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The Signless and the Deathless

On the Realization of Nirvana

Foreword by Bhante Gunaratana
Published by Wisdom Publications
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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About The Book

An insightful examination of the end of suffering that draws much-needed attention to two overlooked factors of Nirvana: signlessness and deathlessness.

Nirvana is a critical part of the Buddhist path, though it remains a difficult concept to fully understand for Buddhist practitioners. In The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo breaks new ground, or rediscovers old ground, by showing the reader that realizing Nirvana entails “a complete stepping out of the way the mind usually constructs experience.”

With his extraordinary mastery of canonical Buddhist languages, Venerable Analayo first takes the reader through discussions in early Buddhist suttas on signs (Pali nimitta), the characteristic marks of things that signal to us what they are, and on cultivating concentration on signlessness as a meditative practice. Through practicing bare awareness, we can stop defilements that come from grasping at signs—and stop signs from arising in the first place.

He then turns to deathlessness. Deftly avoiding the extremes of nihilism and eternalism that often cloud our understanding of Nirvana, Venerable Analayo shows us that deathless as an epithet of Nirvana “stands for the complete transcendence of mental affliction by mortality”—ours or others’—and that it is achievable while still alive.

Advanced practitioners and scholars alike will value the work for its meticulous academic expertise and its novel way of explaining the highest of all Buddhist goals—the final end of suffering.

Excerpt

Introduction
In the following pages I survey selected passages from the early Buddhist texts in order to provide a perspective on the significance of the realization of Nirvana. My attempt to do justice to this topic is based on what—to the best of my knowledge—is to some extent a new approach. Said simply, this approach considers descriptions of the breakthrough to Nirvana to convey a complete stepping out of the way the mind usually constructs experience.[i]

The first part of this book serves as a preparation for the type of perspective I intend to present, by way of examining indications offered in the early discourses on the topic of the construction of experience. In order to approach this matter from a practice-related viewpoint, a central concern in my exploration is the notion of signlessness (animitta), in particular its meditative development as a form of concentration, which appears to have a counterpart in some later traditions in the cultivation of nonattention (amanasikara).

The second part of my exploration then turns to deathlessness. As an epithet of Nirvana, “deathless” in its early Buddhist use can be understood to involve a departure from notions of immortality held in the ancient Indian setting, instead offering the promise of complete freedom from being afflicted by mortality while still alive.

The two main parts of my study fall into twelve subsections each, with a summary of the basic points at their respective ends. In the conclusion that follows these two main parts I apply the idea of a transcendence of the construction of experience to a textual description of the awakening of the Buddha’s son, Rahula.

While the topic of signlessness does not seem to have garnered much scholarly attention so far, the realization of Nirvana and passages related to this topic have been taken up in a vast number of publications, both scholarly and popular. Although I have tried my best to take into account a fair range of these, I have not been able to do that in a fully comprehensive manner. To do so properly would require a book in itself.[ii] Moreover, any attempt at comprehensive coverage would need to take up not only relevant scholarly assessments but also the different positions and perspectives on Nirvana that have emerged in the course of time in the various Buddhist traditions.[iii]

Rather than attempting such broad coverage, the present book has the much humbler purpose of formulating my current understanding of selected early Buddhist passages in the hope of offering a meaningful perspective. For the time being, I have minimized critical observations, except for a few remarks in my notes.[iv] As a result, what I propose here comes with no claim of superseding previous discussions and presenting the final word on the matter. Instead, what I present is simply a new way of approaching the topic of Nirvana, based on the viewpoint of the construction of experience as recognized in early Buddhist thought. The resultant perspective is therefore just one out of many, hopefully being at least internally coherent and relevant to actual meditation practice.

In order to make my exploration as accessible as possible to readers from various backgrounds, I have tried to refrain as much as possible] from referring to texts by their Indic names and instead provide references to reliable translations of the relevant Pali versions in inline quotation for passages that I do not translate myself.[v] Although the main text of my exploration is geared toward a general audience, my annotations in turn are meant to cater to readers with a more scholarly inclination, hence I provide quotations of the relevant originals and some further discussions. When translating from any of these originals, although in general I attempt to be fairly literal, I tend to change singular verb forms to plural in order to maintain a gender-inclusive writing style.

About The Author

Bhikkhu Analayo is a scholar of early Buddhism and a meditation teacher. He completed his PhD research on the Satipatthanasutta at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000 and his habilitation research with a comparative study of the Majjhima Nikaya in the light of its Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan parallels at the University of Marburg, Germany, in 2007. His over five hundred publications are for the most part based on comparative studies, with a special interest in topics related to meditation and the role of women in Buddhism.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Wisdom Publications (October 17, 2023)
  • Length: 256 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781614298885

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Raves and Reviews

“Venerable Analayo skillfully illuminates how some of the earliest Buddhist texts provide a systematic path for engaging with and experiencing the world in its pure essence, free from the defilements that cause so much suffering. He then takes us one step further to show how this clear perception, once applied and stable, recognizes Nirvana for what it truly is: empty and deathless. An essential read for students of the Buddhadharma.”

– Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Signless and the Deathless is a new approach to a deeper understanding of the central goal of Early Buddhist practice: the breakthrough to Nirvana. Bhikkhu Analayo investigates in detail signless (animitta) concentration—that is, a state of mind free from distraction achieved by way of letting go all characteristic marks of things—and the deathless (amata/amrta)—that is, Nirvana as the complete transcendence of mental affliction by mortality, experienced while still alive. Ven. Analayo's in-depth treatment of these crucial issues is most impressive and convincing because he is thoroughly familiar with early Buddhism both as a scholar and as a practitioner. His exposition is based on an exhaustive and thorough scholarly analysis of the relevant textual sources not only of the Pali canon but also of all other reciter traditions as far as they are still available in the original or in Chinese and Tibetan translation. To read this extraordinary book is a must not only for specialists but for anybody interested in a deeper understanding of the central issues of Buddhist teaching.”

– Lambert Schmithausen

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