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Thursday 2 February 2023

Nirvana concept of liberation in buddhism





Nirvana Buddhism - Nirvana is a place of peace and happiness, like heaven. Nirvana is the highest state of enlightenment.  Nirvana is release from desire suffering, 


Nirvana Buddhism - Nirvana attain by proper understanding of suffering, cause andc relief of suffering and the way to end suffering.

Nirvana is release from desire and suffering, but still has a body, name and life. 

Nirvana is is a place or state of being in peace or complete happiness.

Fully escaped the karmic cycle, you achieve parinirvana - final Nirvana liberation in the afterlife. 

Nirvana steps consists of eight practices : right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right samadhi.




Wisdom  acquired though listening to others and wisdom acquired though intellectual investigation are helpful if they inspire and guide us to advance to the third type of panna, experiential wisdom. 

The training of wisdom included right through and right understanding, neither sila nor samadhi is unique to the teaching of Buddha. 


While searching for the way of liberation, the future Buddha was trained in samadhi by two teachers by with whom he studied. 


In prescribing these training the Buddha did not differ from the teachers of conventional religion. 


All religions insist on the necessary of moral behaviour, and they also offer the possibility of attaining states of bliss, 

  • whether by prayer, 
  • by rituals, 
  • by fasting and other austerities, 
  • or by various forms of meditation. 


The goal of such practices is simply a state of deep mental absorption. This is the " ecstasy " experienced by religious mystics.

Link here -


Nirvana Buddhist Concept 


     wisdom technique and types:-


Such concentration, even if not developed to the level of the trance states, is very helpful. 


It clams the mind by diverting attention from the situations in which one would otherwise react with craving and aversion. 


Counting slowly to ten to prevent an outburst of anger is a rudimentary form of samadhi. 


Other, perhaps more obvious, forms are repetition of a word or mantra, or concentration on a visual object. 


They also work : When the attention is diverted to a different object, the mind appears to become clam and peaceful.


The clam achieved in this way, however, is not real liberation
.


Certainly the practice of concentration confers great benefits, but it work only at the conscious level of the mind. 


Nearly twenty five centuries before the invention of modern psychology, the Buddha realized the existence of the unconscious mind, which he called the anusaya .


Diverting the attention, he found is a way to deal effectively with craving and aversion at the conscious level, but it does not actually eliminate them. 


Instead it pushes them deep into the unconscious, where they remain as dangerous as ever even though dormant. 


At the surface level of the mind there may be a layer of peace and harmony, but in the depths is a sleeping volcano of suppressed negativity which sooner or later will erupt violently .


So long as conditioning remains in the unconscious mind, it will put forth fresh shoots at the first opportunity, causing suffering. 


For this reason even after reaching the highest states attainable by the practice of concentration, the future Buddha was not satisfied that he had achieved liberation .


He decided that he must continue his search for way out of suffering and the path to happiness.


He saw two choices. The first is the path of self indulgence, if giving oneself free licence to seek the satisfaction of all one's desires. 


This is the worldly path which most people follow, whether they realize it or not. 


But he saw clearly that it cannot lead to happiness. 


There is no one in the universe whose desires are always fulfilled, in whose life everything that is wished for happen and nothing happens that is not wished.


People who follow this path inevitably suffer when they fail to achieve their desires,that is they suffer disappointment and dissatisfaction. 


But they suffer equally when they attain their desires : they suffer from the fear that the desired object will vanish, that the moment of gratification will prove transitory, as in fact it must. 


In seeking ,in attaining ,and in missing desires, such people always remain agitated. 


The future Buddha had experienced this path himself before leaving worldly life to become a recluse and therefore he knew that it cannot be the way to peace.


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Buddhism Nirvana Meditation


Buddhism Nirvana Meditation


            Wisdom keys in practices:--


The alternative is the path of self restraint ,of deliberately refraining from satisfying one's desires. 


