, even argue it may have been written by Dharmakṣema himself.​​​​ However, other scholars like Jones and Granoff note that the latter portion knows of Indic texts which were unknown in China. Thus, Jones writes that there is "convincing evidence that this material is familiar with Indian literature unknown to any other Chinese materials that we know from Dharmakṣema’s time."​​​ Granoff notes for example, that the story of Ajatasatru in the latter portion of the Nirvana sutra draws on the Mahābhārata, suggesting an Indic origin.​ Furthermore, as Jones notes, both Chinese and Tibetan tradition understood the additional content as being of Indic origin.​

One significant difference between the Dharmakṣema edition and the earlier six fascicle Nirvana sutra is that the six fascicle's view of icchantikas (heretics who cling to wrong views and reject the teachings of the Nirvana sutra) is much more negative and harsh. The Dharmakṣema translation of the Nirvana sutra seems to indicate that icchantikas can redeem themselves and eventually attain Buddhahood (since all beings have buddha-nature), while the six fascicle version seems to indicate that icchantikas are hopeless.​ This was famously a point of contention for the leading Chinese monk Daosheng (c. 360–434), who rejected the Faxian translation and was exiled, until he was vindicated when the new translation of Dharmakṣema was released.​

There is also a secondary Chinese version the Dharmakṣema's translation, which was completed in 453 CE. This was produced "by polishing the style and adding new section headings" according to Stephen Hodge.​

The "southern" edition

The "Southern text" (Taisho no. 375.12.605-852), in 36 fascicles, was edited c. 453 by Huiguan and Huiyan during the Liu Song dynasty. This edition integrates and amends the translations of the six fascicle text and Dharmakṣema's into a single edition of thirty-six fascicles. This edition changes the chapter divisions of the first part of the Dharmakṣema to match the six fascicle version and it also changes the language, Chinese characters and syntax to a more accessible and readable.​​

Tibetan editions

In the 6th section of the Tibetan Kangyur collection (vols. 77-78) there are three translations of the Nirvana sutra:​

• Toh 120, the first "short" translation of the sūtra, in 3. 900 ślokas (13 scrolls). It was made in the early 9th century by Jinamitra, Dhyānagarbha and Ban de btsan dra.​​ It is titled: ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།, Phags pa yong su Mya ngan las 'Das pa chen po theg pa chen po'i mdo.
• Toh 119 - a translation from Chinese into Tibetan of the version of Dharmakṣema by Wang-phab-zhun, Dge-ba'i blos-gros and Rgya-mtsho'i sde in 56 scrolls, with the title ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།, Phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa chen po'i mdo.
• Toh 121 which preserves 16 verses translated by Kamalagupta and Rin Chen Bzang Po titled ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པའི་མདོ།, Phags pa yongs su mya ngan las 'das pa'i mdo.

English translations

• Yamamoto, Kosho, trans. (1973-1975). The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, 3 Volumes, Karinbunko, Ube City, Japan.​ A limited run of 500 copies, currently out of print. This is actually a translation from Shimajiʼs Kokuyaku issai kyō, a classic Japanese translation of the Southern version, rather than a direct translation from Dharmakṣema's Chinese.​
• Blum, Mark, trans. (2013). The Nirvana Sutra: Volume 1 (of a projected 4), Berkeley, Calif.: BDK America (distr.: Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press). ISBN 978-1-886439-46-7.
• Yamamoto, Kosho; Page, Tony. (2015). Nirvana Sutra: A Translation of Dharmakshema's Northern version, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1517631727. This is Dr. Tony Page's re-editing of Yamamoto's original.

