Unconditioned Nirvana

359 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Similarities and differences between Mahayana, and Vajrayana Theravada

Unconditioned Nirvana

In Mahayana, nirvana is an emphasis on the unified nature of the

world. Nirvana is conceived as a human experience of oneness with

unconditioned consciousness (the absolute). Which gives insight into

the unity of the world (samsara), body, mind and soul. It is a state

of transcending conditioned consciousness. It is also described as

dwelling in the experience of the intense bliss in cognising one's

identity with unconditioned consciousness. It is freedom from

attachment to the states of unhappiness, satisfaction and happiness.

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.

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.

Epithets of nirvana in Buddhism include "the free," "the immortal,"

and "the unconditioned." Nirvana is attainable in life, and the death

of one who has attained it is termed parinirvana, or complete nirvana.

Mahayana and the Vajrayana focus, is the duality between samsara and

nirvana. In general, this is a duality between what is conditioned and

Show More
Related

  • Describe The Four Noble Truths Of Anatta Tanha

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    By learning from the Dharma, understanding The Four Noble Truths, three jewels, living by the five precepts, and following the eightfold path will assist to the completed path of enlightenment. Nirvana, which means to extinguish or unbind, is when a Buddhist has reached a state in which he has gained knowledge and freedom from what ever has bound him from reaching nirvana. Whether it be passion, desire, jealousy, egotism, or ignorance. When nirvana has been reached then there will be complete release from the samsara and karmic cycles.

    Read More

  • A Review of Nirvana for Sale by Rachelle M. Scoot

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nirvana for Sale by Rachelle M. Scott is an anthropological investigation into the intersection of wealth and piety in Thailand Theravada Buddhism. Through ethnographic methods, the book seeks to describe this relationship in a historically situated context. Thus, the book is concerned with cultural praxis within the context of religious discourses about wealth and piety.

    Read More

  • The Ascension of Buddhism in America

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    The founder of Buddhism was a man named Siddharta Gautama. He was born as a prince of a small kingdom located near today’s Nepal, around 500 B.C.E. (Gurinder 1). According to the legends, Siddharta was raised in the lap of luxury. He was given the finest clothes, riches, and a mansion for every season (Fisher 136). Despite having anything his imagination could conjure, he was unconvinced of their value (136). As the story continues, he was presented with the four sights that were being kept from him (136). These sights included death, sickness, old age, and a monk seeking lasting happiness rather than material possessions (136). After these sights, Sidhharta began his long path to enlightenment. After six years of searching, he had reached his goal of an ultimate consciousness called Nirvana, or enlightenment that is above ordinary human states of mind (Gurinder, Numrich, Williams 1-2). After his discovery of the ultimate consciousness, he was given the title of Buhhda, which means “Enlighten One” (2).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Barbara O Brien's Feeding The Buddha

    2377 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nirvana is a remembrance to the day of the Buddha’s death and how he enters Nirvana and it means to extinguish or blow out (O’Brien). Schools of Buddhism explain Nirvana as a state of bliss or peace and that Nirvana can be entered in both life and death (O’Brien). O’Brien writes that the Buddha died at the age of 80. She explains that when he died, he was accompanied by monks. The Buddha told them that he did not keep any of his teaching from them and that he needed them to keep his teachings alive to help the people for the years and years to come. O’Brien writes that Nirvana day is a day to really look at the Buddhas teachings. Monasteries and temples have meditation retreats and lay people bring money or things from their home for the monks to live off of (O’Brien). What Buddhists mostly want is to reach

    Read More

  • A Spiritual Journey In The Film 'To The Land Of Bliss'

