CHAPTER 34
CHARACTERISTICS OF NIBBĀNA
"What is Nibbāna, friend? The destruction of
lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion -- that,
Friend, is called Nibbāna."
-- SAMYUTTA NIKĀYA
In
contradistinction to Samsāra, the phenomenal existence, Nibbāna is eternal
(dhuva), desirable (subha), and happy (sukha).
According to Buddhism all things. mundane and
supramundane, are classified into two divisions, namely, those conditioned
by causes (samkhata) and those not conditioned by any cause (asamkhata).
"These three are the features of all
conditioned things (samkhatalakkhanāni):-- arising (uppāda),
cessation (vaya), and change of state (thitassa
aññathattam).
[1]"
Arising or becoming is an essential
characteristic of everything that is conditioned by a cause or causes.
That which arises or becomes is subject to change and dissolution. Every
conditioned thing is constantly becoming and is perpetually changing. The
universal law of change applies to everything in the cosmos -- both
mental, and physical -- ranging from the minutest germ or tiniest particle
to the highest being or the most massive object. Mind, though
imperceptible, changes faster even than matter.
Nibbāna, a supramundane state, realized by
Buddhas and Arahants, is declared to be not conditioned by any cause.
Hence it is not subject to any becoming, change and dissolution. It is
birthless (ajāta), decayless (ajara), and deathless
(amara). Strictly speaking, Nibbāna is neither a cause nor an effect.
Hence it is unique (kevala).
Everything that has sprung from a cause must
inevitably pass away, and as such is undesirable (asubha).
Life is man's dearest possession, but when he
is confronted with insuperable difficulties and unbearable burdens, then
that very life becomes an intolerable burden. Sometimes he tries to seek
relief by putting an end to his life as if suicide would solve all his
individual problems.
Bodies are adorned and adored. But those
charming, adorable and enticing forms, when disfigured by time and
disease, become extremely repulsive.
Men desire to live peacefully and happily with
their near ones, surrounded by amusements and pleasures, but, if by some
misfortune, the wicked world runs counter to their ambitions and desires,
the inevitable sorrow is then almost indescribably sharp.
The following beautiful parable aptly
illustrates the fleeting nature of life and its alluring pleasures.
A man was forcing his way through a thick
forest beset with thorns and stones. Suddenly to his great consternation,
an elephant appeared and gave chase. He took to his heels through fear,
and, seeing a well, he ran to hide in it. But to his horror he saw a viper
at the bottom of the well. However, lacking other means of escape, he
jumped into the well, and clung to a thorny creeper that was growing in
it. Looking up, he saw two mice -- a white one and a black one -- gnawing
at the creeper. Over his face there was a beehive from which occasional
drops of honey trickled.
This man, foolishly unmindful of this
precarious position, was greedily tasting the honey. A kind person
volunteered to show him a path of escape. But the greedy man begged to be
excused till he had enjoyed himself.
The thorny path is samsāra, the ocean of life.
Man's life is not a bed of roses. It is beset with difficulties and
obstacles to overcome, with opposition and unjust criticism, with attacks
and insults to be borne. Such is the thorny path of life.
The elephant here resembles death; the viper,
old age; the creeper, birth; the two mice, night and day. The drops of
honey correspond to the fleeting sensual pleasures. The man represents the
so-called being. The kind person represents the Buddha.
The temporary material happiness is merely the
gratification of some desire. When the desired thing is gained, another
desire arises. Insatiate are all desires.
Sorrow is essential to life, and cannot be
evaded.
Nibbāna, being non-conditioned, is eternal,
(dhuva), desirable (subha), and happy (sukha).
The happiness of Nibbāna should be
differentiated from ordinary worldly happiness. Nibbānic bliss grows
neither stale nor monotonous. It is a form of happiness that never
wearies, never fluctuates. It arises by allaying passions (vupasama)
unlike that temporary worldly happiness which results from the
gratification of some desire (vedayita).
