Buddha Nirvana

The Third Noble Truth is that there is liberation, emancipation, freedom from suffering, from the continuity of dukkha. This is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of dukkha (Dukkhanirodha-ariyasacca), which is Nibbana, more popularly known in its Sanskrit form of Nirvana. (Walpola Rahula, p35)

Now you will ask: But what is Nirvana?
..The only reasonable reply is that it can never be answered completely and satisfactorily in words, because human language is too poor to express the real nature of the Absolute Truth or Ultimate Reality which is Nirvana. Language is created and used by masses of human beings to express things and ideas experienced by their sense organs and their mind. A supramundane experience like that of the Absolute Truth is not of such a category.

Words are symbols representing things and ideas known to us; and these symbols do not and cannot convey the true nature of even ordinary things. Language is considered deceptive and misleading in the matter of understanding of the Truth. So the Lankavatara-sutra says that ignorant people get stuck in words like an elephant in the mud. Nevertheless, we cannot do without language. (p35)

Nirvana

Let us consider a few definitions and descriptions of Nirvana as found in the original Pali texts:
‘It is the complete cessation of that very ‘thirst’ (tanha), giving it up, renouncing it, emancipation from it, detachment from it.’ (Mhvg. (Alutgama, 1922), p.10; S V p.421) (Rahula, p.36)

‘Calming of all conditioned things, giving up of all defilements, extinction of ‘thirst’, detachment, cessation, Nibbana.’
(S I, p.136) (Rahula, p.36)

‘O bhikkhus, what is the Absolute (Asamkhata, Unconditioned)? It is the extinction of desire (ragakkhayo), the extinction of hatred (dosakkhayo), the extinction of illusion (mohakkhayo). This, O bhikkhus, is called the Absolute.’ (Ibid. IV, p.359)

‘The cessation of Continuity and becoming (Bhavanirodha) is Nibbana.’
(Words of Musila, disciple of Buddha. S II (PTS), p.117) (Rahula, p.37)

Nirvana is definitely no annihilation of self because there is no self to annihilate. If at all, it is the annihilation of the illusion, of the false idea of self. (p37)

Nirvana as Absolute Truth

We may get some idea of Nirvana as Absolute Truth from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya. This extremely important discourse was delivered by the Buddha to Pukkusati, whom the Master found to be intelligent and earnest, in the quiet of night in a potter’s shed.
The essence of the relevant portions of the sutta is as follows:

A man is composed of six elements: solidity, fluidity, heat, motion, space and consciousness. He analyses them and finds that none of them is ‘mine’, or ‘me’ or ‘my self.’ He understands how consciousness appears and disappears, how pleasant, unpleasnt and neutral sensations appear and disappear. Through this knowledge his mind becomes detached. Then he finds within him a pure equanimity (upekha) which he can direct towards the attainment of any high spiritual state. But then he thinks:

‘If I focus this purified and cleansed equanimity on the Sphere of Infinite Space and develop a mind conforming thereto, that is a mental creation (samkhatam). If I focus this purified and cleansed equanimity on the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, on the Sphere of Nothingness, or on the Sphere of Neither-perception nor Non-perception and develop a mind conforming thereto, that is a mental creation.’

Then he neither mentally creates nor wills continuity and becoming (bhava) or annihilations (vibhava). As he does not construct or does not will continuity and becoming or annihilation, he does not cling to anything in the world; as he does not cling, he is not anxious; as he is not anxious, he is completely calmed within (fully blown out within paccattam yeva parinibhayati). And he knows:

‘Finished is birth, lived is pure life, what should be done is done, nothing more is left to be done.’ (This expression means that now he is an Arahant).

Now when he experiences a pleasant, unpleasant or neutral sensation, he knows that it is impermanent, that it does not bind him, that it is not experienced with passion. Whatever may be the sensation, he experiences it without being bound to it (visamyutto).

