We generally say we live in this world or we live in this or that house, but can we really say where does one dwell in nirvana? According to the sutras, it is said that those who have entered parinirvana become one with emptiness. Some of you may find this frightening and think that emptiness means extinction or annihilation. You need not be afraid for emptiness here does not mean annihilation. Emptiness pervades all space and is ever present in all things. In nirvana, one is grounded in emptiness—without any home yet at home everywhere.
A Tang emperor, Shun-tzuang, once asked the Ch'an master Fu-kuang Ru-mang the whereabouts of the Buddha after he has entered parinirvana. The emperor asked:
“From where did the Buddha come?
After nirvana, to where did the Buddha go?
Since we say the Buddha is ever present in this world,
Where is the Buddha now?”
The Ch'an master replied:
“From truth the Buddha came.
After nirvana, to truth the Buddha went.
The dharmakaya fills all space;
Lives always in undeluded minds.
With-thought restores to without-thought;
Attachment returns to non-attachment.
[The Buddha] arrives for the sake of sentient beings;
Leaves for the sake of sentient beings.
Clear and pure like the ocean;
Profound and ever present.
The wise should contemplate,
And have no doubt.”
The emperor, still doubting, asked further:
“The Buddha, born in a palace,
Died and entered nirvana, between two trees.
Taught in this world for forty-nine years;
Yet pronounced that he did not speak of any Dharma.
Mountains, rivers, and vast oceans,
The sky, earth, sun, and moon,
There will be a time when they will cease.
Who can say that they are not subject to birth and death?
I still have some questions;
Wise one, please explain.”
In trying to use worldly logic and reasoning to understand nirvana, the emperor failed to fathom how the dharmakaya can be ever present. The Ch'an master again explained:
“The nature of Buddha is truth.
The deluded do not understand.
The dharmakaya is like space;
Has no birth nor death.
With the right conditions,
Buddha appeared in this world;
When the right conditions passed,
Buddha entered nirvana.
Reaching sentient beings everywhere,
[Buddha] is like the moon in the water.
Not permanent and yet not intermittent;
No birth and no death.
Lives, yet is never born;
Enters nirvana, yet has not ceased.
When mind sees emptiness,
There is no Dharma to speak of.”
Like space, the dharmakaya of the Buddha is totally complete, without arising or ceasing. As a man in this world, he was bounded by the processes of birth, old age, sickness, and death, but the dharmakaya of the Buddha is without arising or ceasing. The historical Buddha came out of suchness to teach us the Dharma and the path of liberation from the cycle of rebirth. When the cause and conditions came to pass, the Buddha returned to the truth from which he came. Dharmakaya thus come and thus go—nothing is added or taken away. Without attachment, the true nature of Tathagata is forever whole. Nirvana is a realm that is free of attachment. If one has any attachment whatsoever, one cannot realize the realm of nirvana.
http://www.nanhua.co.za/Reading/Master/Nirvana.htm
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how many types of Nirvana is there?
D. Various Kinds of Nirvana
The Yogachara school of Buddhism speaks of four kinds of nirvana: nirvana of pure original nature, nirvana with remainder, nirvana without remainder, and nirvana of non-abiding.
The nirvana of pure original nature is the seeing of dharmakaya (body of truth), the true nature of all phenomena. While delusion may temporarily cloud our seeing the dharmakaya, its integrity is never compromised. Dharmakaya has countless wondrous aspects and encompasses all things. It is not the same as all dharmas, yet it is no different. Dharmakaya is our pure, original nature. If we look inside of ourselves, we all can see dharmakaya.