In the Bahuvedaniya Sutta
[2] the Buddha
enumerates ten grades of happiness beginning with the gross material
pleasures which result from the pleasant stimulation of the senses. As one
ascends higher and higher in the moral plane the type of happiness becomes
ever more exalted, sublime and subtle, so much so that the world scarcely
recognizes it as happiness. In the first Jhāna one experiences a
transcendental happiness (sukha), absolutely independent of the
five senses. This happiness is realized by inhibiting the desire for the
pleasures of the senses, highly prized by the materialist. In the fourth
Jhāna however, even this type of happiness is
discarded as coarse and unprofitable, and equanimity (upekkha) is
termed happiness.
The Buddha says
[3]:
"Fivefold, Ānanda, are sensual bonds. What are
the five? Forms cognizable by the eye -- desirable, lovely, charming,
infatuating, accompanied by thirst, and arousing
the dust of the passions; sounds cognizable by the ear; odours
cognizable by the nose; flavours cognizable by the tongue; contacts
cognizable by the body -- desirable, lovely charming, infatuating,
accompanied by thirst, and arousing the dust of passions. These, Ānanda,
are the five sensual bonds.
Whatever happiness or pleasure arises from
these sensual bonds, is known as sensual happiness.
"Whoso should declare: 'This is the highest
happiness and pleasure which beings may experience' I do not grant
him that, and why? Because there is other happiness more exalted and
sublime.
"And what is that other happiness more
exalted and sublime? Here a Bhikkhu lives, completely separated from
sense-desires, remote from immoral states, with initial and sustained
application born of seclusion, in joy and happiness abiding in the First
Ecstasy (Pathama Jhāna). This is
happiness more exalted and sublime.
"But should anyone declare:-- 'This is the
highest happiness and pleasure which beings may experience' -- I do not
grant him that, and why? Because there is another happiness yet more
exalted and sublime.
"Here a Bhikkhu, stilling initial and sustained
application, having tranquillity within, mind one-pointed, initial and
sustained application having ceased, as a result of concentration lives in
joy and happiness, abiding in the Second Ecstasy
(Dutiya Jhāna). This is the other
happiness more exalted and sublime.
"Yet should anyone declare that this is the
highest happiness and pleasure experienced by beings -- I do not grant it.
There is happiness more exalted.
"Here a Bhikkhu, eliminating joy, abides
serene, mindful, and completely conscious, experiencing in the body that
of which the Ariyas say:-- 'Endowed with equanimity and mindfulness he
abides in bliss.' Thus he lives abiding in the Third Ecstasy
(Tatiya Jhāna). This is the other happiness
and pleasure more exalted and sublime.
"Still should anyone declare that this is the
highest happiness -- I do not grant it. There is happiness more exalted.
"Here a Bhikkhu, abandoning pleasure and pain,
leaving behind former joy and grief -- painless, pleasureless, perfect in
equanimity and mindfulness -- lives abiding in the Fourth Ecstasy
(Catuttha Jhāna). This is the other
happiness more exalted and sublime.
"However, were this declared to be the highest
happiness -- I do not grant it. There is happiness more sublime.
"Here a Bhikkhu, passing entirely beyond the
perception of form, with the disappearance of sense reaction, freed from
attention to perceptions of diversity, thinks: 'Infinity is Space' -- and
lives abiding in the Realm of infinite Space
(Ākāsānañcāyatana). This other happiness is
more exalted and sublime.
"Nevertheless, if this were declared the
highest happiness -- I do not grant it.
There is happiness more sublime.
"Here a Bhikkhu, transcending entirely the
Realm of Infinite Space, thinks: 'Infinite is Consciousness', and lives
abiding in the Realm of Infinite Consciousness
(Viññānañcayatana). This other happiness is
more exalted and sublime.
"And yet should this be declared the highest
happiness -- I do not grant. There is higher happiness.
"Here a Bhikkhu, transcending the Realm of
Infinite Consciousness, thinks: 'There is nothing whatsoever' and lives
abiding in the Realm of Nothingness
(Ākiñcaññāyatana). This other happiness is more exalted and sublime
than that.
"And still were this declared the highest
happiness -- I do not grant it. There is happiness more exalted.
"Here a Bhikkhu, passing entirely beyond the
Realm of Nothingness, lives abiding in the Realm of Neither-
Perception-nor-Non-Perception (N'eva
saññā n'āsañña-yatana). This other happiness is more exalted and
sublime.
