According to the theory of Buddhism, we can say that the state of nirvana is a feeling of freedom, peace and bliss. The sense of individuality, dissolved in general, does not lend itself to the verbal description available in the life of an ordinary mind. In an objective sense, the concept is subject to definition in the same way as the aroma of a flower depicted on paper is felt.
The definition of nirvana
According to Buddhism, nirvana is the ultimate ultimate goal of any being and person. Nir means “denial,” vana means “the union that provides the transition from one life to another.” Thus, the state of nirvana is a person’s being, free from the cycles of birth due to the disappearance of suffering, attachments and desires.
Nirvana is characterized by the state of enlightenment achieved during life, when physical perception continues to shape the existence of a person, as well as the state after death, when five types of earthly attachments are lost.
Who can achieve enlightenment?
The soul attaining enlightenment is the wrong approach to the definition of nirvana in Buddhist teachings. The true path to the state of nirvana is liberation from the illusion of self, and not from suffering. Supporters of the doctrine compare enlightenment with the extinction of the fire jumping from the wick to the wick. And, if the flame disappears, it is not known where it burns in the present tense.
Nirvana is a state of happiness, consciousness without an object, liberation from all addictions, accessible to everyone. Enlightenment does not apply to a subjective state, but combines the capabilities of the subjective and objective.
Higher nirvana
Higher nirvana - the state of mind of the Buddha, or parinirvana, has such synonyms as amata, amarana, nitya, achala, that is, eternal, immortal, immovable, unchanging. The saint can suspend the transition to nirvana in order to facilitate the approach of others to her, while being in a state of expectation.
Thanks to the spiritual schools in Buddhism, many terms of higher states are known, synonymous with nirvana with any dominant aspect: moksha, the state of the absolute, one’s essence, absolute reality and many others.
Ways to Achieve Nirvana
Three routes to the state of nirvana:
- the way of the World Teacher;
- self-development of perfection;
- the path of the silent Buddha.
It is very difficult to achieve the state of nirvana; only a select few succeed in this.
It is natural for people to strive, dream, overcome difficulties. The illusion is that a person believes in the happiness of fulfilling a desire, but everything happens conditionally. As a result, life turns into a pursuit of changeable dreams, and the soul does not feel happy.
Consciousness and Awareness
Consciousness includes the ability to be aware - to understand what is happening and one’s state, which is associated with mental abilities. But if thinking disappears, what will remain? A person will perceive, but will cease to analyze.
For him, the past and future are erased, only the present remains, what is happening at the current moment. If there are no thoughts, then there are no expectations, feelings, aspirations. At the same time, a person gains the ability to see his ego, I think and distinguish his spiritual part, monad, essence, spirit, observing the soul from the side.
Ego and the path to nirvana
Nirvana is a loss of personality with its thoughts, desires, feelings. Therefore, the soul itself is not able to achieve nirvana. On this path, death awaits her. And only then does the transformation of man into a personality of a higher order - being itself. This is the so-called process of enlightenment, freedom from mundane inclinations and passions.
What helps advance towards nirvana? One should be aware of the limitations of human experience and perception, knowledge, judgments, ideas obtained in the process of life, clogging up the spiritual principle.
Nirvana is a detachment from material values, a state of joy and self-sufficiency, confirming its ability to do without them. As professional achievements, status, distinctions, public opinion, which distinguish a person among people, become secondary, the ego weakens. At the moment when the hopes and aspirations associated with the place of the ego in the material world disappear, enlightenment, or rebirth, comes.
How is the state of nirvana felt?
The state of enlightenment is very pleasant to experience. And a person is not likened to a program with a blissful expression on his face. He has in his memory ideas about earthly life, but they cease to dominate him, remaining on the verge of a physical process. For the deep essence of the renewed personality, any occupation is no different from the rest. Peace reigns within man, and his spirit acquires a perfect life.
Achieving the state of nirvana in Buddhism is associated with gaining purity from the killing of a selfish nature without effort, and not its suppression. If immoral aspirations were restrained and restrained, then they will reappear at the first opportunity. If the mind is freed from selfish impulses, the corresponding psychological states do not arise, and purity does not require effort.
Change levels
Distinguish levels of change along the path to nirvana, which are characterized by the degree of consecutive loss of ego and the transformation of consciousness after leaving nirvana. Awakening occurs with each entrance, and with changes - liberation, deliverance from the nature of the ego.
Levels and state characteristics:
- The first level is called sotapanna, or the state of one who has entered the stream, acquired after one who has returned from nirvana begins to become aware of his condition. He stays in the flow until his ability to comprehend is increased to the next level. It is said that the period of a person entering the stream lasts from seven lives, and during this time the soul loses the following manifestations: thirst for sensuality, uncontrolled indignation, desire for profit, need for praise, greed for material things, illusory perception and interest in impermanent things, following ceremonies, doubt in the sense of enlightenment.
- At the second level, the meditator is cleansed of primitive desires, the intensity of feelings of attraction or disgust, his sexual desire is weakened. The state of one who returns once again is characterized by complete impassivity to everything and liberation in the current or next life.
- The next stage is the state of the one who will not return. There is a destruction left on the previous one. The meditator is freed from the cycle of birth during life, he disappears aversion to the negative manifestations of the world in the form of pain, shame, censure, the concept of hostility and hostility. All voluptuousness and malevolence gives way to absolute equanimity.
Freed from social conditioning, the concept of reality, suffering, habits, pride, who refused to receive benefits, fame, pleasure, aspirations, he finds love, compassion, altruism, equanimity, purity of motives. For an arhat, reality is perceived based on noble truths, impersonality and futility of existence, and happiness and suffering - as two forms of one state.
Aware of the path to enlightenment, the meditator becomes available a new look at his essence: he discovers that the "ego" never belonged to him.