Wheel of Dharma (c) 2001, J.B. Hare

The Way to Nirvana by L. de la Vallée Poussin [1917]

This is an academic monograph on Nirvana by a French scholar. Poussin contrasts the Hindu and Buddhist views on the cycle of rebirth, and makes a case for original Buddhist concepts of reincarnation as being subtly different than the Hindu, where the soul remains essentially intact across incarnations. He compares the Buddhist view of rebirth to a forest fire (the soul) jumping a river (death), creating an entirely new fire on the other side of the river. He demonstrates the intersection of this topic with Buddhist cosmology, logic, philosophy and ethics. Poussin concludes by reviewing Buddhist techniques for approaching Nirvana.