In India 2500 years ago, this path of self denial was taken to the extreme of avoiding all pleasurable experiences and inflicting one oneself unpleasurable ones.

The rationale for this self punishment was that it would cure the habit of craving and aversion and thereby purify the mind. 


The practice of such austerities is a phenomenon of religious life throughout the world. 


The future Buddha had experienced this path as well in the years following his adoption of the homeless life .


He had tried different ascetic practices to the point that his body was reduced to skin and bones, but still he found that he was not liberated. Punishing the body does not purify the mind.


Self restrain need not to be carried to such an extreme, however
.


One may practice it in more moderate form by abstaining from gratifying those desires that would involve unwholesome actions. 


This kind of self control seems far preferable to self indulgence since in practicing it, one would at least avoid immoral actions . 


But if self restraint is achieved only by self repression, it will increase the mental tensions to a dangerous degree. 


All the suppressed desires will accumulate like floodwater behind the dam of self denial. 


One day the dam is bound to break and release a destructive flood.


So long as conditioning remains in the mind, we cannot be secure or at peace. 

Sila, beneficial through it is, cannot be maintained by sheer force of will. Developing samadhi will help, but this is only a partial solution that will not work at the depths of the mind where the root of the problem lie, the root of the impurities. 


So long as these roots remain buried in the unconscious ,there can be no real, lasting happiness, no liberation.


But if the roots of conditioning themselves can be removed from the mind, 

  • then there will be no danger of indulgence in unwholesome actions, 
  • no necessity for self repression, 
  • because the very impulse for performing unwholesome action will be gone, 
  • Freed of the tensions either of seeking or denying. 


One can live at peace.



To remove the roots a method is required with which we can penetrate to the depths of the mind in order to deal with the impurities where they begin. 


This method is what the Buddha found : the training of wisdom, or panna, which led him to enlightenment.


It is also called Vipassana bhavana, the development of insight into one's own nature, insight by means of which one may recognize and eliminate the cause of suffering.


This was the discovery of the Buddha - what he practiced for his own liberation, and what he taught others throughout his life. 


This is the unique element in his teaching, to which he gave the highest importance. 


He repeatedly said ,"if it is supported by morality, concentration is very fruitful, very beneficial. 


If it is supported by concentration, wisdom is very fruitful, very beneficial. If it is supported by wisdom  the mind becomes freed of all defilements.


In themselves, morality and concentration sila and samadhi ,are valuable, but their real purpose is to lead to wisdom. 


It is only in developing panna that we find a true middle path between the extremes of self indulgence and self repression. 


By practicing morality, we avoid actions that cause the grossest forms of mental agitation


By concentrating the mind, we further clam it and at the same time shape it into an effective tool with which to undertake the work of self examination. 


But it is only by developing wisdom that we can penetrate into the reality within and free ourselves of all ignorance and attachments.


It is not necessary for all thoughts to cease in meditation before one begins Vipassana bhavana


Thoughts may still persist, but if awareness is sustained from moment to moment, that is sufficient to start the work. 


Thoughts may remain, but the nature of the thought pattern changes. Aversion and craving have been calmed down by awareness of breathing. 


The mind has become tranquil at least at the conscious level, and has begun to think about Dhamma, about the way to emerge from suffering.


The difficulties that arise on initiating awareness of respiration have now passed or at least have been overcome to some extent .One is prepared for next step.


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Buddhism Nirvana Explained

     

Buddhism Nirvana Explained

Three kinds of wisdom :---


It is right understanding that is real wisdom. Thinking about truth is not enough .


We must realize truth ourselves, we must see things as they really are, not just as they they appear to be. 


Apparent truth is a reality, but one that we must penetrate in order to experience the ultimate reality of ourselves and eliminate suffering.


There are three kinds of wisdom :

  1. received wisdom (suta-mayapanna), 
  2. intellectual wisdom (cinta-mayapanna), 
  3. and experiential wisdom (bhavana -mayapanna)

1) (suta-mayapanna)

The literal meaning of the phrase suta-mayapanna is " heard wisdom " -wisdom learned from others, by reading books or listening to sermons or lectures  for example. 


