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Salvation Through Arahantahood

Attaining Nirvana through Arahantahood is not selfish.

CERTAIN Buddhists believe that to seek salvation by becoming an Arahant is a selfish motive because everyone, they claim, must try to become a Buddha in order to save others. This particular belief has absolutely no ground in the Teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha never mentioned that He wanted to save every living being in this whole universe. He offered His help only to those who were spiritually mature and willing to accept His Noble way of life.

‘ The doors to the deathless are open!
Let those who will hear leave wrong doctrine…’
‘ Now shall I turn the Wheel of the Great Law
For this I go to the Kasian city, Baranasi.
There shall I beat the drum of deathlessness
In this world that is groping in the dark.’
(ARIYA PARIYESANA SUTTA – MAJJHIMA NIKAYA)

In the Original Teachings of the Buddha, there is no such thing as ‘saving others’. According to the method introduced by the Buddha, each and every person must make the effort to train and purify him or herself to attain his or her own salvation by following the guidance given by the Buddha1. One should not forget the following advice given by the Buddha.

‘You yourself make the effort for your salvation, the Buddhas are only Teachers who can show you how to achieve it.’
(DHAMMAPADA 276)

The belief that everyone must strive to become a Buddha in order to attain salvation cannot be found in the original Teachings of the Buddha. This belief is just like asking every person to become a doctor in order to cure other people and himself of diseases. This advice is most impractical. If people want to cure themselves of their sicknesses they can get medical advice from a qualified doctor. This they can do without waiting until they are all doctors before curing themselves. Nor is there any need for each and every person to be a doctor. Of course, those who wish to become doctors can do so. But they must have intelligence, courage and the means to study medicine. Likewise, it is not compulsory for everyone to become a Buddha to find salvation. Those who wish to become Buddhas can do so. However, they need the courage and knowledge to sacrifice their comforts and practise all kinds of renunciations in order to attain Buddhahood. Even if we are not prepared to aim for Buddhahood, we must aim to become perfect ones, called Arahantas.

To attain Arahantahood, one has to eradicate all greed and selfishness. This implies that while relating with others, an Arahant will act with compassion and try to inspire others to go on the Path leading to Liberation. The Arahant is living proof of the good results that accrue to a person who follows the method taught by the Buddha. The attainment of Nirvana is not possible if one acts with a selfish motive. Therefore, it is baseless to say that striving to become an Arahant is a selfish act.

Buddhahood is indisputably the best and the noblest of all the three ideals (of becoming a Supreme Buddha, Silent Buddha or an Arahant). But not everyone is capable of achieving this highest ideal. Surely all scientists cannot be Einsteins and Newtons. There must be room for lesser scientists who nevertheless help the world according to their capabilities.

Arahantas also impart the Dhamma taught by the Buddha for the benefit of others to find their own salvation by following the advice given by these Arahantas.

Not only arahantas preached the Dharma taught by the Buddha. Some other disciples also preached the Dharma from time to time. One of the chief disciples of the Buddha, Sariputta, attained sotapanna, the first stage of sainthood after listening to one Buddha word from Venerable Assaji, the youngest among the first five disciples of the Buddha and later attained Arantahood by following the Buddha. Emperor Asoka who introduced Buddhism in many parts of the world became a Buddhist after listening to the Dharma from a novice monk named Nigrodha.

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For more discussion on self-reliance, read ‘Do It Yourself’ and ‘How To Save Yoursef’ in Part III of this book.

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Редакция перевода от 01.07.2015 19:35