Nirvana
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Nirvāṇa ( Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान Nibbāna; Prakrit: णिव्वाण Nivvāṇa; Vietnamese: Niết bàn; Chinese: 涅槃; Mandarin Pinyin: nièpán, Cantonese: nihppùhn; Japanese: nehan (涅槃?); Korean: 열반, yeolban; Thai: nibpan นิพพาน); Tibetan mya-ngan-las-'das-pa; Mongolian ɣasalang-aca nögcigsen);Burmese: nate ban edAmef); is a Sanskrit word that literally means "to cease blowing" (as when a candle flame ceases to flicker) and/or extinguishing (that is, of the passions). It is a sramana philosophical concept, used by the Jains and the Buddhists, to describe the enlightenment and liberation of their respective teachers.
Nibbāna is a word used by the Buddha to describe the perfect peace of the mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states (kilesa). This peace, which is in reality the fundamental nature of the mind, is revealed when the root causes of the afflictive states are dissolved. The causes themselves (see sankhara) lie deep within the mind (that part of the mind that Western psychology calls the unconscious) but their undoing is gradually achieved by living a disciplined life (see eightfold path). In Nibbana the root causes of craving and aversion have been extinguished such that one is no longer subject to human suffering (dukkha) or further states of rebirths in samsara. The Buddha in the Dhammapada says of Nirvāṇa that it is "the highest happiness". This is not the sense-based happiness of everyday life, nor the concept of happiness as interpreted by Western culture, but rather an enduring, transcendental happiness integral to the calmness attained through enlightenment or bodhi. The knowledge accompanying nirvana is expressed through the word bodhi. In Jainism, it means final release from the karmic bondage. When an enlightened human, such as, an Arhat or a Tirthankara extinguishes his remaining aghatiya karmas and thus ends his worldly existence, it is called nirvāṇa. Technically, the death of an Arhat is called nirvāṇa of Arhat, as he has ended his wordly existence and attained liberation. Moksa, that is to say, liberation follows nirvāṇa. An Arhat becomes a siddha, the liberated one, after attaining nirvana.
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[edit] Nirvana in Buddhism
The Buddha explains Nirvāṇa as "the unconditioned" (asankhata) mind, a mind that has come to a point of perfect lucidity and clarity due to the absence of volitional formations. This being is described by the Buddha as "deathlessness" (Pali: amata or amaravati) and as the highest spiritual attainment, the natural result that accrues to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct and practise in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path. Such a life dissolves the causes for future becoming (Skt, karma; Pali, kamma) that otherwise keep beings forever wandering through the impermanent and suffering-generating realms of desire, form, and formlessness, termed samsara.
[edit] Overview
Nirvāṇa in sutra is bhavanirodha nibbānam ("The cessation of becoming means Nirvāṇa"). Nirvāṇa in sūtra is never conceived of as a place (such as one might conceive heaven), but rather the antinomy of saṃsāra (see below) which itself is synonymous with ignorance (avidyā, Pāli avijjā). This said:
- "'the liberated mind (citta) that no longer clings' means Nibbāna" (Majjhima Nikaya 2-Att. 4.68).
Nibbāna is meant specifically - as pertains gnosis - that which ends the identity of the mind (citta) with empirical phenomena. Doctrinally Nibbāna is said of the mind which "no longer is coming (bhava) and going (vibhava)", but which has attained a status in perpetuity, whereby "liberation (vimutta) can be said".
It carries further connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. The realizing of Nirvāṇa is compared to the ending of avidyā (ignorance) which perpetuates the will (cetana) into effecting the incarnation of mind into biological or other form passing on forever through life after life (samsara). Samsara is caused principally by craving and ignorance (see dependent origination). Nirvāṇa, then, is not a place nor a state, it is an absolute truth to be realized, and a person can do so without dying. When a person who has realized Nirvāṇa dies, his death is referred as his parinirvāṇa, his fully passing away, as his life was his last link to the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara), and he will not be reborn again. Buddhism holds that the ultimate goal and end of samsaric existence (of ever "becoming" and "dying" and never truly being) is realization of Nirvāṇa; what happens to a person after his parinirvāṇa cannot be explained, as it is outside of all conceivable experience.
In Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta the Buddha likens nibbana to the cessation and extinguishing of a fire where the materials for sustenance has been removed:
- "Profound, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise."
"There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress."
[edit] Nirvāṇa and saṃsāra
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, calling nirvāṇa the "opposite" of saṃsāra or implying that it is apart from saṃsāra is doctrinally problematic. According to early Mahāyāna Buddhism, they can be considered to be two aspects of the same perceived reality. By the time of Nāgārjuna, there are teachings of the identity of nirvāṇa and saṃsāra. However, even here it is assumed that the natural man suffers from at the very least a confusion regarding the nature of saṃsāra.