"Yet whoso should declare: 'This is the highest
bliss and pleasure which beings may experience' -- l do not grant him
that, and why". Because yet another happiness is more exalted and sublime.
"And what is this other happiness more exalted
and sublime? Here a Bhikkhu, utterly transcending- the Realm
of Neither-Perception-nor-Non-Perception, lives, having attained to the
Cessation of perception and sensation (Saññāvedayita-Nirodha).
This, Ānanda, is the other happiness more exalted and sublime.
Of all the ten grades of happiness this is the
highest and the most sublime. This transcendental state is Nirodha
Samāpatti, that is, experiencing Nibbāna in this life itself.
As the Buddha Himself has anticipated, one may
ask: "How can that state be called highest happiness when there is no
consciousness to experience it."
The Buddha replies: "Nay, disciples, the
Tathāgata does not recognize bliss merely because of a pleasurable
sensation, but, disciples, wherever bliss is attained there and there only
does the Accomplished One recognize bliss.
[4]"
"I proclaim," says the Buddha, "that everything
experienced by the senses is sorrow." But why? Because one in sorrow
craves to be happy, and the so-called happy crave to be happier
still. So insatiate is worldly happiness.
In conventional terms the Buddha declares:
"Nibbānam paramam sukham
Nibbāna is the highest bliss."
It is bliss supreme because it is not a kind of
happiness experienced by the senses. It is a blissful state of positive
relief from the ills of life.
The very fact of the cessation of suffering is
ordinarily termed happiness, though this is not an appropriate word to
depict its real nature.
Where is Nibbāna ?
In the Milinda Pañha the Venerable Nāgasena
answers this question thus:
"There is no spot looking East, South,
West, or North, above, below or beyond, where Nibbāna is situate, and yet
Nibbāna is, and he who orders his life aright, grounded in virtue and with
rational attention, may realize it whether he lives in Greece, China,
Alexandria, or in Kosala.
"Just as fire is not stored up in
any particular place but arises when the necessary conditions exist, so
Nibbāna is said not to exist in a particular place, but it is attained
when the necessary conditions are fulfilled."
In the Rohitassa Sutta the Buddha
states:
"In this very one-fathom-long body, along with
its perceptions and thoughts, do I proclaim the world, the origin of the
world, the cessation of the world and the path leading to the cessation of
the world.
[5]"
Here world means suffering. The cessation of
the world, therefore, means the cessation of suffering which is Nibbāna.
One's Nibbāna is dependent upon this one fathom
body. It is not something that is created nor is it something to be
created.
[6]"
Nibbāna is there where the four elements of
cohesion (āpo), extension (pathavi), heat (tejo), and
motion (vāyo) find no footing.
Referring to where Nibbāna is, Samyutta Nikāya
states:
[7]
"Where the four elements that cleave, and
stretch,
And burn, and move, no further footing find."
In the Udana
[8] the Buddha
says:
"Just as, O Bhikkhus, notwithstanding those
rivers that reach the great ocean and the torrents of rain that fall from
the sky, neither a deficit nor a surplus is perceptible in the great
ocean, even so despite the many Bhikkhus that enter the remainderless
Pari-Nibbāna there is neither a
deficit nor a surplus in the element of Nibbāna."
Nibbāna is, therefore, not a kind of heaven
where a transcendental ego resides, but a Dhamma (an attainment) which is
within the reach of us all.
An eternal heaven, which provides all forms of
pleasures desired by man and where one enjoys happiness to one's heart's
content, is practically inconceivable. It is absolutely impossible to
think that such a place could exist permanently anywhere.
Granting that there is no place where Nibbāna
is stored up, King Milinda questions Venerable Nāgasena
whether there is any basis whereon a man stand and, ordering his life
aright, realize Nibbāna.
"Yes, O King, there is such a basis.
"Which, then, Venerable Nāgasena, is that basis
?
