Nirvana/Nibbana is the goal of every Buddhist. It is the Attainment
to Supreme Wisdom, to the Absolute Truth, to the infinite and causeless Reality
which is beyond ordinary human understanding and cannot, therefore, be
explained but can be experienced by intuitive insight and after having purified
the heart of all passion, namely, the Greed, Hatred and Delusion.
Nirvana means:
(1) Extinction or blowing out like a lamp from lack of fuel, namely, from lack of Ignorance and Desire.
(2) Extinction of Greed, Hatred and Delusion.
(3) Extinction of Birth, Old Age, Disease and Death and of all Suffering.
Nirvana is “Extinction” not annihilation. It is the goal of
perfection, the fruit of having conscientiously followed the Noble Eightfold
Path of Enlightenment and of having freed
oneself of “The Ten Fetters”
which bind us to “The Circle of Rebirth”.
The Ten Fetters which bind us to the Circle of Rebirth are
:
- Belief in Personality (in Self)
- Doubt.
- Faith in the efficacy of religious rituals.
- Sensual Desire (Tanha).
- Ill-will (hatred).
- The love of life on Earth.
- The Desire of a future life in Heaven.
- Self-consciousness or Pride.
- Self-righteousness.
- Ignorance.
There are two stages of Nirvana, namely, the one that can be
attained even in this life by the Disciple of the Buddha who has passed through
“The Four Stages of Holiness” to the state of “Arhatship”, and the stage of Nirvana which is reached after Death
and after having passed through various stages of existence in Heaven and in other
realms of existence.
Source : Buddhism An Introduction by Dr. Luang Suruabongs