The Theravāda school makes the antithesis of saṃsāra and Nibbāna the starting point of the entire quest for deliverance. Even more, it treats this antithesis as determinative of the final goal, which is precisely the transcendence of saṃsāra and the attainment of liberation in Nibbāna. Where Theravada differs significantly from the Mahāyāna schools, which also start with the duality of saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa, is in not regarding this polarity as a mere preparatory lesson tailored for those with blunt faculties, to be eventually superseded by some higher realization of non-duality. From the standpoint of the Pāli Suttas, even for the Buddha and the Arahants suffering and its cessation, saṃsāra and Nibbāna, remain distinct.
In the experience of all, Nirvāṇa is a state which all six bases (Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body and Mind) cannot feel.
It is probably best to understand the relationship between Nirvāṇa and saṃsāra in terms of the Buddha while on earth. Buddha was both in saṃsāra while having attained to Nirvāṇa so that he was seen by all, and simultaneously free from saṃsāra.
[edit] Nirvāṇa in Buddhist commentaries
Sarvastivādin commentary, Abhidharma-mahavibhāsa-sāstra, gives the complete context of the possible meanings from its Sanskrit roots:
- Vāna, implying the path of rebirth, + nir, meaning leaving off' or "being away from the path of rebirth."
- Vāna, meaning 'stench', + nir, meaning "freedom": "freedom from the stench of distressing kamma."
- Vāna, meaning "dense forests", + nir, meaning "to get rid of" = "to be permanently rid of the dense forest of the five aggregates" (panca skandha), or the "three roots of greed, hate and delusion" (lobha, dosa, moha) or "three characteristics of existence" (impermanence, anitya; unsatisfactoriness, dukkha, soullessness, anàtma).
- Vāna, meaning "weaving", + nir, meaning "knot" = "freedom from the knot of the distressful thread of kamma."
[edit] Nirvāṇa in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra
The nature of Nirvāṇa assumes a differently aspected Mahāyāna focus in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra or Nirvana Sutra, which alleges to be the final of all Mahāyāna sutras, delivered - the sutra indicates - by the Buddha on his last day of life on earth. Here, as well as in a number of related "tathagatagarbha" sutras, in which the Tathagatagarbha is equated with the Buddha's eternal Self or eternal nature, Nirvāṇa is spoken of by the Mahāyāna Buddha in very "cataphatic", positive terms. Nirvāṇa, or "Great Nirvāṇa", is indicated to be the sphere or domain (vishaya) of the True Self. It is seen as the state which constitutes the attainment of what is "Eternal, the Self, Bliss, and the Pure". Mahā-nirvāṇa ("Great Nirvāṇa") thus becomes equivalent to the ineffable, unshakeable, blissful, all-pervading and deathless Selfhood of the Buddha himself - a mystery which no words can adequately reach and which, according to the Nirvāṇa Sutra, can only be fully known by an Awakened Being - a perfect Buddha - directly.
The Buddha of the Mahaparinirvāṇa Sutra gives the following definition of the attributes of Nirvāṇa, which includes the ultimate reality of the Self (not to be confused with the "worldly ego" of the five skandhas):
"The attributes of Nirvāṇa are eightfold. What are these eight? Cessation (nirodha), loveliness/wholesomeness (subha), Truth (satya), Reality (tattva), eternity (nitya), bliss (sukha), the Self (atman), and complete purity (parisuddhi): that is Nirvāṇa."
He further states: "Non-Self is saṃsāra (the cycle of rebirth); the Self (atman) is Great Nirvāṇa."
An important facet of Nirvāṇa in general is that it is not something that comes about from a concatenation of causes, that springs into existence as a result of an act of creation or an agglomeration of causative factors: it was never created; it always was, is and will be. But due to the moral and mental darkness of ordinary, samsarically benighted sentient beings, it remains hidden from unawakened perception. The Buddha of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra insists on its eternal nature and affirms its identity with the enduring, blissful Self, saying:
It is not the case that the inherent nature of Nirvāṇa did not primordially exist but now exists. If the inherent nature of Nirvāṇa did not primordially exist but does now exist, then it would not be free from taints (āsravas) nor would it be eternally (nitya) present in nature. Regardless of whether there are Buddhas or not, its intrinsic nature and attributes are eternally present ... Because of the obscuring darkness of the mental afflictions (kileśas), beings do not see it. The Tathāgata, endowed with omniscient awareness (sarvajñā-jñāna), lights the lamp of insight with his skill-in-means (upāya-kauśalya) and causes Bodhisattvas to perceive the Eternal, Bliss, the Self, and the Pure of Nirvāṇa.