Nirvana with remainder is attained when one is still alive. In this case, the word remainder refers to the effects of karma. The term “with remainder” means that while no new karma is being created, the effects of past karma have not been entirely extinguished. Because of the presence of the physical body, one still feels the various effects of hunger, temperature, sickness, and aging. In nirvana with remainder, one still has to eat when hungry or rest when tired. Even though the body continues to go through sickness, old age, and death, the mind is no longer enslaved by these processes. Regardless of one's circumstances, one can still go on with life in a calm, collected way. This is what is meant by nirvana with remainder. Even today, there are some living examples of people who have attained this kind of nirvana. Mahakasyapa, one of the Buddha's great disciples, is such an example. From the time when the Buddha was alive some twenty-five hundred years ago, Mahakasyapa is said to be still alive in this world today. According to one of the sutras that prophesized the coming of Maitreya, the Buddha had instructed Mahakasyapa to remain in this world and be the custodian of his robes and alms bowl until the time Maitreya Bodhisattva becomes the next buddha of this world some 67 billion years from now. Pindola, the Long-Brow Arhat, is another example of one who has attained nirvana with remainder. The Buddha has also asked him to stay on in this world to teach the Dharma to sentient beings after his own passing. In my readings, I have come across three references to him making an appearance to help the people of this world.
The state of nirvana without remainder, or parinirvana, is reached when all effects of karma are completely worked out, and the physical body is nothing but a thing of the past. Without the creation of new karma, there is no coming together of the five aggregates and no new birth results. In this state, one's true nature is “dissolved” in all phenomena and becomes one with the universe. Just as sugar dissolves in water without a trace, its presence, though not visible, is indisputable. This total harmony is summed up in the saying, “Time from antiquity to the present is nothing apart from the present thought. The boundless land that separates you and me is nothing more than the tip of a down feather.”
In the Agamas, there is a story about a Brahmacari with the divine eye. He could look at someone and see the person's past lives. When he looked at a heap of human bones, he could accurately surmise who the person was and when the person died. One day, the Buddha pointed to a heap of human bones and asked him if he knew whom they belonged to. He looked intently at the bones, but had no clue whose they were. The Buddha then explained to the Brahmacari, “That person has entered nirvana. His being is now beyond time and space. He is free of life and death. He is now one with phenomenon and noumenon. He now spans all ten directions and pervades all dharma realms. This is why you cannot discern who he was.” From this, we can see that one who has attained nirvana without remainder is totally free of the burdens of a physical body.
Nirvana of non-abiding is also known as mahanirvana or anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Of those who have attained mahanirvana, the sutras say, “Out of wisdom, one is no longer attached to life and death. Out of compassion, one is no longer attached to nirvana.” They see through the emptiness of the cycle of rebirth and continually reappear in this world to guide sentient beings through the sea of suffering. They have everything, yet they do not call anything their own. They are always active helping sentient beings, yet they are always at peace. They are not attached to any one way and can skillfully employ all means.
From the discussion of these various kinds of nirvana, we can see that one does not have to wait until the end of one's life to enter nirvana. When Prince Siddhartha became a fully enlightened buddha under the bodhi tree, he entered the realm of nirvana with remainder. When the Buddha passed away at the age of eighty between two sala trees, he entered nirvana without remainder. During the forty plus years when the Buddha traveled far and wide to teach the Dharma to all those with a willing ear, he lived a life free of attachment. This kind of life that is purposeful yet without fixation on purpose is free and at ease. This is the realm of nirvana of non-abiding.
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Patrul Rinpoche, in his commentary on the Abhisamayalankara, explains that the texts of the Madhyamika tradition mention four types of nirvana:
http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Nirvana
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Here's how the Buddha answered such questions:
http://www.accesstoi...2.086.than.html
..."What do you think: Do you regard the Tathagata as form-feeling-perception-fabrications-consciousness?"
"No, lord."
"Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is without form, without
feeling, without perception, without fabrications, without
consciousness?"
"No, lord."
"And so, Anuradha — when you can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth
or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare,
'Friends, the Tathagata — the supreme man, the superlative man,
attainer of the superlative attainment — being described, is described
otherwise than with these four positions: The Tathagata exists after
death, does not exist after death, both does & does not exist
after death, neither exists nor does not exist after death'?"
