Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
In Theravada Buddhism its understood as a "liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth and freedom from the effects of karma"
And His Holiness Dalai Lama defined Nirvana as "state of freedom from cyclic existence".
can it be experienced in this life or only after death?
If we are free from the effects of karma...what then, when we loose good and bad, ying and yang?
And when the humanity is gone will Nirvana dissolve as well? Plants/animals cant read Dharma and attain enlightenment (and humans will not exist again because the sun is gone).
Was Buddha the first person to come into this state, and how did he know this, just like Jesus open up heaven, Buddha opened up Nirvana?
What do you think/believe?
Don't know about Nirvana. Have not experienced it yet but doubt it is like heaven. It doesn't sound like a place and probably it is not just for Buddhists. Anyway, one can't open it like Jesus open up heaven- that's for sure!
Is it 'an awareness' that a state of 'being Nothingness' is not something one can be aware of? It is by definition impossible but by experience something else . . .
What to call it . . . m m m . . . Nirvana . . . :wave:
In "The Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism" There is a section on the Doctrines of Samsara and Nirvana. As I have mentioned them several times to no effect I shall rest at that. They are doctrines as distinct from teachings. On the level with 4 noble truths and 8 fold path. mtgby
"Friend Sariputta, it is said, `Nibbana, Nibbana.` What now is Nibbana?" "The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion: this, friend, is called Nibbana".
"But friend is there a path, is there a way for the relization of this Nibbana?" "It is, friend, this Nobel Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the path, friend, this is the way for the realization of this Nibbana."
"Exellent is the path, friend, exellent is the way for the realization of this Nibbana. An it is enough, friend Sariputta, for diligence."
"The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion: this, friend, is called Nibbana".
I think it is a mistake to call these actions nirvana. Because then, for many people, nirvana becomes something to have, to obtain. When nirvana becomes this in your mind, then it is just another thing to be dropped. Why call these actions anything but what they are? That is my problem with the term nirvana.
The ending of conditioned consciousness - that's nirvana. Some would interpret this to mean 'unconditioned consciousness', whereas others (I suspect most Buddhists) would hesitate to describe it in any positive terms at all.
Comments
What to call it . . . m m m . . . Nirvana . . .
:wave:
The goal of Wisdom
What is Nibbana?
"Friend Sariputta, it is said, `Nibbana, Nibbana.` What now is Nibbana?"
"The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion: this, friend, is called Nibbana".
"But friend is there a path, is there a way for the relization of this Nibbana?"
"It is, friend, this Nobel Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the path, friend, this is the way for the realization of this Nibbana."
"Exellent is the path, friend, exellent is the way for the realization of this Nibbana. An it is enough, friend Sariputta, for diligence."
I think it is a mistake to call these actions nirvana. Because then, for many people, nirvana becomes something to have, to obtain. When nirvana becomes this in your mind, then it is just another thing to be dropped.
Why call these actions anything but what they are? That is my problem with the term nirvana.
Namada said:
Do somebody know what Nirvana is (more or less)?
In Theravada Buddhism its understood as a
"liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth and freedom from the effects of karma"
And His Holiness Dalai Lama defined Nirvana as
"state of freedom from cyclic existence".
can it be experienced in this life or only after death?
I think H.H. Gyatso is talking about this life. Freedom from cyclic existence in this life.