    1522 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is something people are usually born into based off of their parents religion. In Buddhism specifically, Buddha teaches with a great passion for everyone to succeed in life and attain Nirvana. There is such passion with being a Buddhist, they do not do specific things for anyone else but themselves. Their deeds are what will guide them to their life goal. They worship Buddha’s teachings because it is morally right. The ways they think, feel, and live are based on certain principles taught by Buddha in result of where they will end up in the afterlife. Of course they all want to be saved and enter Nirvana. Buddhists must break the karma and not be reborn into the world. Salvation for Buddhists is enlightenment. “The danger is ignorance, and salvation lies in insight” (Kelsay 134). They have to ignore the outside danger, ignore everyone around them and focus on themselves. Once Buddhists find who they are, they are one step closer to saving themselves and reaching the blissful land of

    Read More

  • Essay On Heaven And Afterlife

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Contrasted from Christianity, Muslim, and Hinduism, Buddhism is a nontheistic religion in which a god does not necessarily exist and everyone has the ability to become a Buddha. Heaven and Hell are complex due to the fact that they believe that places such as are temporary and reborn there based on the lives that they had lived on earth. According to the belief, once a person has spent an allotted amount of time in these places they are then reborn again. Conferring with the Buddhism teachings, believers believe that all things are deemed to be

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Nirvana Principle

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    An experience becomes traumatic when one suppresses themselves to the truth. In The Nirvana Principle by Lisa Bird-Wilson, each time the imagery of a girl at the ravine is repeated throughout the story, the narrator exhibits progress with her healing process. The narrator is an intelligent yet stubborn 14 year old girl named Hanna. The story takes place in the room of the narrator’s shrink, Dr. Semenchuk. Throughout the short story, Hanna undergoes a healing process she is trying to work towards due to a trauma that she has encountered. Yet even with the help of her doctor, she struggles to be at peace with herself and the world around her. The narrator uses self-therapy when describing this particular recurring image of a body in the river

    Read More

  • How To Compare Mooksha And Hindu Moksha

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nirvana is a word that is commonly used in Buddhism with varied meanings depending on the use. It means the state of blowing out from certain detractors in life. To “blow out” has great meaning and refers wholly to the extinguishing or dispelling of oneself from certain characters that are considered to be iniquitous. It is characterized by peace of mind and it saves man from the sufferings, the cycles of rebirth, and death. Nirvana could only be achieved by individuals who observed the laid down rules and detached themselves from sin. Moksha is a common belief in the Hindu religion and it describes a state where one’s soul connects with god’s soul. In the Hindu religion, achieving moksha removes one from the cycle of life and death, which is the state of reincarnation as one moves from one life to the next. In essence, moksha is a state of unification of one’s soul with that of the creator, therefore achieving oneness of atman and Brahman. This essay discusses the various similarities and differences that exist between Buddhist Nirvana and Hindu Moksha.

    Read More

  • Knowing God: Mysticism in Christianity and Other Religions

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Buddhism, one seeks salvation from pain, which is caused by desire; so one seeks a state of absence from desire. This is achieved through meditation and the "Noble Eightfold Way of mental and moral discipline: right views, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration." It is a timeless state, and is spoken of as "becoming Brahman" and entering into Nirvana. The absence of desire necessitates a certain amount of separation from the world and a constancy of mind that is not found in the normal clamor of daily life.

    Read More

  • Utopia

    4263 Words  | 9 Pages

    In the year 1515, a book in Latin text was published which became the most significant and controversial text ever written in the field of political science. Entitled, ‘DE OPTIMO REIPUBLICATE STATU DEQUE NOVA INSULA UTOPIA, clarissimi disertissimique viri THOMAE MORI inclutae civitatis Londinensis civis et Vicecomitis’, translated into English would read, ‘ON THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH AND ON THE NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA, by the Most Distinguished and Eloquent Author THOMAS MORE Citizen and Undersheriff of the Famous City of London.’.

    Read More

  • The Utopian Impulse

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    To explore the concepts of Utopian theory, both political and social, one must first engender a concrete definition of what Utopia means. Sir Thomas More, the original creator of the term Utopia, signifies it as “no place”. However, More’s clever play on words seems ultimately to suggest that ”no place” is just no place right now. That is to say that Utopia is “an ideal place that does not exist in reality” yet (Murfin and Ray 529).

