What a Buddha is and what a mystic is arguably fall under the category of those who have knowledge and insight into the transcendent or the same, ultimate reality. And certainly Gautama the Buddha did awaken to the transcendent which was also immortal or amrita. This, by the way, is another name for nirvana including, the ultimate, the truth, the further shore, the subtle, the stable, the peaceful, the excellent, the good, the security, the wonderful, the marvellous, the purity, the island, the cave, the protection, the refuge, the goal (cp. S. iv. 373).
In his effort to keep the Buddha a profane guy (prthagjana) like himself, Stephen Batchelor, who is the author of Buddhism Without Beliefs, doesn’t want to talk about nirvana. To do so would undermine his belief that Gautama the Buddha did not awaken to anything transcendent. Oddly, in his book Buddhism Without Beliefs Batchelor only mentions nirvana twice. On page 4 he writes: “the Unconditioned,” the Void,” “Nirvana,” “Buddha Nature,” etc.” On 102 he writes: “This would be the choice of the mystic who seeks to extinguish himself in God or Nirvana—analogous perhaps to the tendency among artists to obliterate themselves with alcohol or opiates.” In his entire book, Buddhism Without Beliefs, Batechlor unpacks zero about nrivana, one of the most important terms in Buddhism!
Let me stop here with this observation about Batchelor. His book, Buddhism without beliefs, is Buddhism without nirvana which is really Buddhism sans Buddhism.
Thus I have read:
"That which exists through itself is called the Tao. The Tao has neither Name nor Force. It is the one essence, the one primordial spirit. Essence and life cannot be seen. When you fix your heart on one point, then nothing is impossible for you. The heart easily runs away, so it is necessary to gather it together by means of breathing power. Breathing power easily becomes coarse, therefore it has to be refined by the heart."
Posted by: Heng He | March 15, 2012 at 11:53 AM