Related sutras

There are several associated texts which are considered to be part of the Nirvana sutra "family". These are found in the "Nirvana" section (涅槃部) in the Chinese Buddhist canon. It includes:​

1. Dabanniepan jing houfen (The Latter Portion of the Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra, 大般涅槃經後分, Taisho no. 377) translated by Tang dynasty monk Huining and the Indian monk *Jñānabhadra (若那跋陀羅) in Heling. This is purported to be an even further missing part of the Nirvana sutra. Dharmakṣemaʼs biography records a comment by Tanwufa mentioning a missing portion, and some biographies mention that Dharmakṣema died while on his way back to India (or Central Asia) to search for the missing parts of the sutra.
2. Si tongzi sanmei jing (四童子三昧經 Taisho no. 379, Sanskrit: Caturdhārakasamādhi sūtra), translated by Jñānagupta in the Sui dynasty. Its setting is also the Buddha's final nirvana, though it has Ananda as the main interlocutor. It also teaches that the Buddha is eternally embodied in the dharmakaya and is always preaching the Dharma.
3. Fangdeng bannihuan jing (方等般泥洹經 Taisho no. 378, Sanskrit: Caturdhārakasamādhi sūtra), translated by Dharmarakṣa. The first six chapters are similar to Taisho no. 379, while the rest of the text focuses on Śākyamuniʼs buddhafield and the Buddha's parinirvāṇa.
4. Fo chui banniepan lüe shuo jiao jie jing (佛垂般涅槃略說教誡經 Taisho no. 389), also known as Yi jiao jing (遺教經), translated by Kumārajīva. It also describes the final nirvana and teaches that the Buddha is eternal.

Commentaries

Numerous commentaries on the Nirvana sutra were written in China. The most important Chinese commentary on the Nirvana sutra is the Compendium of Commentaries on the *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra (Dabanniepanjing ji jie, 大般涅槃經集解 T 1763), compiled in 509 by Baoliang (寶亮) in the Liang dynasty. This is a compilation of comments by numerous masters on the Nirvana sutra. It includes comments by Emperor Wu of the Liang, Daosheng, Sengliang, Falue, Tanji, Sengzong, Baoliang, Zhixiu, Fazhi, Faan, Tanzhun, Falang, Tan'ai, Tanqian, Mingjun, Daohui, Falian and Jiaoyi.​

Another important commentary was the Nirvana school scholar Pao-liang's (d. 509) On the Middle Path Buddha-nature.​ Pao-liang interprets the buddha-nature as the innately pure mind which is "the mysterious essence of divine illumination".​ According to Pao-liang, "there is not one split second in which this liberating essence is not functioning (to deliver the person from ignorance)" and he also says that this "liberating function" is the same as the natural tendency to avoid pain and seek bliss.​ Pao-liang also says that buddha nature is both in the skandhas and transcends them, being the unity of the two truths and the unity of samsara and nirvana.​

Other Chinese commentaries in the Taisho Tripitaka include:​

• Taisho no. 1764, Da Ban Niepan Jing Yi Ji 《大般涅槃經義記》by the Dilun scholar Hui Yuan (慧遠 523–592) in the Sui in 10 fascicles
• Taisho no. 1765, Da Ban Niepan Jing Xuan Yi《大般涅槃經玄義》by Tiantai monk Guanding in the Sui in 2 fascicles
• Taisho no. 1767, Da Ban Niepan Jing Shu《大般涅槃經疏》by Guanding in the Sui in 33 fascicles
• Taisho no. 1768, Da Ban Niepan Jing You Yi《涅槃經遊意》by Ji Zang in the Sui in 1 fascicle
• Taisho no. 1769, Niepan Zong Yao《涅槃宗要》by Wŏnhyo in the Silla in 1 fascicle
• Taisho no. 1766, Niepan Xuan Yi Fa Yuan Ji Yao《涅槃玄義發源機要》by the Tiantai master Zhi Yuan (976-1022 C.E.) in the Song in 4 fascicles.

Versiones

El texto original del Nirvana sutra se encuentra en sánscrito y ha sobrevivido sólo en algunos fragmentos que se han descubierto en Asia Central, Afganistán y Japón. El texto también existe en traducciones tibetanas y chinas en medidas diversas. Faxian, el monje que inicialmente trajo el texto a China desde India, preparó una breve traducción conteniendo seis fascículos, pero DharmaKshema un poco después hace una traducción de cuarenta fascículos.