"No, lord."...
The Tathagata, being empty, has never arisen (become existent), therefore can never cease (become non-existent), etc....
Cessation (nirvana) is simply a conventional term for the end of afflictive births.
so those who attain Nirvana, will have no more rebirth. this will be their last life.
is Nibbana = extinction?
http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/dhammananda/102.htm
Nibbana is not nothingness or extinction. Would the Buddha leave his family and kingdom and preach for 45 years, all for nothingness?
K.Sri Dhammananda
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Originally posted by sinweiy:is Nibbana = extinction?
http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/dhammananda/102.htm
Nibbana is not nothingness or extinction. Would the Buddha leave his family and kingdom and preach for 45 years, all for nothingness?
K.Sri Dhammananda
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I believe most Theravada teachers simply state Nibbana to be the cessation of suffering and clinging and afflictions.
However, some classical Theravadin texts probably stemming from their tradition's Abhidhamma commentaries (but this is not the case for other olden days Hinayana schools) have an eternalistic interpretation of Nibbana. They treat Nibbana to have some kind of existence.
Namdrol states:
All commentarial gloss aside, it is well known that the Theravadins are slightly eternalistic in their understanding of nirvana, thus their hermeneutics. Sautrantikas, which are a higher tenet system, are unencumbered by this, but are instead encumbered by a subtle annihilationism.
If you understand that what conventionally ceases and is called nirvana is ultimately non-arising (since there is no real nirvana being gained) and non-ceasing (since there is no real afflictions being ceased and no real wisdom having arisen), you overcome the subtle eternalistic view of Thervada (treating Nirvana to have some kind of inherent existence), and the subtle annihilistic view of Sautrantikas (seeing that there is truly the cessation of real dharmas).
In this way, you overcome views of annihilation or extinction, as well as the subtly eternalistic view of K.Sri Dhammananda such as "If there is to be anything at all after Nibbana, it would have to be 'Absolute Truth'."
Namdrol further states:
"cessation" ceases due to an absence of a cause
Therefore, Nirvana is called Unconditioned, not because it is something independently existing apart from all conditions and therefore not 'conditioned', but because cessation (which is what 'nirvana' literally means) is due to an absence of causes. i.e. cessation occurs because due to the absence of conditions by afflictions and ignorance which leads to the arising of afflictive births
The Prajnaparamita sutras state:
The gods said, "SubhÅ«ti, are you saying that the Buddha’s Dharmas are also like dreams and magical delusions?"
SubhÅ«ti said, "Yes, I say Buddha’s Dharmas are like dreams and magical
delusions. I say Nirv�ṇa is also like a dream and a magical delusion."
The gods said, "0 Subhūti, are you really saying that even Nirv�ṇa is like a dream and a magical delusion?"
Subhūti said, "0 dear gods, if there were something that was more
superior even than Nirv�ṇa, I would still say that it is like a dream
and a magical delusion. 0 dear gods, there is not the slightest
difference between Nirv�ṇa and dreams and magical delusions."411
Samsara to nirvana, Rigpa to marigpa, top to bottom, empty and unestablished. All is unestablished. No wisdom, no ignorance, no samsara, no nirvana. This is the ultimate truth.
Yup. But the forums are now split -
newbuddhist - beginner buddhism
zeninternational - zen buddhism
dhammawheel - theravada buddhism
dharmawheel - mahayana, but mainly vajrayana
i see.
newbuddhist.com and zeninternational.net a bit different.
dharmawheel - East Asian Buddhism also got zen and pureland. good enough. :)
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There is only 1 truth. truth is the same, no matter if you are mahayana, theravada or vairayana or other religions. Mahayana say this, theravada say this, but there can only be one truth. I am interested in the truth, not the tradition. The Buddha also preached not to believe the truth in reverence to the teacher, tradition or holy books. if you have investigated as such, know that it doesnt lead to bad, unwholesome acts, then accept it.