From Nihilism to Realism: Joseph Edkins’ Interpretation of Buddhist Nirvana and Death

In the nineteenth century, the emergence of Western Buddhist studies generated sustained debate over nirvana, one of the central doctrines of Buddhism. The British Protestant missionary Joseph Edkins actively participated in this intellectual discussion and developed a distinctive interpretation of the concept. Early in his writings, Edkins largely followed the prevailing tendency in European scholarship to interpret nirvana through a philosophical framework that equated it with nihilism. However, through extensive engagement with Chinese Buddhist texts and direct interactions with Chinese Buddhists, he gradually revised this view. Approaching the issue from the perspectives of common sense and religion, Edkins argued that nirvana, as understood in Chinese Buddhism, retained a form of practical realism rather than complete annihilation. Although he ultimately rejected the idea that nirvana could provide genuine salvation, Edkins discerned the Western Heaven (Pure Land) within his own construction of a Buddhist theory of death and interpreted it as a potential preparation for Christianity. By situating Northern Buddhism within a broader biblical narrative, he sought to reconcile tensions between nirvana and other Buddhist conceptions of the afterlife, as well as the wider doctrinal tensions between Buddhism and Christianity. As an intermediary in Sino-Western intellectual exchange, Edkins’ creative interpretation of nirvana not only reflects the imprint of Western intellectual traditions but also illuminates the complex negotiations between Christianity and Buddhism, and between faith and reason, in the nineteenth-century construction of Buddhist knowledge.