![]() It is an attainment (dhamma) which is within the reach of all. It is a state which is dependent upon this body itself. Nibbana is not situated in any place nor is it a sort of heaven where a transcendental ego resides. These, in fact, are not two kinds of Nibbana, but the one single Nibbana, receiving its name according to the way it is experienced before and after death. According to the Pali text references are made to Nibbana as sopadisesa and anupadisesa. In Nibbana nothing is “eternalized,” nor is anything “annihilated,” besides suffering. Nibbana is a Dhamma which is “unborn, unoriginated, uncreated and unformed.” Hence, it is eternal (dhuva), desirable ( subha), and happy ( sukha). Nibbana of the Buddhists is neither a mere nothingness nor a state of annihilation, but what it is no words can adequately express. In that well known story, too, the fish arguing with his friend, the turtle, triumphantly concluded that there exists no land. One cannot say that there exists no light just because the blind man does not see it. “By what fire is it kindled? By the fire of lust, hatred and ignorance, by the fire of birth, old age, death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief and despair it is kindled.” It should not be understood that Nibbana is a state of nothingness or annihilation owing to the fact that we cannot perceive it with our worldly knowledge. It may also be defined as the extinction of lust, hatred and ignorance, “The whole world is in flames,” says the Buddha. “It is called Nibbana, in that it is a departure from the craving which is called vana, lusting.” Literally, Nibbana means non-attachment. Ni is a negative particle and vana means lusting or craving. The Pali word Nibbana is formed of Ni and Vana. ![]() Buddhism in a Nutshell by Venerable Narada Thera Nibbana (or Nirvana) This process of birth and death continues ad infinitum until this flux is transmuted, so to say, to nibbanadhatu, the ultimate goal of Buddhists. ![]()
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