What happens to the enlightened after death?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

In Buddhism, enlightenment (bodhi, awakening) means directly glimpsing, touching, or realizing nirvana. This happens in four stages, which may take as many as seven lives to realize. The final stage is called full enlightenment or arhatship.

After death? For the enlightened there is no death because "death" always implies rebirth. There is instead "final nirvana" or pari-nirvana (Sanskrit parinirvāṇa, Pali parinibbāna).

• Isn't this an Four Imponderable Questions? No. It is one of the Ten Indeterminate Questions, which are ponderable and can be fathomed without going mad. For although nirvana is beyond mere logical reasoning, it is directly realizable in this very life.

Parinirvana is commonly used to refer to nirvana-after-death, which occurs upon the final passing of someone who attained nirvana during this lifetime, the present rebirth.

It is a release from Saṃsāra, the Wheel of Birth and Death (Endless Rebirth and Re-Death), the Ocean of Suffering, of experiencing the results of and generating yet more karma.

With the end of rebirth, there is the no more rearising of the Five Aggregates (skandhas) called the self (atta or atman), soul, ego, or personality. This is the original Theravada ("Teaching of the Enlightened Elder Disciples of the Historical Buddha") definition.

Mahayana view

In some Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle," a large school of Buddhism that shares more similarities with Hinduism than early Buddhism) scriptures, notably the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, parinirvāṇa is described as the realm of the eternal true Self of the Buddha (the Awakened One), sometimes confounded with the Vedic/Hindu view of consciousness itself, the "Watcher," luminous mind, pure knowing, or even Brahman (Hinduism's "ultimate reality" or godhead).

Conclusion

The radical teaching of all buddhas or "supremely awakened teachers" of enlightenment and liberation -- past, present, and future -- is that, ultimately speaking, there is no self.

This incomprehensible but true and fully realizable reality is uniquely taught in Buddhism, the Dharma or Buddha-Dharma. Its direct realization is essential for penetrating the first stage of enlightenment called "stream-winning."

All existence is marked by Three Universal Characteristics -- that things are impersonal, impermanent, and unfulfilling. Only nirvana, which uniquely is not a "thing"* (formation or conditioned phenomenon), is free from these three marks. Nirvana is the ultimate bliss, the highest good, complete freedom. More

• 

  Quest: Finding enlightenment in this very life.

  *A "thing" (sankara) is a "formation" or anything formed (sankhata) and conditioned (dependent on supporting conditions or constituent parts for its existence). This includes everything whatsoever in the world, all phenomena of existence. This meaning applies, for example, to the well known Buddhist passage, "All formations are impermanent...[and] disappointing" (sabbe sankhāra aniccā... dukkhā). In this context, however, a "formation" is subordinate to the still wider and all-embracing term dhamma ("thing"). For the Pali word dhamma also includes the Unformed or Unconditioned Element (asankhata-dhātu), which refers to nirvana, and "all things are without a self" (sabbe dhammā anattā), which is to say, "ALL things are impersonal."