The following is respectfully quoted from “What Makes You Not a Buddhist” by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche:
Nirvana Is Beyond Concepts
According to Buddhists, before this life in which he attained enlightenment, Siddhartha lived countless lives as birds, monkeys, elephants, kings, queens, and many as a bodhisattva, a being whose sole aim is to overcome ignorance in order to benefit all beings. But it was in his lifetime as the Indian prince Siddhartha that he at long last defeated Mara beneath the bodhi tree and finally reached the other shore, the other side of samsara. This state is referred to as “nirvana.” Having reached nirvana, he gave his first sermon in Sarnath, near Varanasi, and continued to teach throughout northern India for the rest of his long life. His students were monks and nuns, kings and warlords, courtesans and merchants. Many members of his family became denunciates, including his wife, Yashodhara, and is son, Rahula. He was venerated as a supreme human by many people from all over India and beyond. But he did not become immortal. After a long life of teaching, he passed away in a place called Kushingagar. At that moment he went even beyond nirvana to a state that is called “parinirvana.”
