| The goal of human life according to Buddhism is | | | | seriously the negative Indian evaluation of the doctrine |
| Nirvana. This word means simply to blow out, as | | | | of reincarnation. Often, for Western people, when we |
| extinguishing the flame of a candle. Nirvana can be | | | | encounter the Indian doctrine of death and rebirth, our |
| understood as the blowing out of desire. It could also | | | | first impulse is to consider it as a pretty good idea. We |
| be the blowing out of ignorance, or you could see it as | | | | don't mind to come back many times. There are many |
| the blowing out of life itself. How could it be that the | | | | things that maybe we couldn't do in this life and we |
| goal of human life is the blowing out of life itself? | | | | want another chance. |
| Nirvana comes at two moments in the Buddha's life. | | | | It doesn't work like that in the Buddhist tradition. The |
| At the moment of his awakening, when he understood | | | | concept of Nirvana shows us that in classic Indian |
| that he was no longer adding fuel to the fire that fed | | | | Buddhism, the cycle of deaths and rebirths is |
| his personality; and at the moment of his Parinirvana, | | | | something that we should want to stop. Why is that? |
| his passing, when the fire of his personality finally | | | | Because they see this process as one which involves |
| flickered out. | | | | millions and millions of life times without a visible end or |
| It may seem for us that the concept of Nirvana is very | | | | goal. Everything that you achieve in this life or in the |
| negative. I met many people who react pretty | | | | millions of your lives, is nothing. It doesn't mean anything. |
| negatively to the concept of Nirvana. To flame out | | | | Nirvana is an image of cessation. It is sometimes |
| generally isn't a positive concept. However, here we | | | | difficult to Western people to understand this, as the |
| have a religious tradition where the ultimate goal of | | | | goal of most of the religious traditions in the West is a |
| human existence is to allow the fire that creates this | | | | totally opposite concept, that of abundance: eternal life, |
| infinite process of lives after lives to extinguish itself. | | | | eternal happiness, many women, etc. |
| How can we make sense of this idea? | | | | The goal of human life according to Buddhists is the |
| I think that the first thing that you have to say about it | | | | cessation of activity. This is a major shift in what is |
| is that the concept of Nirvana forces us to take | | | | valuable and important in our human experience. |