Secular Sangha: A Secular Buddhist Group discussion

Use this thread to discuss Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana by Soonil Hwang.

I really found the analysis of the metaphor of the blown out flame in relation to the conception of fire in the Upanishads interesting. It is interesting to contemplate that thousands of years of Buddhist tradition in much of the world was based in part on a misunderstanding of what was meant by a single metaphor.