‘Therefore, O bhikkhu, a person so endowed is endowed with the absolute wisdom, for the knowledge of the extinction of all dukkha is the absolute noble wisdom.
This his deliverance, founded on Truth, is unshakable. O Bhikkhu, that which is unreality (mosadhamma) is false; that which is reality (amosadhamma) is Nibbana, is Truth (Sacca). Therefore O Bhikkhu, a person so endowed is endowed with this Absolute Truth. For, the Absolute Truth (paramam ariyasaccam) is Nibbana, which is Reality.’
(Buddha, from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya) (Rahula, p38-9)

Elsewhere the Buddha unequivocally uses the word Truth in place of Nibbana: ‘I will teach you the Truth and the Path leading to the Truth.’ (S V (PTS), p.369) (Rahula, p39)

Now, what is this Absolute Truth? According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned, impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul or Atman within or without. This is the Absolute Truth. (p39)

++ disagree. Absolute Truth comes from Absolute Space (what exists, Reality).

It is incorrect to think that Nirvana is the natural result of the extinction of craving. Nirvana is not the result of anything. If it would be a result, then it would be an effect produced by a cause. It would be samkhata ‘produced’ and ‘conditioned’. Nirvana is neither cause nor effect. It is not produced like a mystic, spiritual, mental state, such as dhyana or samadhi. TRUTH IS. NIRVANA IS. The only thing you can do is see it, realise it. There is a path leading to the realisation of Nirvana. But Nirvana is not the result of this path. You may get to the mountain along a path, but the mountain is not the result, not an effect of the path. You may see a light, but the light is not a result of your eyesight. (p40)

People often ask: What is there after Nirvana? This question cannot arise, because Nirvana is the Ultimate Truth. If it is Ultimate there can be nothing after it. If there is anything after Nirvana, then that will be the Ultimate Truth and not Nirvana. (Rahula,p40)

Another question arises: What happens to the Buddha or an Arahant after his death, parinirvana? This comes under the category of unanswered questions (avyakata). (Rahula, P40)

There is yet another popular question: If there is no Self, no Atman, who realises Nirvana? Before we go on to Nirvana, let us ask the question: Who thinks now, if there is no Self? We have seen earlier that it is the thought that thinks, that there is no thinker behind the thought. In the same way, it is wisdom (panna), realisation, that realises. There is no other self behind the realisation. In the discussion on the origin of dukkha we saw that whatever it may be- whether being, or thing, or system- if it is of the nature of arising; it has within itself the nature, the germ, of its cessation, its destruction. Dukkha arises because of ‘thirst’ (tanha) and it ceases because of wisdom (panna). ‘Thirst’ and Wisdom are both within the Five Aggregates.

Thus, the germ of their arising as well as that of their cessation are both within the Five Aggregates. This is the real meaning of the Buddhas well-known statement:
‘Within this fathom-long sentient body itself, I postulate the world, the arising of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.’ (A (Columbo, 1929) p218)
This means that all the Four Noble Truths are found within the Five Aggregates, i.e. within ourselves. This also means that there is no external power that produces the arising and cessation of dukkha. (p42)

When wisdom is developed and cultivated according to the Fourth Noble Truth, it sees the secret of life, the reality of things as they are. When the secret is discovered, when the Truth is seen, all the forces which feverishly produce the continuity of samsara in illusion become calm and incapable of producing any more karma-formations, because there is no more illusion, no more ‘thirst’ for continuity. It is like a mental disease which is cured when the cause or the secret of the malady is discovered and seen by the patient. (p43)

He who has realised Truth, Nirvana, is the happiest being in the world. He is free from all ‘complexes’ and obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental health is perfect. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over the future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is joyful, exultant, enjoying the pure life, his faculties pleased, free from anxiety, serene and peaceful.
As he is free from selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, and all such ‘defilements’, he is pure and gentle, full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance. His service to others is of the purest, for he has no thought of self. He gains nothing, accumulated nothing, because he is free from the illusion of Self and the ‘thirst’ of becoming. (p43)

Nirvana is beyond logic and reasoning (atakkavacara). (p43)

(The Wave Structure of Matter does not agree with this)

Nirvana is ‘to be realised by the wise within themselves’.

Buddha Nirvana