Vitally, according to these Mahāyāna teachings, any being who has reached Nirvāṇa is not blotted out or extinguished: there is the extinction of the impermanent and suffering-prone "worldly self" or ego, comprised of the five changeful skandhas, but not of the immortal "supramundane" Self of the indwelling Buddha Principle [Buddha-dhatu]. Spiritual death for such a Nirvāṇa-ed being becomes an utter impossibility. The Buddha states in the "Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra" (Tibetan version): "Nirvāṇa is deathless ... Those who have passed into Nirvāṇa are deathless. I say that anybody who is endowed with careful assiduity is not compounded and, even though they involve themselves in compounded things, they do not age, they do not die, they do not perish."
[edit] Paths to Nirvāṇa in the Pali canon
In the Visuddhimagga, Ch. I, v. 6 (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, pp. 6-7), Buddhaghosa identifies various options within the Pali canon for pursuing a path to Nirvāṇa,[1] including:
- by insight (vipassana) alone (see Dh. 277)[2]
- by jhana and understanding (see Dh. 372)[3]
- by deeds, vision and righteousness (see MN iii.262)[4]
- by virtue, consciousness and understanding (7SN i.13)[5]
- by virtue, understanding, concentration and effort (see SN i.53)[6]
- by the four foundations of mindfulness (see Satipatthana Sutta, DN ii.290)[7]
Depending on one's analysis, each of these options could be seen as a reframing of the Buddha's Threefold Training of virtue, mental development[8] and wisdom.
[edit] Quotations
- Gautama Buddha:
- "Nirvāṇa is the highest happiness." [Dp 204]
- "Where there is nothing; where naught is grasped, there is the Isle of No-Beyond. Nirvāṇa do I call it -- the utter extinction of aging and dying."
- "There is, monks, an unborn -- unbecome -- unmade -- unfabricated. If there were not that unborn -- unbecome -- unmade -- unfabricated, there would not be the case that emancipation from the born -- become -- made -- fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn -- unbecome -- unmade -- unfabricated, emancipation from the born -- become -- made -- fabricated is discerned." [Udana VIII.3]
- This said: ‘the liberated mind/will (citta) which does not cling’ means Nibbāna” [MN2-Att. 4.68]
- “'The subjugation of becoming means Nirvāṇa'; this means the subjugation of the five aggregates means Nirvāṇa.” [SN-Att. 2.123]
- "Parinibbuto thitatto" -"Parinirvāṇa is to be fixed in the Soul" [Sn 372]
- Said immediately after the physical death of Gotama Buddha wherein his mind (citta) is =parinirvāṇa=the essence of liberation:
- [DN 2.157] “No longer with (subsists by) in-breath nor out-breath, so is him (Gotama) who is steadfast in mind (citta), inherently quelled from all desires the mighty sage has passed beyond. With mind (citta) limitless (Brahman) he no longer bears sensations; illumined and unbound (nibbana), his mind (citta) is definitely (ahu) liberated.”
- [SN 3.45] “The mind (citta) being so liberated and arisen from defilements, one is fixed in the Soul as liberation, one is quelled in fixation upon the Soul. Quelled in the Soul one is unshakable. So being unshakable, the very Soul is thoroughly unbound (parinirvāṇa).”
- Sutta Nipāta, tr. Rune Johansson:
- accī yathā vātavegena khitto
atthaṁ paleti na upeti sankhaṁ
evaṁ muni nāmakāyā kimutto
atthaṁ paleti na upeti sankhaṁ - atthan gatassa na pamāṇam atthi
ynea naṁ vajju taṁ tassan atthi
sabbesu dhammesu samūhatesu
samūhatā vādapathāpi sabbe - Like a flame that has been blown out by a strong wind goes to rest and cannot be defined, just so the sage who is freed from name and body goes to rest and cannot be defined.
For him who has gone to rest there is no measure by means of which one could describe him; that is not for him. When all (dharmas) have gone, all signs of recognition have also gone.[9]
- accī yathā vātavegena khitto
- Venerable Sariputta:
- The destruction of greed, hatred and delusion is Nirvāṇa.
