Nibbana lies beyond mundane depths

by K. K. S. Perera

The most salient feature of the Buddha’s teaching is awareness, awareness of the moment, the here and now; the ability to be alive and present.

Learned senior Bhikkhu, Pothila who lived during the Buddha’s time was highly proficient in all aspects of Tripitaka. He was ‘Guru’ to a large number of Bhikkhus, but never practised and did not listen to the Buddha’s advice to do so. Finally, the Buddha commenced addressing him, “Tuchcha” Pothila (Empty Pothila); The trick worked. It must be emphasised that a mere theoretical or academic knowledge of the Dhamma, however deep or profound, is no substitute for practice.

Nibbana is a positive ‘state’, which has to be realised by the mind, and can be attained in this very life. It is not mere cessation of craving or ‘emptiness’ resulting from blowing out. It is not ‘nothingness’ or a ‘zero-state’. The real meaning or sense of Nibbana cannot be comprehended until and unless we have attained it.

It is not a thing that wordings can express in their conventional language or by using similes. It is not a place or a situation comparable to a plane of existence such as a ‘heaven’. It is not a mere extinction of ignorance and craving. It is only the path leading to it. “This, O Bhikkhus truly is the peace, end of all formations, the forsaking of rebirth, fading away of craving detachment, extinction; Nibbana”.

Confusion

Questioned about the nature of Nibbana, the Buddha maintained silence, knowing that they will lead to more confusion. When asked where the world’s end is; the Buddha answered, “It is in this one fathomed body with consciousness, that I declare the existence of the world, its cessation, the path leading to cessation”.

Thus Nibbana does not exist apart from ourselves. The crux of the Buddha’s teaching is the necessity of understanding the truth not merely at the intellectual level, but by direct experience.

An aspirant must wisely investigate, examine and scrutinise objects with bare attention, mindfully applying ‘Sathi’, devoid of application of conceptual habits. Understand your nature without any distortions, without any bias, without any reactions to what you discover you are, is the beginning of austerity. The watching, the awareness, of every thought, every feeling not to restrain it, not to control it, but to watch it, like watching a bird in flight, without any of your own prejudices and distortions.

The origins of Nibbana lie beyond existence and non-existence, as both are conditional and relative to each other. Nibbana can only be realised by those who have attained it, passing beyond limitations. Just as the fire is not stored up in a place but rises when necessary conditions are present. To entertain different propositions was as meaningless as to speculate about the direction in which a fire had gone once it is extinguished. Just as a blind man does not understand what light is, the mind clouded by greed, anger and delusion will not be able to perceive the reality of Nibbana. It cannot be compared to anything which comes within the reach of our senses.

Parable

Preaching and educating on ‘Nibbana’ has a parable in ‘Amphibian turtle’s futile attempt to explain the experiences on land to a fish!’

The turtle returned to the water after a trip around the land, to be inquired by the fish why he was missing for a while. The turtle replied that it had been on dry land. The fish who was clueless about ‘dry land’, exclaimed: “What do you mean by dry land? There is nothing called dry land”. The turtle replied, “How can I make you understand, but I just returned from there.” The fish was utterly confused and demanded to know what exactly dry land meant, “can I swim in it? Is it cool and wet? does it flow ?, does it rise up and down in waves?”

To each, the turtle replied, “No”. A jubilant fish declared, “There is no such thing as dry land”. The turtle said, “There is dry land unfortunately you never experienced it. You know only water so you reject it, because the characteristics of water is not there; or it is not like water”.

Similarly, Nibbana cannot be explained even by an ‘Arahant’ to the mundane, because the latter can only comprehend things in terms of mundane terms! One cannot use logic to explain Nibbana, because it is beyond any vocabulary, cannot be explained in words. Like ‘space’, which can be perceived only as the absence of objects, Nibbana cannot be measured or defined.

Concept

Nibbana is a hard concept to understand, the best way get an unambiguous grasp of it would be to realise it with one's own insightful understanding.

If you are listening now with all your being, with your mind, with your brain, with your nerves, with your total energy; listening, not comparing, not accepting, not contradicting, but actually with complete attention: is there any entity who is listening, who is observing? If you are listening to the howling of dogs at night, listen with your mind, with your heart, with your whole body, don’t say I like the sound or I hate it, just listen attentively, then there is no observer or observed.

See a picture without the interference of thought. No observer!, it is the observer who creates fear, observer is the centre of thought, it is the ‘me’, the ‘I’, the ‘self’, the ‘ego’ the observer is the sensor. When there is no thought there is no observer. The way is open for us, and when we have become as gentle, as pure, as wise, as compassionate, and as perfectly self-controlled as an Arahant, then shall we know, then shall we understand ‘Nibbana’.