Nibbana

What is nibbana?

Extract from The Buddha's Path, chapter1.

The third noble Truth, the cessation of suffering, is nibbana. The Buddha experienced at his enlightenment nibbana. It is difficult to understand what nibbana, is. Nibbana (more popularly known in its Sanskrit form of nirvana) is not a place such as heaven or a paradise where one enjoys eternal bliss. There are heavenly planes, according to the Buddhist teachings, where one can be reborn as a result of a good deed, but existence in such planes is not forever. After ones lifespan in such a plane is ended there will be rebirth in other planes, and thus there is no end to suffering. Nibbana is only an object of speculation so long as it has not been realized. It can be realized when there is full understanding of all phenomena of life which arise because of their own conditions and then fall away. The conditioned phenomena of life are, because of their impermanence, unsatisfactory or suffering. Nibbana is the unconditioned reality, it does not arise and fall away and therefore it is not suffering, it is the end of suffering. Nibbana is real, it is a reality which can be experienced, but we cannot grasp what an unconditioned reality is when we have not realized the truth of conditioned realities. Nibbana is not a God, it is not a person or a self. Since negative terms are used to express what nibbana is, such as the end of rebirth, it may be felt that Buddhism propagates a negative attitude towards life. However, this is not the case. It has to be understood that rebirth is suffering and that nibbana is the end of suffering. Nibbana is freedom from all defilements, and since defilements are the cause of all unhappiness nibbana should be called the highest goal. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Part IV, Chapter 38, 1, Nibbana) that the wanderer Rose-apple-eater came to see the Buddhas disciple Sariputta and asked him what nibbana was. Sariputta answered:

The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of illusion, friend, is called nibbana.

Extinction and freedom from desire are meanings of the word nibbana. Nibbana means the end of clinging to existence and thus it is deliverance from all future birth, old age, sickness and death, from all suffering which is inherent in the conditioned realities of life. The Buddha experienced at his enlightenment the unconditioned reality which is nibbana. His passing away was the absolute extinguishment of conditions for the continuation of the life process. When the Buddha was still alive people asked him what would happen to him after his passing away. He explained that this belongs to the questions which cannot be answered, questions which are merely speculative and do not lead to the goal. The Buddhas passing away cannot be called the annihilation of life, and there cannot be rebirth for him in another plane, either. If there would be rebirth he would not have reached the end of all suffering.