[edit] Nirvana in Jainism
Nirvāṇa in Jainism means :-
- Death of an Arhat, who becomes liberated thereafter, and
- Moksa
[edit] Description of Nirvāṇa of a Tirthankara in Jain Texts
Kalpasutra gives an elaborate account of Mahavira’s nirvāṇa. [10]
| “ | The aghatiya Karma’s of venerable Ascetic Mahavira got exhausted, when in this Avasarpini era the greater part of the Duhshamasushama period had elapsed and only three years and eight and a half months were left. Mahavira had recited the fifty-five lectures which detail the results of Karma, and the thirty-six unasked questions (the Uttaradhyana Sutra). The moon was in conjunction with the asterism Svati, at the time of early morning, in the town of Papa, and in king Hastipala's office of the writers, (Mahivira) single and alone, sitting in the Samparyahka posture, left his body and attained nirvana, freed from all pains.” (147)
In the fourth month of that rainy season, in the seventh fortnight, in the dark (fortnight) of Karttika, on its fifteenth day, in the last night, in the town of Papa, in king Hastipala's office of the writers, the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, went off, cut asunder the ties of birth, old age, and death; became a Siddha, a Buddha, a Mukta, a maker of the end (to all misery), finally liberated, freed from all pains. (123) That night in which the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, freed from all pains, was lighted up by many descending and ascending gods. (125) In that night in which the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira, died, freed from all pains, the eighteen confederate kings of Kasi and Kosala, the nine Mallakis and nine Licchavis, on the day of new moon, instituted an illuminations on the Poshadha, which was a fasting day; for they said: 'Since the light of intelligence is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter!'(128) | ” |
[edit] Nirvāṇa as Moksa
Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Gautama explaining the meaning of nirvāṇa to Kesi a disciple of Parsva. [11]
| “ | There is a safe place in view of all, but difficult of approach, where there is no old age nor death, no pain nor disease. It is what is called Nirvâna, or freedom from pain, or perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe, happy, and quiet place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view of all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from sorrows, they have put an end to the stream of existence. (81-4) | ” |
[edit] See also
- Ataraxia
- Baqaa
- Bodhi
- Bhagavad Gita
- Dzogchen
- Hinduism
- Jainism
- Moksha
- Parinirvana
- Satori
- Void (Buddhism)
- Voidness
- Zen
[edit] Notes
- ^ A number of the suttas referenced below as well as Buddhaghosa himself refer not explicitly to Nirvāṇa but to "the path of purification" (Pali: Visuddhimagga). In Visuddhimagga, Ch. I, v. 5, Buddhaghosa notes: "Herein, purification should be understood as nibbana, which being devoid of all stains, is utterly pure" (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, p. 6).
- ^ See Buddharakkhita (1996a). In the Paramattha-mañjūsā (the Visuddhimagga commentary), vv. 9-10, it adds the following caveat regarding this option of "insight alone":
- The words 'insight alone' are meant to exclude, not virtue, etc., but serenity (i.e., jhana), ... [as typically reflected] in the pair, serenity and insight.... [T]he word 'alone' actually excludes only that concentration with distinction [of jhanic absorption]; for concentration is classed as both access [or momentary] and absorption.... Taking this stanza as the teaching for one whose vehicle is insight does not imply that there is no concentration; for no insight comes about with momentary concentration. And again, insight should be understood as the three contemplations of impermanence, pain and not-self [see tilakkhana]; not contemplation of impermanence alone (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, p. 750, n. 3).
- ^ See Buddharakkhita (1996b).
- ^ See Thanissaro (2003). Verse 262 of this sutta is translated by Thanissaro as:
- Action, clear-knowing, & mental qualities,
- virtue, the highest [way of] life:
- through this are mortals purified,
- not through clan or wealth.
- ^ The option expressed by SN i.13 is the basis for the entire rest of the Visuddhimagga's exposition. It is the very first paragraph of the Visuddhimagga and states:
- When a wise man, established well in virtue,
- Develops consciousness and understanding,
- Then as a bhikku ardent and sagacious
- He succeeds in disentangling this tangle. (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, p. 1)
- ^ Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli (1999), p. 7, translate SN i.53 as:
- He who is possessed of constant virtue,
- Who has understanding, and is concentrated,
- Who is strenuous and diligent as well,
- Will cross the flood so difficult to cross.
- ^ See Thanissaro (2000). Verse 290 of this sutta is translated by Thanissaro as:
- The Blessed One said this: "This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right method, & for the realization of Unbinding — in other words, the four frames of reference....
- ^ In the Nikayas mental development generally suggests the attainment of jhanic absorption; however, as indicated above in the note regarding the "insight alone" option, in some contexts it can refer to attaining "access" or "momentary" concentration without full absorption.
- ^ The Buddha's use of the metaphor of the extinguished flame should not be taken either in the sense of the Vedas, where fire is immortal, or the modern sense, where an extinguished fire ceases to exist. Instead he discusses a situation beyond questions of existence or non-existence. See [1]
- ^ Jacobi, Hermann; Ed. F. Max Müller (1884). Kalpa Sutra, Jain Sutras Part I, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 22. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
- ^ Jacobi, Hermann; Ed. F. Max Müller (1895). Uttaradhyayana Sutra, Jain Sutras Part II, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 45. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
[edit] External links
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Nibbana - more excerpts from the Pali Tripitaka defining Nibbana
- "Nirvana Sutra": full English translation of the "Nirvana Sutra" and appreciation of its teachings.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana
- Nirvana - from Encyclopedia of Spiritual Knowledge.
- AUniversalTheory.com - A Universal Theory - a common sense approach on the Ground Now re Nirvana/Utopia/Shangrilabg:Нирвана (религия)
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