Chapter ThreeThe third question relates to nibbāna — its nature, the zeal, happiness, and peace that its attainment holds, and the development of the recollection of the tranquillity of nibbāna (upasamānussati). The Element of DeliveranceRegarding your request about the recollection of nibbāna, it is an exercise that properly belongs to the Noble Ones only, who have realized nibbāna and experienced its peace. So it is not a relevant meditation practice for you, Maung Thaw. You have not realized
nibbāna yourself and the peace of nibbāna is understood only on its realization. What it would mean to those who have realized it is therefore conjecture, and conjecture is not mental development. I believe you have some degree of peace pertaining to nibbāna, but it is only temporary; it is not yet a distinct element to be reflected on by way of mental development. It is shrouded by defilements both before and after it. However, a recollection on the peace of nibbāna, even conjecturally,
is highly worthwhile, so I will give a reply that should help you to think on the right lines. We have seen how realization of the dangers in the five aggregates brings about the cessation of craving, which is the origin of all ill. That is the nature of peace (santi), which is nibbāna. It is also the escape from the five aggregates of existence. The analogy of the fire-worshipper illustrates the folly of ignorant people who fail to grasp the dangers of impermanence and death — the two great fires that consume all forms of existence. There is such a thing as the quelling of those two fires, which is peace. If you fail to see death as a distinct phenomenon, it is impossible to understand what is meant by escape from existence, the element of deliverance. It is
only when sufficient insight is gained into the real nature of death as a phenomenon, that the significance of deliverance may be realized. In the endless round of rebirth there is never such a thing as a person or a self; there are only elements and their phenomena. If you watch the waters
of a river and contemplate well, you will understand how the cold element (which is only an aspect of the element of heat) merges with other material qualities and flows on, always changing. In the eternal cycle of rebirth there is only an endless stream of phenomena, the five aggregates of existence, incessantly flowing like the waters of a river, and no person or self ever exists. If the fertile element of craving, the origin of all existence, prevails in the five aggregates, this cycle of
rebirth will go on without end, and no escape is in sight. When right view arises and realizes the true nature of existence, supramundane insight knowledge extinguishes craving instantly. This extinction of craving is the element of deliverance. Distinguish between death and deliverance. Death is the voracious fire that consumes all materiality and mentality. Deliverance is the coolness, the
calm, the peace, that allays and quenches the fire of death. This element of deliverance is unique since it is not dependent on, or associated with, any other element for its existence. Just as the sky cannot be burnt by fire, washed away by water, or destroyed by any other means, so too the element of deliverance, being extremely subtle, is not affected by the fires of birth, decay, death, lust, hatred, or delusion. It is the fire-exit or escape from the eleven fires that constantly
burn all beings who have not realized it. Since it has no birth, there is no beginning to it. It cannot be identified or counted. Being deathless, there is no end to it. “This phenomenon of release is intelligible only by supramundane insight, it is indefinable, it is infinite: its luminosity surpasses the sun at its brightest.” In the above quotation, “intelligible only by supramundane insight” connotes the peace perceived through attainment to supramundane knowledge. The reality of the fire of death and other fires such as lust, hatred, delusion, birth and aging, has to be properly understood, and the moment it is understood, its antithesis of calm, tranquillity, or peace is realized. “Indefinable” means that it cannot be said when it began or when it will end, or when it arises or does not arise. It cannot be said where it exists, or at which point it is present. It cannot be identified as, “This is the peace of such and such a Buddha, of such and such a Solitary Buddha, of such and such an Arahant.” It cannot be classified as superior or inferior, such as, “The peace of a Buddha excels that of other
Arahants,” etc. Put in another way, the peace of the Buddha and that of Khujjuttarā the maid who became an Arahant cannot be distinguished. “Infinite” means the peace realized by the Arahants throughout saṃsāra cannot be arranged in chronological order. “Luminous” means that
