"This book is a rewritten version of Part I in my Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities, published by Cambridge University Press in 1998 (paperback 2006)"--Page 1

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-193) and index.

Text in English with parts translated into English.

Introduction. What is this book, and who is it for? ; The discourse of felicity : imagining happiness ; The Pali imaginaire ; Eu-topia and ou-topia ; Notes on the words "Theravāda" and "religion" -- Systematic and narrative thought : eternity and closure in structure and story. Closure in systematic thought ; Closure in narrative thought -- Nirvana as a concept. Action, conditioning, time and timelessness ; Nirvana in life after death ; Nirvana exists ; Can one desire nirvana? ; Silence and the production of meaning -- Nirvana as an image. The words (pari)nirvāna and (pari)nibbāna : other referring terms and definite descriptions ; Two aporias : consciousness and happiness ; Imagery and expressibility ; Appendix : happiness in meditation -- Nirvana, time, and narrative. The myth of "the Myth of the eternal realm" ; Individual versus collective time : can history end : was Gotama unique? ; The sense of an ending ; Ending(s) in narrated time (erzählte Zeit) : non-repetitive time ; Ending(s) in narrated time (erzählte Zeit) : repetitive time ; Ending as an event in the time of narration (Erzählzeit) -- Past and future Buddhas. Vaṃsa as a genre ; Voice and temporal perspective in the Chronicle of Buddhas : repetitive and non-repetitive time interwoven ; The story of the elder Māleyya and The history of the future : unprecedented well-being ; Appendix 1 : selections from the Buddhavaṃsa ; Appendix 2 : the Anāgatavaṃsa -- Conclusion : modes of thought, modes of tradition.

"The idea of nirvana (Pali: nibbana) is alluring but elusive for non-specialists and specialists alike. Offering his own interpretation of key texts, Steven Collins explains the idea in a new, accessible way - as a concept, as an image (metaphor) and as an element in the process of narrating both linear and cyclical time. Exploring nirvana from literary and philosophical perspectives, he argues that it has a specific role: to provide t̀he sense of an ending' in both the systematic and the narrative thought of the Pali imaginaire. Translations from a number of texts, including some dealing with past and future Buddhas, enable the reader to access source material directly. This book will be essential reading for students of Buddhism, but will also have much to teach anyone concerned with Asia and its religions, or indeed anyone with an interest in the ideas of eternal life or timelessness"--Page 4 of cover