Moksa/Nirvana

[mkapstei at UCHICAGO.EDU]

it is perhaps worthwhile to stress in this connection that the authors Prof. 
Friedlander cites followed on the heels of the Buddhist dohas and 
caryapadas, in which the insistence on the nondifferenciation of samsara 
and nirvana no doubt contributed to the thematization of nirvana as 
equivalent to jivanmukta. The Buddhist dohas were of course in their turn 
drawing on well known Madhyamaka doctrine, but perhaps with a more 
experiential accent than one finds in the philosophical literature. 

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:38:16 -0700
>From: Peter Friedlander <peterfriedlander at YAHOO.COM.AU>  
>Subject: Moksa/Nirvana  
>To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>another perspective on this debate relates to Hindi usage.
>Nirvana (often in the form nirban) continues to be used in Hindi to the 
present day in the verses of Nirgun Sant poets such as Kabir, Raidas, and 
Dharamdas. 
>In such verses the term moksa occurs in compounds such as 'liberated 
while living' (jivanmukta) and attaining liberation is often spoken as reaching 
the 'the state of nirvana' (pad nirban). I have just been translating verses by 
Dharmdas, a follower of Kabir, in which Nirvana was envisaged as a perfect 
land full of pearl palaces and fountains of nectar etc.
>regards
>Peter
>
>---------------------------
>
>Peter Friedlander
>
>21 Hindhede Dr #04-04
>
>Singapore, 589318
>
>Handphone: (65) 90624357
>
>
>
>      
Matthew T. Kapstein
Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
The University of Chicago Divinity School

Directeur d'études
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris