In Buddhism, there is a final state of becoming called “Nirvana”, (also Nibbana). Various Buddhist disciplines have differing views about the concept and experience of Nirvana. Some say Nirvana is beyond words, and we can only understand it by years of meditation. But there is agreement as to the general nature of Nirvana.
We extinguish desires and cravings through meditation and contemplation. Thus, attachment to the physical senses terminates, and with this, existence ceases. The difficulty of comprehending life as we understand it without there being existence is troubling for many, and seemingly impossible to communicate. The typical description given for Nirvana is a “formless bliss.”
Cessation of Identity
The concept of “existence” is largely misunderstood, particularly in the West. The term existence implies there being identity. It is the loss of identity, not of the physical senses, that brings a cessation of existence. Yet Nirvana will not be corralled by the physical senses, of course. There are predictably an infinite number of worlds and planes. The pure energy that comprises these worlds and planes is immeasurable. The vibrations and intensities of energy allow for innumerable kinds of life and experiences.
Thus, we may view Nirvana as unrecognizable and indescribable. The experiences in Nirvana need not conform in any way to our physical experience. To explain Nirvana using our terms we must understand our three-dimensional physical world experience not as reality but as language, a communicating using images, sounds, emotions and thought.
Every thought, emotion, image, and sound is thus a word, that we speak or express to convey information about ourselves or something. By understanding our physical senses as being a full-blown three-dimensional language, the mysterious state of Nirvana can be explained.
Releasing Attachments
Nirvana is the cessation of existence. We exist now as John or Mary because of attachment through our emotions to things and beings, which we see as forms and experiences. The forms and emotions are themselves not existence, but they support our existence through the illusion that they are self-sustaining and independent, and through our dependence on them.
By dropping our attachments, by seeing our eternal natures which are not dependent on these forms and feelings, existence then ceases. But the forms and emotions need not dissolve away. Now, with attachment eliminated, the forms are unnecessary but may be useful, for communicating and interacting.
The experience would be like awakening in a dream, a lucid dream. Thus, in a dream there is no attachment. We know that what is in the dream is illusion, and does not exist. Yet we do participate in activities of the dream. In a dream anything is possible, even an appearance of forms and shapes that are outside of anything in the world.
Awake and Alive, and in Nirvana
The Buddha became enlightened, entering Nirvana during his lifetime. Through prolonged intense meditation, he dissolved his attachment to his gender, birthright as prince of a kingdom, father of a baby son, and husband. Having no attachment to the world and its narratives, his existence as a person ceased, and he entered the blissful state of Nirvana in this world. He lived on for another forty years travelling and teaching the path for awakening to his disciples and to lay people.
End Goal of Human Life
Nibbana is unconditioned, hence cannot be impermanent, as it is not a state that is dependent on causes and conditions. It is the absence of mental momentum, and the state of absolute suchness. It's permanent because the mind is delivered and freed from samsara; the mental bondage of craving and clinging, which is the basis of dependent co-arising.
Nibbana is dissolution of the illusory ego. Naturally, it's the absence of greed, hatred, delusion, craving and clinging. It's emptiness. Feelings and mental objects are no more grasped when one's mind is in nibbana. Remember that, nibbana is in the HERE AND NOW, and it's to be seen and lived by the wise, the mature. Fools cannot find nibbana, as long as they're fools, there's no way. The most effective path which leads to nibbana is applying the Noble Eightfold Path into practice, which was originally taught by Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha. If one's mind is in nibbana, they don't experience death. Nibbana is described as the deathless state of sunnata, that is unconditional emptiness (not to be confused with space). Nirvana, I believe, is the inner state of mind of the enlightened being.
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