in all the three mundane realms mentioned above, the fire of death glows fiercely. Throughout saṃsāra, countless existences have been devoured by this fire, and it is still burning voraciously. For the indefinite future too, this fire will go on burning, consuming all phenomena that arise. The fear of death is universal. Such is the intensity of the fire of death. In the supramundane sphere, the Dhamma shines that is called the element of deliverance or release. Remember the radiant peace
attained to by innumerable Buddhas, Solitary Buddhas, Chief Disciples, and Disciples. This is a brief attempt at describing nibbāna which defies description. The True Peace of NibbānaRegarding your query about how a person attaining nibbāna finds peace, the answer is that nibbāna is not found by any person. This is simply because nibbāna is, whereas a person or a self is not. Only phenomena, and no being or soul exists. In discussing nibbāna it is vital not to confuse actuality with concept. The average person, i.e. one who has not gained insight, is full of preconceived notions, ideas, and ideologies, and is apt to be led astray by them. One’s own ideas of peace usually dominate. For instance, there is the solidity of the body. If one fails to see the material quality of extension, which is manifested as solidity or support, one will simply
think that it is the solidity of one’s own body. So one is still an ignorant person. One is unable to understand real peace, for real peace does not belong to a person. It is never one’s own peace or the peace that one enjoys. Similarly, the elements of cohesion, heat, motion, greed, anger, etc., need to be understood in the ultimate sense, if one is to comprehend nibbāna. Aging and
death are common to all. If one thinks that one has grown old, or that one must die one day, that is just common mundane knowledge. Because of the dreadful, false “I” concept, one loathes aging as happening to one’s person. One fears death only because one holds tenaciously onto existence, which one calls one’s life. Overwhelmed by this craving for existence, one fails to understand death as a distinct phenomenon. Unless one knows it as such, one is an ignorant person incapable of
understanding nibbāna. One can talk accurately about nibbāna only when one has discarded personality view and gained the right view into elements and phenomena. The flux of phenomena, ever perpetuating the cycle of rebirth, is just a series of arising and cessation, births and deaths, that occur thousands of times within a blink of the eyes. The process is incessant and inexorable. Since
the twin root causes of ignorance and craving are present, this incessant perishing of gross phenomena takes place, consumed by the eleven fires within oneself. At death, the process continues as a fresh existence in one of the three realms, accompanied by the eleven fires. When ignorance and craving are extinguished, then the mental and physical aggregates in that existence do not continue as a fresh existence. The extinction of the eleven fires is the escape from the clutches of death.
Whereas the compounded existence of elements is conventionally called a being, when the “being” has realized the element of deliverance or peace, that element itself might be called the one who has attained nibbāna (parinibbāna). Just because saṃsāra is beginningless and endless, one should not have any concept of time regarding nibbāna. Again, just because
innumerable Buddhas, Solitary Buddhas, and Noble Disciples have entered parinibbāna, one should not associate nibbāna with numbers. The idea of the endless cycle of rebirth pertains only to mental and material phenomena that are subject to the process of arising and cessation, or momentary births and deaths. Don’t let that lengthy process linger in your mind when you consider nibbāna.
For nibbāna is real, whereas time is a concept. Saṃsāra is infinite, but nibbāna cannot be said to have any beginning at all. One is apt to get confused since nibbāna is the very antithesis of saṃsāra. Saṃsāra is an endless process that defies measurement. Nibbāna exists in the ultimate sense, whereas the existences of beings are always changing and do not remain for a moment. Do not think of nibbāna with any reference to the transient world. Do not wonder about the present
location of the former Noble Ones. For example, as a train moves along, trees at a distance seem to be moving along with it, but in fact the trees are stationary. Similarly, saṃsāra moves on like the train, but nibbāna is motionless like the distant trees. The reflection of the moon at its zenith would appear in every tray of water, if trays were placed in every house in Asia. The number of moons reflected in the trays has nothing to do with the actual moon. The reflections are like those
who have passed on to nibbāna, and nibbāna is like the moon. This, then, is a short explanation about nibbāna or deliverance, with particular emphasis on the fact that nibbāna is not for any “person” to enter. This is the answer to the third question. Plenty of treatises on nibbāna have been written by learned scholars. Here, only a résumé has been given on this vast subject.
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