Nirvana
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- This article is about the Buddhist concept. For the Seattle rock band, see Nirvana (band); for the UK-based rock band see Nirvana (UK band) and for other uses of the term, see Nirvana (disambiguation).
Nirvāṇa (Devanagari निर्वाण, Pali: Nibbāna निब्बान -- Chinese: 涅槃; Pinyin: nièpán, Japanese: nehan, Thai: Nibpan นิพพาน ), is a Sanskrit word from India that literally means extinction (as in a candle flame) and/or extinguishing (i.e. of the passions).
It is a mode of being that is free from mind-contaminants (Kilesa) such as lust, anger or craving. It is thus a state of great inner peace and contentment - the end of suffering, or Dukkha. The Buddha in the Dhammapada says of Nirvana that it is "the highest happiness." This is not the transitory, sense-based happiness of everyday life, but rather an enduring, transcendental happiness integral to the calmness attained through enlightenment.
The Buddha describes the abiding in nirvana as 'deathlessness' (Pali: amata or amaravati) or 'the unconditioned' and as the highest spiritual attainment, the natural result that accrues to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct in accordance with Dharma. Such a life (called Brahmacarya in India) dissolves the causes for future becoming (Skt, Karma; Pali, Kamma) that otherwise keep beings forever wandering through realms of desire and form (samsara).
There are many synonyms for Nirvana, as shown by the following passage:
- World Honored One, the ground of fruition is bodhi, nirvana, true suchness, the Buddha-nature, the amala-consciousness, the empty treasury of the Thus Come One, the great, perfect mirror-wisdom. But although it is called by these seven names, it is pure and perfect, its substance is durable, like royal vajra, everlasting and indestructible. (Surangama Sutra IV 207)
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[edit] Overview
Nirvāna (Pali nibbāna) in sutra is "bhavanirodha nibbānam" (The cessation of becoming means Nirvāna). Nirvāna in sūtra is never conceived of as a place, but the antinomy of samsāra (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 nirvana 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 nirvāna dies, his death is referred as his parinirvāna, 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 nirvāna; what happens to a person after his parinirvāna cannot be explained, as it is outside of all conceivable experience.
[edit] Nirvāna and Samsāra
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, calling nirvāna the "opposite" of samsāra or implying that it is apart from samsāra 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 nirvāna and saṃsāra. However, even here it is assumed that the natural man suffers from at the very least a confusion regarding the nature of samsāra.
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 samsara 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, samsāra and Nibbāna, remain distinct.
In the experience of all, Nirvāna 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 Nirvana and samsara in terms of the Buddha while on earth. Buddha was both in Samsara while having attained to Nirvana so that he was seen by all, and simultaneously free from samsara.
[edit] Nirvana in Buddhist Commentaries
Sarvastivàdin commentary, Abhidharma-mahavibhàsa-sàstra, gives the complete context of the possible meanings from its sanskrit roots:
- Vàna, implying the path of rebirth, + nir, meaning leaving off' or 'being away from the path of rebirth.'
- Vàna, meaning 'stench', + nir, meaning 'freedom': 'freedom from the stench of distressing kamma.'
- Vàna, 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).
- Vàna, meaning 'weaving', + nir, meaning 'knot' = 'freedom from the knot of the distressful thread of kamma.'
[edit] Nirvāna in the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra
The nature of Nirvana assumes a differently aspected Mahayana focus in what alleges to be the final of all Mahayana sutras, allegedly delivered by the Buddha on his last day of life on earth - the Mahaparinirvana Sutra or Nirvana Sutra. Here, as well as in a number of linked "tathagatagarbha" sutras, in which the Tathagatagarbha is equated with the Buddha's eternal Self or eternal nature, Nirvana is spoken of by the Mahayana Buddha in very "cataphatic", positive terms. Nirvana, or "Great Nirvāna", 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-nirvāna ("Great Nirvana") 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 Nirvana Sutra, can only be fully known by an Awakened Being - a perfect Buddha - directly.
Strikingly, the Buddha of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra gives the following definition of the attributes of Nirvana, which includes the ultimate reality of the Self (not to be confused with the "worldly ego" of the 5 skandhas):
"The attributes of Nirvana 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 Nirvana."
He further states: "Non-Self is Samsara [the cycle of rebirth]; the Self (atman) is Great Nirvana."
An important facet of Nirvāna 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 Nirvāna 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 (kleśas), 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 Nirvāna."
Vitally, according to these Mahāyāna teachings, any being who has reached Nirvana 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 Nirvana-ed being becomes an utter impossibility. The Buddha states in the "Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāna Sutra" (Tibetan version): "Nirvāna is deathless ... Those who have passed into Nirvāna 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] Quotations
- Gautama Buddha:
- "Nirvana 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 Nirvana'; this means the subjugation of the five aggregates means Nirvana.” [SN-Att. 2.123]
- "Parinibbuto thitatto" -"Parinirvana is to be fixed in the Soul" [Sn 372]
- Said immediately after the physical death of Gotama Buddha wherein his mind (citta) is =parinirvana=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 (parinirvana).”
- 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.
- accī yathā vātavegena khitto
- Venerable Sariputta:
- The destruction of greed, hatred and delusion is Nirvana.
[edit] See also
- Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta
- Atman (Buddhism)
- Baqaa
- Bhagavad Gita
- Buddhism
- Hinduism
- Jainism
- Moksha
- Nirvana Sutra
- Parinirvana
- Paramita
- Satori
- the state of Total Perfection or the natural condition of Dzogchen
- Void (Buddhism)
- Voidism
[edit] Further reading
- Jon Kabit-Zin, Wherever You Go, There You Are
- The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Nirvana Publications, London 1999-2000), translated by Kosho Yamamoto, revised and edited by Dr. Tony Page.
[edit] External links
- Nibbana - more excerpts from the Pali Tripitaka defining Nibbana
- "Nirvana Sutra": full English translation of the "Nirvana Sutra" and appreciation of its teachings.
- Buddha - A Hero's Journey to Nirvana
- Salvation Versus Liberation, A Buddhist View of Paradise Worlds
- In-depth explanation of Nibbana according to the Pali Canon
- Explanation of Nibbana according to dmc
- Mind Like Fire Unbound - a discussion of fire imagery as used in the Buddha's time
- A Buddhist practice based on the four stages of the Buddha's enlightenment that lead him to Nirvana
- Nirvana - a modern scientific view.
