Post # 63 – Nibbana – Part 1

 Are you visiting this Blog for the first time? It would be good if you could visit the 1st Post to know about this Blog, and read the others in sequence.

Nibbana - In Post # 12 and Post # 13 you found a short summary of this topic. At that stage of your study you only needed a short overview. Now that you have come to this stage of development in Buddhist Practices, I feel that you should be given more details on this topic as you are now in a position to get the full benefit from such knowledge. 

 I made a special effort to research on this subject to collect some relevant facts to present before you. The source material was listed in Post # 13.  Researching on these source documents was quite an experience. What I found out from this research is that this is a very extensive topic and needed some effort from me to understand the underlying meaning. So I decided to pick out some special points about Nibbana from this material to share with you as pointers, with the objective of creating sufficient interest and curiosity in your minds. With this interest created I hope you will go out and look for more of such material on Nibbana to learn further about this important subject. Also by this effort I am expecting to place the onus on you to put this subject very high in your agenda in the quest for Dhamma knowledge.

Reference to Nibbana is very common in most Dhamma Desanas (talks). It is indeed the main focus in the Dhamma that Buddha taught. Descriptions given in Dhamma talks about Nibbana are sometimes a little profound or other times somewhat cursory, and are also often misunderstood. People thus tend to treat Nibbana as something mystic and/or divine and one which is beyond ones easy reach. It is also a common belief that Nibbana is something to be achieved after death. The reasons for this may be that it is often referred to in funeral orations and pansakula desanas. Banners and posters are common at funeral houses and cemeteries with the wording ‘May he/she attain Nibbana’ as something meant for a dead person. 

This understanding is of course quite contrary to Buddha’s teaching, where he refers to Nibbana as an existing reality and encourages the disciples to realize Nibbana in this very life itself, as he and all Arahants have demonstrated. Therefore it is very essential that a correct perception of Nibbana is obtained by each one of us.  

If one is motivated to find out the way, and how a step by step practice for the realization of Nibbana is to be followed, he/she will fist want to get a good understanding of the four Noble Truths, consisting of Dhukka or the unsatisfactory nature of existence, the cause, the liberation or Nibbana, and the path of practice to liberation. He/she will then engage with resolve in the initial practices towards the liberation.

The practice that one must follow and the method of attaining Nibbana are also available in several texts and are also described in many Dhamma Desanas (talks). I have quoted such sources in this Post as and when they were used. 

I have tried to list below some of the extracts obtained from the above reference material to give you a glimpse of how Nibbana is described by different authors. They are the references to Nibbana made in different discourses by the Buddha. The purpose of listing them is merely to establish the authenticity of the phenomenon based on Buddha’s own teaching. 

One Author summarizes Nibbana from Buddha’s own words thus- “This is peaceful, this is excellent, namely the stilling of all preparations, the relinquishment of all assets, the destruction of craving, detachment, cessation, extinction” (extracted from, 'Nibbana- The mind stilled -Volume 1' by Ven. Katukurunde Nanananda)

Some Suttas use the word Nibbana in the sense of extinguishing or extinction.  In Samyuktha Nikaya there are as many as 33 terms listed to denote the ultimate aim of Buddha Dhamma that is Nibbana. (says Abbidhamma Archari Piyadasa Matugama)

Another Author describes Nibbana using the ‘fire’ simile, where he attempts to describe the experience resulting from extinguishing or extinction of defilements and craving as “When a fire goes out with the exhaustion of the fuel you would know that it has gone out because the conditions for its existence are no more” (Bikkhu Bodhi on Nibbana). The fire simile also attempts to answer the question posed by the wandering ascetic Vacchagotta to the Buddha, “Whether the Thathagatha after death exists or not exist or both exist and not exist or neither exists nor not exist?

In another reference an Author describes the phenomenon Nibbana as follows (a reference made in the booklet on 'Nivana' by Dharma Achari Piyadasa Matugama, quoting Dhamma Chhaku, SammaDitti and Saccha Vibbanga Suttas ).

“Nivana –lokothtahara sakyathawaya (World transcending reality); nuwanin prathyaksa kala yuthu sathara marga pala as Nivana (realization through experiential wisdom of the four paths and their fruition); Thanahakkayo- Raga, Dosa, Moha durukereema (elimination of lust, ill- will and delusion).  Ayathana Vibbangaya- (destruction of sense faculties); Thrushna Nirodaya- elimination of craving.  Nirvana in Kewatta sutta in Diga-Nikaya is described as Pavathma Sindalima (ceasing of existence), Nivana in Angutara Nikaya is described as Thannahawa vanaseema (destroying desire), Viraga  nirodaya (elimination of lust). 

Abidhamma discourses by Achariya Buddhadasa refer to experiences under Sammuthi Dhamma (concepts) and Paramatta Dhamma (reality). Sammuthi Dhammas are those that are meaningful to the householder in their worldly experiences and Paramatta Dhamma is the reality as is known in lokuttara (supra mundane) experiences.  All phenomena are categorized into Chitta, Chaitasika, Rupa and Nibbana in Abidhamma. Rupa, Chitta and Chithasicas are sankatha dhammas (conditionally arisen through cause and effect) and Nibbana is Asankatha Dhamma (without cause and effect).              

 Due to the need to limit the content in each post to facilitate reading I will end these descriptions here. Please see Post # 64 for the continuation.