The Study Of The Viewpoint Of Nirvana Of Essay On The Meaning Of Mahayana By Huiyuan

Nirvana, as the ultimate goal of buddhist practice, there is no doubt that all beingshave a lot of attention.However,it is difficult to clearly express what is nirvana,which is nameless and shapeless and its interaction with the condition of buddha canchange and show various things.There are even many people who do not know muchabout Buddhism and directly take the nirvana as the death.This undoubtedly confusesthe most critical terminology of the buddhist field, which has brought great obstaclesfor people to understand Buddhism.In order to clarify what the nirvana is truly like in the buddhist doctrine, it isnecessary to return to the buddhist monks whose correct understanding can enlightenour mind and body. Jingying Huiyuan,as one of “the three masters in sui dynasty”,isthe best to study the theory of nirvana doctrine, and what he studied is all-embracingand subtle.At the same time, he not only make comments on“TheMahāparinirvāna-sūtra”（Da banniepan jing）,but also make a detailed interpretationabout the meaning of nirvana of the“Essay on the Meaning of Mahayana”（Dashengyizhang),which is Hui-Yuan’s masterpiece with the characteristics of theencyclopedia of Buddhism.In the “Essay on the Meaning of Mahayana”,Hui-Yuan has made the detailedinterpretation from names,essence,attributes,function to miscellaneous meaning.Hui-Yuan take “the nirvāna of the originally pure self-nature” as essence and“thenirvāna of the expedient means”as attributes and“the nirvāna of the manifestation ofa body by a buddha”as function,which is the core for him to discuss.Thus he clearlyillustrates the three dimensions of essence,attributes,function of the nirvana.It largelyavoids the meditation without understanding dogmata on the grounds of the namelessand shapeless nirvana,and makes different beings know something about what isnirvana.Therefore, this paper take the thought of the nirvana of the “Essay on the Meaningof Mahayana”as the core, make a contrast between the interpretations of nirvana ofSengzhao,Daosheng and Baoliang,who are during Wei Jin South and North dynasties, thus highlighting the significance of academic history of Hui-Yuan’s study ofnirvana.Meanwhile, their comprehensive interpretation of nirvana has clarified thatthe true meaning of nirvana is not the frightening death and the mystery of confusionbut the buddhist ultimate point which has the characteristics of emboding theuniverse and the mote,containing all-inclusive and making escence and function onething.