This is another person's wisdom which one decides to adopt as one's own .


The acceptance may be out of ignorance


For example, people who have grown up in community with a certain ideology ,a system of beliefs, religious or otherwise, may accept without questioning the ideology of the community. 


Or the acceptance may be out of craving .


Leaders of the community may declare that accepting the established ideology, the traditional belief, will guarantee a wonderful future, perhaps they claim that all believers will attain heave after death .


Naturally the bliss of heaven is very attractive, and so willingly one accepts .Or the acceptance may be out of fear. 


Leaders may see that people have doubts and questions about the ideology of the community, so they warn them to conform to the commonly held beliefs, threatening them with terrible punishment in the future if they don't conform. 


Perhaps claiming that all unbelievers will go to hell after death. Naturally, people don't want to go to the hell, so they swallow their doubts and adopts the beliefs of the community. 


Whether it is accepted out of blind faith, out of craving, or out offer, received wisdom is not one's own wisdom, not something experienced for oneself. It is borrowed wisdom.


2) (cinta-mayapanna)


The second type of wisdom is intellectual understanding .After reading or hearing a certain teaching, one considers it and examine whether it is really rational, beneficial, and practical. 


And if it is satisfying at the intellectual level, one accepts it as true. Still this is not one's own insight, but only an intellectualization of the wisdom one has heard.


3) (bhavana-mayapanna)


The third type of wisdom is that which arises out of one's own experience, out of personal realization of truth. 


This is the wisdom that one lives ,real wisdom that will bring about a chance in one's life by changing the very nature of the mind.


In worldly matters , experiential wisdom may not always be necessary or advisable


It is sufficient to accept the warning o others that fire is dangerous  or to confirm the fact by deductive reasoning. 


It is foolhardy to insist on plunging oneself into fire before accepting that it burns. 


In the Dhamma, however, the wisdom that comes of experience is essential, since only this enables us to become free from conditioning.



Wisdom acquired though listening to others and wisdom acquired though intellectual investigation are helpful if they inspire and guide us to advance to the third type of panna, experiential wisdom. 


But if we remain satisfied simply to accept received wisdom without questioning, it becomes a form of bondage, a barrier to the attachment of experiential wisdom /understanding. 


By the same token, 

  • if we remain content merely to contemplate truth, 
  • to investigate and understand it intellectually, 
  • but make no effort to experience it directly, then all our intellectual understanding becomes a bondage instead of an aid to liberation.


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Nirvana Buddhism Facts



Each one of us must live truth by direct experience, by the practice of bhavana, only this living experience will liberate the mind. 


No one's else's realization of truth will liberate us. 


Even the enlightenment of the Buddha could liberate only one person, "Siddhartha Gautama .


" At most, someone else's realization can act as an inspiration for others offering guidelines for them to follow, but ultimately we each must do the work ourselves. 


Truth can be lived, can be experienced directly, only within oneself


Whatever is outside is always at a distance from us. Only within can we have actual, direct, living experience of reality.


By developing awareness and equanimity, One can liberate oneself from suffering


Suffering begins because of ignorance of one's own reality. In the darkness of this ignorance ,the mind reacts to every sensation with liking and disliking, craving and aversion. 


Every such reaction creates suffering now and sets in motion a chain of events that will bring nothing but suffering in the future. 


How can this chain of cause and effect be broken? 


Somehow, because of past actions taken in ignorance, life has begun, the flow of mind and matter has started. 


Should one then commit suicide? No, that will not solve the problem. At the moment of killing oneself the mind is full of misery  ,full of aversion. 


Whatever comes next will also be full of misery. Such an action can not lead to happiness. 


Life has started, and one cannot escape from it. Then should one destroy the six bases of sensory experience? 


One could pluck out the eyes, cut out of tongue, destroy the nose and ears.  But how could one destroy the body?  How could one destroy the mind? Again it would be suicide, which is useless. 