"Virtue, O King, is that basis. For, if
grounded in virtue, and careful in attention, whether in the land of the
Scythians or the Greeks, whether in China or in Tartary, whether in
Alexandria or in Nikumba, whether in Benares or in Kosala, whether in
Kashmir or in Gandhara, whether on a mountain top or in the highest
heavens, -- wherever he may be, the man who orders his life aright will
attain Nibbāna.
[9]"
What Attains Nibbāna?
This question must necessarily be set aside as
irrelevant, for Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent entity or an
immortal soul.
[10]
The so-called being of which we often hear as
the "vestment of the soul" is a mere bundle of conditioned factors.
The Arahant Bhikkhuni Vajirā
says:
"And just as when the parts are rightly set.
The word chariot ariseth (in our minds).
So doth our
usage covenant to say
A being when the aggregates are there.
[11]"
According to Buddhism the so-called being
consists of mind and matter (nāma-rūpa) which constantly change
with lightning rapidity. Apart from these two composite factors there
exists no permanent soul or an unchanging entity. The so-called "I" is
also an illusion.
Instead of an eternal soul or an illusory "I"
Buddhism posits a dynamic life-flux (santati) which flows ad
infinitum as long as it is fed with ignorance and craving. When these
two root causes are eradicated by any individual on attaining Arahantship,
they cease to flow with his final death.
In conventional terms one says that the Arahant
has attained Parinibbāna or passed away into Nibbāna.
"As right now, and here" there is neither a
permanent ego nor an identical being it is needless to state that there
can be no "I" or a soul (attā) in Nibbāna.
The Visuddhi Magga states:-
"Misery only doth exist, none miserable;
Nor doer is there, nought save the deed is found;
Nibbāna is, but not the man who seeks it;
The path exists, but not the traveller on it.
[12]"
The chief difference between the Buddhist
concepion of Nibbāna and the Hindu conception of Nirvāna or Mukti lies in
the fact that Buddhists view their goal without an eternal soul and
creator, while Hindus do believe in an eternal soul and a creator.
This is the reason why Buddhism can neither be
called Eternalism nor Nihilism.
In Nibbāna nothing is 'eternalised' nor is
anything 'annihilated.'
As Sir Edwin Arnold says:--
"lf any teach Nirvāna is to cease,
Say unto such they lie.
If any teach Nirvāna is to live,
Say unto such they err."
*
It must be admitted that this question of
Nibbāna is the most difficult in the Teaching of the Buddha. However much
we may speculate we shall never be in a position to comprehend its real
nature. The best way to understand Nibbāna is to try to realize it with
our own intuitive knowledge.
Although Nibbāna cannot be perceived by the
five senses and lies in obscurity in so far as the average man is
concerned, the only straight path that leads to Nibbāna has been explained
by the Buddha with all the necessary details and is laid open to all. The
goal is now clouded, but the method of achievement is perfectly clear and
when that achievement is realized, the Goal is as clear as "the moon
freed from clouds."
[1]
See Gradual Sayings, i, p. 135.
[2] Majjhima Nikāya,
No. 57.
[3] Majjhima Nikāya,
No. 57 The Blessing, No. 4, pp. 129-132.
[4] Majjhima Nikāya,
No. 57.
[5] Imasmim
byāmamatte y'eve kalebare sasaññīmhi samanake lokan ca paññāpemi,
lokasamudayañ ca, lokanirodhañ ca, lokanirodhagāminim patipadañ ca,
paññāpemi. Samyutta Nikāya, i, p. 62.
[6] Pattabbam eva
h' etam maggena, na uppādetabbam. Verily this (Nibbāna)
is to be attained (or realized) by means of the four Paths of Sainthood,
and is not to be produced -- Visuddhi Magga.
[7] Kindred Sayings,
pt. i, p. 23. Yattha āpo ca pathavi tejo vāyo na gadhati.
[8] See Woodward,
Verses of Uplift, pp. 66-67.
[9] Questions of
King Milinda, pp. 202-204.
[10] See Chapter 29.
[11] Kindred
Sayings, part 1, p. 170.
[12] Dukkham’ eva
hi na koci dukkhito
Kārako no kiriyā,’ va vijjati
Atthi nibbuti na nibbuto pumā
Maggam atthi gamako na vijjati.
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