NIRVANA

 NIRVANA

 The Buddha described Nirvana as the perfect peace of the state of mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states. In Nibbana the root causes of craving and aversions have been extinguished such that one is no longer subject to human suffering or further states of rebirths in sansara.

The Pali canon contains other perspectives on nirvana; for one, it is linked to seeing the empty nature of phenomena. It is also presented as a radical reordering of consciousness and unleashing of awareness.

The Buddha in the Dhammapada says of nirvana that it is "the highest happiness". This happiness is an enduring, transcendental happiness integral to the calmness attained through enlightenment or bodhi, rather than the happiness derived from impermanent things. The knowledge accompanying nirvana is expressed through the word bodhi.

The Buddha explains nirvana as "the unconditioned" (asankhata) mind, a mind that has come to a point of perfect lucidity and clarity due to the cessation of the production of volitional formations. This is described by the Buddha as "deathlessness", and as the highest spiritual attainment, the natural result that accrues to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct and practice in accordance with the Noble Eight Fold Path.  Such a life engenders increasing control over the generation of karma. It produces wholesome karma with positive results and finally allows the cessation of the origination of karma altogether with the attainment of nibbana. Otherwise, beings forever wander through the impermanent and suffering-generating realms of desire, form, and formlessness, collectively termed sansara.

The Theravada school makes the antithesis of samsara and Nibbāna the starting point of the entire quest for deliverance. Even more, it treats this antithesis as determinative of the final goal, which is precisely the transcendence of samsara and the attainment of liberation in Nibbāna. Where Theravada differs significantly from the Mahāyāna schools, which also start with the duality of samsara and nirvana, is in not regarding this polarity as a mere preparatory lesson tailored for those with blunt faculties, to be eventually superseded by some higher realization of non-duality. From the standpoint of the Pāli Suttas, even for the Buddha and the Arahants suffering and its cessation, samsara and Nibbāna, remain distinct^].

In Mahayana Buddhism, nirvana and samsara are said to be not-different when viewed from the ultimate nature of the Dharmakaya. An individual can attain nirvana by following the Buddhist path. If they were ultimately different this would be impossible. Thus, the duality between nirvana and samsara is only accurate on the conventional level. Another way to arrive at this conclusion is through the analysis that all phenomena are empty of an essential identity, and therefore suffering is never inherent in any situation. Thus, liberation from suffering and its causes is not a metaphysical shift of any kind.

Both schools agree that Shakyamuni Buddha was in saṃsāra while having attained Nirvāṇa, in so far as he was seen by all while simultaneously free from samsara.