Should one destroy the objects of each of the six bases,all the sights and sounds, and so on? This is not possible. 


The universe is full of countless objects :one could never destroy them all. 


Once the six sensory bases exist,it is impossible to prevent their contact with their respective objects. 


And as soon as contact occurs,there is bound to be a sensation. 

But this is the point at which the chain can be broken. 


The crucial link occurs at the point of sensation. Every sensation gives rise to liking and disliking. 


These momentary, unconscious reactions of liking and disliking are immediately multiplied and intensified into great craving and aversion, into attachment, producing misery now and in the future. 


This becomes a blind habit which one repeats mechanically.


By practice of Vipassana meditation (bhavana),however, we develop awareness of every sensation. 


And we develop equanimity :we do not react. We examine the sensation dispassionately ,without liking and disliking it, without craving aversion,or attachment.


Instead of giving rise to fresh reactions ,every sensation now gives rise to nothing but wisdom, panna, insight : This is impermanent, bound to change, arising to pass away. "


The chain has been broken, suffering has been stopped. 


There is no fresh reaction of craving or aversion, and therefore no cause from which suffering can arise. 


The cause of suffering is the kamma, the mental deed,that is, the blind reaction of craving and aversion, the sankhara. 


When the mind is aware of sensation but maintains equanimity, there is such reaction, no cause that will produce suffering  .


We have stopped making suffering for ourselves. 


The Buddha said, All sankharas are impermanent


When you perceive this with true insight, then you become detached from suffering, 
this is the path of purification.





Here the word sankhara has a very wide meaning. 


A blind reaction of the mind is called sankhara, but the results of that action, it's fruit,is also knowns as sankhara, like seed, like fruit. Everything that we encounter in life is ultimately the result of our own mental actions. 


Therefore in the widest sense, sankhara means anything in this conditioned world, whatever has been created, formed, composed. Hence, "All created things are impermanent, "whether mental or physical, everything in the Universe. 


When one observes this truth with experiential wisdom though the practice of Vipassana meditation (bhavana) then suffering disappears,because one turns away from causes of suffering, that is, One gives up the habits of craving and aversion. 


This is the path of liberation


The entire effort is to learn how not to react, how not to produce a new sankhara. 


A sensation appears, and liking or disliking begins. This fleeting moment, if we are unaware of it,  is repeated and intensified into craving and aversion, becoming a strong emotion that eventually overpowers the conscious mind. 


We become caught up in the emotion ,and all our better judgement is swept aside. 


The result is that we find ourselves engaged in unwholesome speech and action, harming ourselves and others. 


We create misery for ourselves, suffering now and in the future, because of one moment of blind reaction. 


But if we are aware at the point where the process of reaction begins --that is, if we are aware of sensation --we can choose not to allow any reaction to occur or to intensify. 


We observe the sensation without reacting,neither liking nor disliking it. It has no chance to develop into craving or aversion, into powerful emotion that can overwhelm us, it simply arises and passes away. 


The mind remains balanced, peaceful. We are happy now, and we can anticipate happiness in the future, because we have not reacted. 


This ability not to react is very valuable.


When we are aware of the sensations within the body, and at the same time maintain equanimity, in those moments the mind is free. 


Perhaps at first these may be only a few moments in a meditation period, and the rest of the time the mind remains submerged in the old habit of reaction to sensation, the old round of craving, aversion ,and misery. 


But with repeated practice those few brief moments will become seconds, will become minutes, until finally the old habit of reaction is broken, and the mind remains continuously at peace. 


This is how suffering can be stopped. This is how we can cease producing misery for ourselves. 


Conclusion -


The doctrine of
nirvana liberation is the most central one. 


Nirvana means release from passion. Rooted in nirvana, the righteous life is lived. Nirvana is it's Goal. 


Nirvana is it's end. Nirvana which is naught but that Noble Eightfold Path.