ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the nature of the Buddhist religious goal, namely, nirvana, with a view to examining the viability of Buddhist-Christian dual belonging. The basic meaning of the Pali term nibbana derives from the metaphor of blowing out the light of a lamp. The view that all religions ultimately refer to one transcendental state has been suggested by many. A representative case is by John Hick according to whom all the major religions in the world are different responses to one ultimate principle which he calls the Real or the Transcendental. In a world of seemingly unlimited choice in matters of religious identity and affiliation, the idea of belonging exclusively to one religious tradition or drawing from only one set of spiritual, symbolic, or ritual resources is no longer self-evident. Heavenly worlds, as pleasurable abodes of divine beings, are very much a part of Buddhist religiosity.
