[Buddha-l] Nirvana

[Joy Vriens]

Ngawang Dorje wrote:

 > "Nirvana is an eternal state of being. It is the state in which the law
 > of karma, and the rebirth cycle come to an end. It is the end of
 > suffering, a state where there are no desires and the individual
 > consciousness comes to an end."

Anything one says about Nirvāṇa is likely to be correct. We all know the 
beginnings of Buddhism were a bit messy, mainly because the ascetics 
that joined the early community all had their very own beliefs and 
practices and because the staff let just anybody join them. And by 
calling them « just anybody », I’m being nice and polite (see the 
Vinaya). There was lots of arguing, scheming and slamming doors. Every 
day another group of disagreeing ascetics would walk off in a huff and 
start their own religion. The rule about not creating a schism and not 
shedding the blood of an arhat slightly improved the situation, but not 
entirely. The whole situation often went out of hand and gave the Buddha 
many headaches. At one occasion he even walked out slamming the door 
himself. The best solution in many cases was to ask all parties to make 
concessions and to accept a middle way.

Nirvāṇa was obviously one of the hot topics that would often come up 
during group therapy. Immortality, oblivion, cessation of this and that, 
bliss, peace (obviously all the things they were lacking most). When 
they finally all agreed on « the goal » (after « the highest goal » was 
disapproved of by some), the Buddha himself thought it was perhaps a bit 
too vague, and liked to see it somehow linked with his four noble 
truths. And that is when they hit on « destruction of desire ».

There is plenty of supportive evidence for those who read between the 
lines of the Buddhist canon. ;-)

Joy Vriens