Más tarde, Huiguan, Huiyan, Xie Lingyun, y otros durante la dinastía Liu Song integran y enmiendan las traducciones de Faxian y Dharmaksema dentro de una edición de 36 fascículos. Esta versión es llamada “el texto del sur” del Nirvana sutra. Mientras que la versión de Dharmaksema es llamada “el texto del norte”. También hay una traducción Tibetana, compilada alrededor del 790. por los hindúes Jinamitra, Jnanagarbha y el docto moje Tibetano Devacandra, el cual comparablemente de la misma medida que la traducción de Faxian. Así que de esta manera existen cuatro versiones:

• El "texto de los seis fascículos", traducido durante la dinastía Jin del Este por Buddhabhadra y Faxian entre 416 y 418.

• El “texto del norte”, con 40 fascículos, traducido en Liang del Norte por Dharmakṣema entre 416 y 423.

• El “texto del sur” con 36 fascículos, compilado en la dinastía Liu Song por Huiguan y Huiyan, en aproximadamente 453.

• El “texto tibetano”, traducido en el siglo XVIII por Jinamitra, Jnanagarbha y Devacandra.

También se conoce por escritos Chinos que por lo menos otras dos traducciones al chino fueron hechas muy poco antes que la de Faxian, pero estas no existen ya más.

Next

Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra,

Vimalakirtinirdeśa,

Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra y Mahāsamnipāta Sūtra,

Despertar de la Fe Mahayana,

Ratnagotravibhāga,

Ghanavyuha

Referencias

• Blum, Mark L. (2013), The Nirvana Sutra, Vol. 1, BDK America .
• Chen, Jinhua (2004), The Indian Buddhist Missionary Dharmakṣema (385-433): A New dating of his Arrival in Guzang and of his Translations, T'oung Pao 90, 215–263 .
• Hodge, Stephen (2004), Textual History of the Mahāyāna-mahāparinirvāna-sūtra, archivado desde el original el June 22, 2009, consultado el 21 January 2012  .
• Hodge, Stephen (2006), On the Eschatology of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra and Related Matters, lecture delivered at the University of London, SOAS, archivado desde el original el June 14, 2013  .
• Hodge, Stephen (2012), The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra. The text & its Transmission, corrected and revised version of a paper presented in July 2010 at the Second International Workshop on the Mahaparinirvana Sutra held at Munich University, archivado desde el original el December 19, 2013  .
• Jikido, Takasaki (2000), «The Tathagatagarbha Theory Reconsidered. Reflections on Some Recent Issues in Japanese Buddhist Studies», Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 27 (1–2): 73-83, archivado desde el original el July 27, 2014  .
• Jones, C.V. (2020), The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman, University of Hawaii Press .
• King, Sallie B. (1991), Buddha Nature, SUNY Press .
• Liu, Ming-Wood (1982), «The Doctrine of the Buddha-Nature in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra.», Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5 (2): 63-94, archivado desde el original el October 16, 2013  .
• Liu, Ming-Wood (1984), «The Problem of the Icchantica in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra», Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 7 (1): 57-82 .
• Liu, Ming-Wood (2005), «The Doctrine of Buddha-nature in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra», Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies (Vol. V), Paul Williams (Taylor & Francis): 190 .
• Matsuda, Kazunobu (1988). «Sanskrit Fragments of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinivāṇa-sūtra. A Study of the Central Asian Documents of the Stein/Hoernle Collection of the India Office Library». Studia Tibetica 14. 
• Radich, Michael (2015), The Mahāparinivāṇa-mahasūtra and the Emergence of Tathagatagarba Doctrine (Hamburg Buddhist Studies Vol. 5), Hamburg University Press .
• Sasaki, Shizuka (1999), «Review Article: The Mahaparinirvana Sutra and the Origins of Mahayana Buddhism», Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 26 (1–2): 189-197, archivado desde el original el August 11, 2011, consultado el 21 January 2012  .
• Shimoda, Masahiro (1997). A Study of the Mahāparinivāṇasūtra ~ with a Focus on the Methodology of the Study of Mahāyāna Sūtras. Tokyo, Shunjū-sha.  (in Japanese)
• Yamamoto, Kosho (1975), Mahayanism: A Critical Exposition of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Karinbunko .