    Read More

  • Utopian Dysfunctionalism

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Houyhnhnm’s Land is a society unique to Gulliver’s adventures because he encounters not only horses reigning over society, but also that these supreme animals think more rationally and intellectually than the Yahoos and even Gulliver himself. Gulliver’s stay in Houyhnhnm’s Land represents the “perfect”, but emotionless and detached conventions of utopia. According to Dr. Joyce Hertzler’s The History of Utopian Thought, utopians hold a false view of society so that when developing their “perfect” social order they think nothing of “…over-riding natural affections and balking natural desires and impulses” (304). Life is really nothing but a systematic social order if devoid of all emotion, causing one to question the “perfection” of utopia. If one looks beneath the surface of the Houyhnhnm’s culture, one will find that Gulliver’s final journey does not describe an immaculate society, but rather a visionary world, meaning a world that is purely speculative and out of reach.

    Read More

  • Bhuddism

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Buddhism is one religion that was discussed in class that blew my mind. I always thought the term Buddha meant a name of a messiah. Until I learned some ideas of Buddha, I became intrigued to learn more about it. In class I learned that the term Buddha is a philosophy. We all have a “Buddha” inside all of us. However, in order to “release” the Buddha and achieve enlightenment is to go through a process of teaching. I wanted to know more about the idea of enlightenment, how to become a Buddhist, and The Heart of Sutra. In class I learned about the four noble truths. The four noble truths are, the first being is that life is suffering. Suffering includes pain, growing old, inheriting disease, and death. Along with that, there is psychological suffering like loneliness, fear, anger and, embarrassment. Buddhism shares how suffering can be avoided and how happiness can bloom. The second noble truth is that suffering is ignited by craving and aversion. When people receive things that they want, it does not guarantee happiness. Instead of battling to get what you want, alternate the wanting. Wanting deprives people of contentment and happiness. A lifetime of wanting and craving will continue to exist. The third noble truth is that suffering can overcome and happiness can be attained. True happiness and contentment are possible. If people give up worthless craving and learn to live each day at a time and don’t dwell in the past or imagine future, people can become happy and free. The fourth noble truth is that the Noble 8-foldpath is the path, which leads to the end of suffering (Prothero, 2010). It was interesting to learn about the four noble truths. Along with the noble truth, I learned that Buddhist believe that “everything is nothing...

    Read More

  • Buddhism Position On Abortion Essay

    1930 Words  | 4 Pages

    Buddhism is one of the major world religions with many followers around the world. It is unique in its nature as it is frequently referred to as a ‘spiritual tradition’ (Miller, 2010). Buddhism focuses on personal spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into the true nature of life (Johnston, 2003). Buddhists believe that nothing is fixed or permanent and that change is always possible. This belief in the impermanence of all things underpins the Buddhist interpretation of the world and reality (Maguire, 2001).

    Read More

  • Mahayana Buddhism

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    History proves that as Buddhism spread throughout the Asian world in the early 1st century, it was occasionally altered to fit the specific needs and beliefs of people it touched. Mahayana Buddhism is one such example of this gradual evolution. It was primarily a movement started and kept alive by monks that slowly gained popularity amongst lay people but was in no way a unified movement. Mahayana Buddhism still adheres to the basic fundamental beliefs presented in the Pali Canons, however, it Sutras often expand upon these basic ideas and traditions in order to answer the questions of a later generation. After closer study of the Mahayana texts the “A Sutra for Long Life” and “The World Universe as a Sutra”, it seems evident that, although Mahayana Buddhism is based on the teachings of the traditional Pali Canon, it places a larger emphasis on philosophical inquires; and ultimately creates a more accessible version of enlightenment, and the Buddhist faith in general, for all.

    Read More

More about Unconditioned Nirvana

Open Document