Last Chance For Nirvana? – Dialectic Two Step

Dialectic Two-Step  is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio

Last Chance For Nirvana?

Question: If there is no soul continuity in Buddhism, how is Nirvana achieved? Do individuals only get one shot at it?

Response: I’ll answer with a question. If there is no continuity, what achieves Nirvana?

I replied a little cryptically. A fundamental tenet of Buddhism is that the “self” has no continuity. But, there is certainly familiarity between the changing you right now and the you of last year. Your friends and family recognize you, even if they haven’t seen you since last year. We certainly have justification for believing in some type of continuity.  But, there are limits.

That continuity of familiarity is rather abruptly halted at death. If you’ve attended a wake, you know what I mean.  In death there is something missing. It’s difficult to put your finger on exactly what it is. But we are all  inclined to grant that something has left the body. Whether its a soul, or just the animating quality of life, is where many differ in opinion.

But there is a dramatic change at death an this is as far as we can go without relying on speculation. For that reason I tend to avoid the topic of reincarnation. It lends nothing to the core tenets of the Buddhas teachings. If we cannot observe a soul leaving the body, we cannot count it as an effect of death, from a scientific point of view. I believe this is the root of the differences of opinion.  When we can’t tie an effect to causes and conditions, then our hypothesized effect is strictly bound to the realm of imagination.

Karma, which I believe is at the core of your questions, has a number of nuanced meanings. I prefer the simpler more observable interpretations. One definition is action. Cause and effect.

As living beings we have an effect on the future. When we die, who knows. But while we’re living and breathing we’re affected by the futures we help create.

Mixing the concepts of Karma and reincarnation is playing conceptual fire. Introducing atonement in a future life to me sounds like a stretch.

If we are to accept the teachings of anyone, they must provide some congruence to our experience or provide better explanations for our experience. The Buddha avoided metaphysical topics. For this reason, I am inclined to relegate the post life atonement conceptualizations of karma and reincarnation to the world of non-Buddhist ideas.

Living in the futures that are created is where that continuity of familiarity bears the consequences of actions. Any speculation beyond this is unhelpful. In fact those kinds of ideas probably generate suffering.

Get Each Week's Dialectic Two Step in your email box

First Name:

Last Name:

Email address:

In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:


One Minute Meditations



Tiny Drops (Photography series)



Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)



Dialectic Two-Step



Modern Koans (interesting questions)



Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)



Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)



Say What?



Quotes



Verse Us (Poems I Write)

The post Last Chance For Nirvana? – Dialectic Two Step appeared on Andrew Furst.