Namaste all,
interesting discussion.
let me address the op first, though i realize it was posted for comment only and response to it is somewhat futile
it would seem that whomever wrote that ariticle doesn't understand either the Sanatana Dharma or Buddha Dharma concepts of karma and has, thus, come to some strange conclusions.. one of which is that another being can reap the Vipaka of another. this is not so though there isn't a real reason to get into a technicial disscussion of why this is not so at this point.
Nibbana/Nirvana.. this term seems to generate a fair amount of confusion about what it is and so forth. perhaps the easiest thing to do is see what the Buddha had to say about it to wit:
Just as the destination of a glowing fire struck with a [blacksmith's] iron hammer, gradually growing calm, isn't known:Even so, there's no destination to describe for those who are rightly released — having crossed over the flood of sensuality's bonds — for those who've attained unwavering ease.—
Ud 8.10
further, there are two distinct sorts of Nibbana which the Buddha Shakyamuni discusses to wit:
Monks, there are these two forms of the nibbana property. Which two? The nibbana property with fuel remaining, and the nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
And what is the nibbana property with fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is a worthy one devoid of mental effluents, who has attained completion, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the bonds of becoming, and is released through right knowing. His five sense faculties still remain, and owing to their being intact, he is cognizant of the pleasant & the unpleasant, and is sensitive to pleasure & pain. That which is the passing away of passion, aversion, & delusion in him is termed the nibbana property with fuel remaining.
And what is the nibbana property with no fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is a worthy one... released through right knowing. For him, all that is sensed, being unrelished will grow cold right here. This is termed the nibbana property with no fuel remaining.
—
Iti 44
"growing cold right here" is explained in the following Sutta:
These twonibbana propertiesproclaimed by the one with vision the one independent the one who is Such
ne property, here in this lifewith fuel remaining from the ending of craving, the guide to becomingand that with no fuel remainingafter this lifein which all becoming completely stops.Those who know this state uncompoundedtheir minds releasedthrough the ending of craving, the guide to becoming,they, attaining the Teaching's core, delighting in the ending of craving,have abandoned all becoming: they, the Such.—
Iti 44
if one has an abiding interest in this discussion, i would highly recommend the essay "Mind Like Unbound Fire" by Thanissaro Bhikkhu which can be found here:
Mind Like Fire Unbound
Nibbana is also discussed in terms of what it is:
"This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of
craving; dispassion; cessation; Nibbana."
— AN 3.32
and what it is not:
"There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of
stress."
—
Ud 8.1
*son is waking up, time for lunch!*
metta,
~v
)--Buddhas and Bodhisattvas dwell in Nirvana while in Samsara. And why should this be contradictory?
