Niras Sangkhara: The Journey for True Peace and Happiness

Abstract

This article aims to present the content of Niras Sangkhara which is a literary work that tells the story of an imaginative journey of the writer. Niras Sangkhara presents the Buddhist concepts and Buddhist doctrines, namely Pañcakkhandha (the Five Aggregates), Saṁsāravaṭṭa (Cycle of Birth and Death), Tilakkhaṇa (the Three Characteristics), and Cattāri Ariyasaccāni (the Four Noble Truths). This work is a good example to show that the Buddhist doctrines can be expounded not only in usual religious texts, but also in poetry. Niras Sangkhara is different from other titles of the same genre in that it is not the story of a poet who has to travel far away from his hometown and lover, but away from his corporeal body. The journey in this literary work is the desertion of the world of transience in order to reach Nirvana, the true peace.