PhD Lunch Seminar: "Nirvana and Death"

Yuan Li will share her work which examines Joseph Edkins’ interpretation of the relationship between Nirvana and death. It argues that, influenced by earlier philosophers and Orientalists, Edkins initially treated Nirvana as a metaphysical concept close to nihilism. Then it shows how he sought to move beyond this framework by adopting a more realist approach that emphasized the human dimension of Nirvana. It also demonstrates that, under the influence of religious evolution, he developed a theory of the Buddhist view of the afterlife. Overall, the paper offers an integrated account of Edkins’ thoughts on Nirvana within nineteenth-century intellectual contexts.