Nirvana Vs Traditional Buddhism

Henceforth, in contrast, traditional Buddhism espouses a belief in “saṃsāra, which is the wheel of life, death, and rebirth. It teaches the reality of past lives, as well as future ones, with the possibility of attaining the state of nirvana, meaning a cessation of one’s existence or liberation”(Welles). In brief, the goal of traditional Buddhists is to emulate the success of the Buddha and similarly escape the cycle of rebirth and attain Nirvana. Furthermore, On the whole, modernized interpretations of Buddhism have forsaken such traditional elements as the cycle of rebirth and the notion of karma for a more pragmatic approach. Furthermore, with respect to the goals of Buddhism for traditional followers they focus on freedom from the

Use the truths that are given to you as a raft, to carry you through troubled times, to help you find your way to safety and blessing. But don’t keep carrying the raft around. Don’t set the raft up in a chapel somewhere and start worshiping it. And for sure, don’t fight with others about whose raft is really the true raft (Anderson)”. In essence, what the Buddha was trying through this parable is that at the end of the day, Buddhism is a raft. In other words, Buddhism is a means to an end rather than itself being the end goal. In context, the Buddha is commenting on the nature of achieving Nirvana. While practically it is much easier to achieve understanding of one’s inner-mind through following Buddhism, it is also conceivable that this could happen through any interpretation. Thus, the Buddha in this teaching comments on the different forms of Buddhism and makes the claim that so long as a specific form of Buddhism helps towards escaping the cycle of the world, it should not be criticized but

While both of these goals are striving to achieve freedom, ironically they seem to contradict each other. Notably, when Asian teachers talk about freedom, “it is primarily in reference to what one is free from-that is, from greed, hate, delusion, grasping, attachment, wrong view, self, and most significantly, rebirth. For the Asian teachers the religious path ends with final freedom or Nibbana, which has no purpose beyond itself” (Fronsdal 170). In contrast, “the Western teachers often stress the potential found through freedom. Freedom is a means to living happily, compassionately, and wisely without drastic changes in lifestyle” (Fronsdal 170). Essentially, the goal Buddhism in the West is to enhance the lives of practitioners. On the other hand, the goal of traditional Buddhism is to transform the lives of practitioners and help them to escape their suffering. In both of these cases, the differences mainly pertain to the supernatural. Basically, the difference comes in that many modernized interpretations of Buddhism, neglect the supernatural, whereas traditional forms tend to include the supernatural. Thus, through the juxtaposition of the many forms of Buddhism, the differences in the central goal of Buddhism can best