A Nirvana that Is Burning in Hell: Pain and Flourishing in Mahayana Buddhist Moral Thought

Stephen E Harris

doi:10.1007/s11841-017-0619-4

Abstract

This essay analyzes the provocative image of the bodhisattva, the saint of the Indian Mahayana Buddhist tradition, descending into the hell realms to work for the benefit of its denizens. Inspired in part by recent attempts to naturalize Buddhist ethics, I argue that taking this ‘mythological’ image seriously, as expressing philosophical insights, helps us better understand the shape of Mahayana value theory. In particular, it expresses a controversial philosophical thesis: the claim that no amount of physical pain can disrupt the flourishing of a fully virtuous person. I reconstruct two related elements of early Buddhist psychology that help us understand this Mahayana position: the distinction between hedonic sensation (vedanā) and virtuous or nonvirtous mental states (kuśala/akuśala-dharma); and the claim that humans are massively deluded as to what constitutes well-being. Doing so also lets me emphasize the continuity between early Buddhist and Mahayana traditions in their views on well-being and flourishing.

Highlights

This essay analyzes the provocative image of the bodhisattva, the saint of the Indian Mahayana Buddhist tradition, descending into the hell realms to work for the benefit of its denizens
I apply this strategy to Mahayana Buddhist moral philosophy by taking seriously the image of the bodhisattva joyfully diving into the hell realms
That highly skilled Buddhist practitioners could endure great physical pain without emotional distress, and this is exactly what we find in the early Buddhist Stone Splinter Sutta (Sakalika Sutta): On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rājagaha in the Maddakucchi Deer Park

Summary

Introduction

This essay analyzes the provocative image of the bodhisattva, the saint of the Indian Mahayana Buddhist tradition, descending into the hell realms to work for the benefit of its denizens. These introductory remarks go some way to establishing one of this essay’s conclusions, that a strongly naturalistic attitude towards Buddhist moral thought, in which language expressing ‘superstitious’ and ‘mythological’ elements is discarded, strips it of much of its power.6 The claim that we flourish most deeply in what appears to be the condition of extreme self-sacrifice is one of the deep themes of Śāntideva’s text, and much Mahayana moral philosophy.

Results

Conclusion