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What Is Enlightenment, Awakening, Nirvana?
Dakini
Veteran
Is it a mystical, transcendant state? Or is it simply the letting go of grasping to material things and ego (status, power, etc.)? Is it a paranormal or altered state of consciousness? Or simple equanimity, a quiet contentedness?
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nirvana is the total cessation of suffering. from what i hear it occurs after a cycle of insights and is like bleeping out of everything for a moment.
awakening or enlightenment is to rest in the nature state of being, which is found only in surrender. this path ultimately leads to nirvana.
this is my understanding.
both paths lead to nirvana. one gradual. the other sudden then gradual cultivation.
nirvana isn't a state. nirvana is just total cessation. daniel ingram talks a bit about it and thats where i get my source from.
but again this isn't something i've personally experienced, so i can only parrot what others have said.
with non dual awareness experience, i've had some experiential data on that stuff so i can talk with clarity on that subject.
awakening is to awaken to this ordinary mind. the ordinary mind is no different than the buddha mind. kenneth folk calls this the watcher or no-dog. it is different from rigpa or open awareness.
to awaken is to awaken to buddha nature. in the ox herding pictures it is to find the ox and to tame the ox.
eventually the ox and the man is dropped after penetrating dependent origination and the three marks.
god i love these pictures!
So, that's not to be mistaken with total cessation of life or existence itself.
full enlightenment is a massive feat!
this is why there are many awakened beings, who are not fully enlightened. they still need to penetrate dependent origination and the three marks. and finally come to total cessation or nirvana.
this is what separates the buddha from hinduism. he found the Self or Atman, but ultimately this wasn't freedom from suffering. thus he taught the path of anAtman!
but a lot of what i am speaking about comes from buddhas after the buddha on the bodhi tree. so take it for what its worth!
Tai: the Buddha said that no-self was "nihilism", and Self (a permanent, fixed self) was Eternalism. His was a Middle Way between the two. I'm not sure where the idea he taught no-self as a path came from. (A subject for another thread, perhaps, but let's go with it for now.)
in seeing, only the seen, no seer.
in tasting, only the taste, no taster.
in feeling, only the sensation, no feeler.
in thinking, only the thought, no thinker.
in smelling, only the smell, no smeller.
in hearing, only the sound, no hearer.
non self is the realization that there is no permanent, separate essence. in seeing, there is only seeing. there is only the process, no static "thing", just the illusion of thing or self based on ignorance/craving. so in seeing just seeing.
"Friend Sariputta, Nibbāna, Nibbāna is it said! What is this Nibbāna?
The destruction of Greed, the destruction of Hate, and the destruction of
Ignorance! This, friend, is called Nibbāna …"
Total ease, complete calm, absolute freedom, perfect happiness & pure peace…
Absence of any uncertainty, doubt, confusion, any delusion and all ignorance…
Presence of confidence, certainty, understanding all, and direct experience…
Absence of any greed, lust, desire, urge, attraction, hunger, and temptation…
Presence of imperturbable and serene composure in an all stilled equanimity…
Absence of all hate, anger, aversion, hostility, irritation, & stubborn rigidity…
Presence of universal goodwill: An infinite & all-embracing friendly kindness…
Nibbāna is not a place, not an idea, not a fantasy deception, not a conceit,
not a conception, not a cause, not an effect, not finite, not definable,
not formed, not begun, not ending, not changing, not temporal, but lasting…
Nibbāna is unborn, unbecome, unmade, uncreated, uncaused, unconditioned,
and unconstructed, yet ultimately real…
Seeking, but not finding, the builder of this house.
Sorrowful is repeated birth.
House builder, thou art seen.
Thou shalt build no house again.
All thy rafters are broken; thy ridgepole is shattered.
The mind attains the unconditioned.
Achieved is the end of craving."
"This is peaceful, this is excellent, namely the stilling of all preparations, the relinquishment of all assets, the destruction of craving, detachment, cessation, extinction".
Awakening is the Alan Partridge of all "Ahaaaaah!"s....
It is the "unbinding" from the world by the cessation of Craving.
Without craving (including clinging/attachment), there is no Suffering.
It's simply the resolution of the Four Noble Truths... removing the cause of suffering. The Third Noble Truth is "Nirodha" or Cessation of Tanha/Craving, which is the cause of suffering as stated in the Second Noble Truth.
Since it's the exact opposite of our normal mode of thinking/being, which is following our cravings around and living according to our likes/dislikes, it's very difficult to actually envision!
Because once we define it, we want it, and we compare our present state to some other –enlightened, awakened or extinguished – state. Doing that separates us from what’s pure of its own nature.
So imho the good answers are the koan-like answers; the ones who knock down the question and the questioner, and throw us back in the present moment.
Just don’t know.
Do what appears to be the appropriate thing to do right now and leave it.
This has to do with the third turning of the wheel of dharma. When you believe you have attained realization of emptiness, if the buddha qualities have not manifested then logically there must be veils or a subtle grasping.
There are five paramitas in the mahayana teachings which are developed in order to become useful for sentient beings: generosity, ethics (yes!), patience, forbearance, joyful energy, and concentration. Those qualities aren't liberating in themselves and thus there is a 6th paramita- insight. I have read that all the paramitas are wound together such that generosity in the paramitas is special. At a beginner level our generosity is mixed with confusion and so forth, but a bodhisattva's generosity is mixed more with insight and the other qualities (ethics, patience).
The insight paramita is probably related to bodhicitta. Pema chodron said it is like fresh eyes. My lama says it has a yielding quality and a sort of motion. My own idea is that it is like what we are able to do when we don't know what is going to happen and we are confident and having patience to let ourselves express. Even in writing we just 'go with it' and express ourselves somehow. Of course we are neither as skillful nor as clear seeing as a buddha!