When you hear the words "Nibbana for everyone," many of
you will shake your heads. You'll think that I'm trying to "dye cats for sale"(1) and probably don't have any
interest in the subject. This only happens because you understand
the meaning of such words too narrowly and out of line with the
truth.
In the schools children are taught that Nibbana(2) is the death of an Arahant. The
ordinary man in the street has been taught that it's a special city
empty of pain and chock full of the happiness of fulfilled wishes,
supposedly reached after death by those who store up perfections
(parami) over tens of thousands of lifetimes. Modern social
developers see it as an
obstruction to progress that we shouldn't get involved with or even
discuss. Students in general consider it a matter for devout old
folks at the temple with nothing of relevance for them. Young men
and women think it's bland and unexciting, awful and frightening.
All the candidates for the monkhood merely mouth without
understanding the vow, "May I go forth in order to awaken to
Nibbana." The old monks say Nibbana can't happen
anymore in this day and age, and that an Arahant cannot exist
anymore either. So finally, Nibbana has become a secret that
no one cares about. They've turned it into something barren and
silent, buried away in the scriptures, to be paid occasional service
in sermons while no one really knows what it is.
In fact, without this business of Nibbana, Buddhism would
be as good as dead. When nobody is interested in Nibbana,
then nobody is genuinely interested in Buddhism. When nothing about
Nibbana interests us, then we can't get any benefits at all
from Buddhism. I feel that it's about time for us to get interested
and bring about the highest benefit, as fits the words,
"Nibbana is the Supreme Thing" — namely, the highest goal of
living things, which is always
inseparable from our daily lives.
Nibbana has nothing in the least to do with
death. The word "Nibbana" means "coolness." Back when it was
just an ordinary word that people used in their homes it also meant
"coolness." When it is used as Dhamma language, in a religious
context, it still means "coolness," but refers to the cooling or
going out of the fires of defilement (kilesa, reactive
emotions), while in the common people's usage it means the cooling
of physical fires.
Throughout the Pali scriptures, the word "Nibbana" is
never used in the sense of death. When death is discussed, the word
"marana" is used. Otherwise, the word "Parinibbana" is
used, such as when the Buddha said, "The
Parinibbana will occur three months from
now.(3)
Nibbana Is One Of The Dhatus (natural conditions). It is the coolness remaining when the
defilements — greed, anger, fear, delusion — have ended. Two types
of this element can be distinguished. In the first, the defilements
are exhausted and cooled, but the sensory system, the organs that
receive sensory stimuli aren't yet cool. In the second, this sensory
system is also cooled. A white-hot charcoal illustrates the
difference. When it first goes out, it is still too hot to be
handled. We must wait a while longer until it is cool enough to be
touched. Through the explanations of later generations the meaning
of "Nibbana" has changed to "death." Such changes and lapses are
commonplace in this world, so nowadays we Thais use the later
distorted meaning. I myself was taught this way when I was a child.
When I first became a bhikkhu, I still understood it erroneously and
passed that understanding on to my friends and students. Only when I
could study the original Pali texts for myself did I discover that
Nibbana was a whole other affair than death. Instead, it's a kind of
life that knows no death. Nibbana is the thing that sustains life,
thus preventing death. It itself can never die, although the body
must die eventually.
As things are, other Indian
religions contemporary with Buddhism also used the word
"Nibbana." In the Pali texts there's a passage about a
Brahmin teacher named Bavari from the area of the Godhavari River in
Southern India. He sent his sixteen students, also well-known
teachers, to ask the Lord Buddha about his version of Nibbana. Some
of them may have understood Nibbana to mean "death." In Theravada
countries, this story is well known as "the Sixteen Questions" (of the students).(4) The point here is that
the theme of Nibbana was the highest concern of the Indian religions
contemporary with Buddhism. Further, there must have been at least
one group that interpreted it as "death" and spread its teaching in
the vicinity of "The Golden Land" (Suvarnabhumi, the ancient
name of Siam) before Buddhism arrived here. Thus, it was left behind
as the general understanding among the common folk, similar to what
happened with atta (self) and atman (soul). Now we had
better return to our examination of Nibbana as taught in
Buddhism.
When Prince Siddhartha first took up the
homeless spiritual life, he wandered in search of the Nibbana that
is the total quenching of all dukkha — he wasn't looking for death!
From the famous teachers of India at that time, he learned nothing
higher than the experience of neither perception nor non-perception
(nevasanyanasanyayatana), a degree of mental tranquility so
deep that we can describe it neither as "death" nor as "non-death."
He couldn't accept this as the supreme Nibbana, so he went off to
search on his own until he discovered the Nibbana that is the
coolness remaining when the defilements have finally ended. He
called it "the end of dukkha," meaning the exhaustion of all
the heat produced by defilements. However much the defilements are
exhausted, there's that much coolness, until there is perfect
coolness due to the defilements being finished completely. In short,
to the degree that the defilements are ended, there will be that
much coolness or Nibbana. That is, Nibbana is the coolness
resulting from the quenching of defilements, whether they quench
on their own or someone quenches them through Dhamma practice.
Whenever the defilements are quenched, then there is the thing
called "Nibbana," always with the same meaning — coolness.
Next, notice that the defilements are concocted things
(sankharadhammas) that arise and pass away. As it says in the
Pali,
Yankinci samudayadhammam sabbantam
nirodhadhammam.
(Whatever things originate, all those will
cease.)
Any reactive emotion that arises ceases
when its causes and conditions are finished. Although it may be a
temporary quenching, merely a temporary coolness, it still means
Nibbana, even if only temporarily. Thus, there's a temporary Nibbana
for those who still can't avoid some defilements. This indeed is the
temporary Nibbana that sustains the lives of beings who are still
hanging onto defilement. Anyone can see that if the egoistic
emotions exist night and day without any pause or rest, no life
could endure it. If it didn't die, it would go crazy and then die in
the end. You ought to consider carefully the fact that life can
survive only because there are periods when the defilements don't
roast it, which, in fact, outnumber the times when the defilements
blaze.
These periodic Nibbanas sustain life for all
of us, without excepting even animals, which have their levels
of Nibbana, too. We are able to survive because this kind of Nibbana
nurtures us, until it becomes the most ordinary habit of life and of
the mind. Whenever there is freedom from defilement, then there is
the value and meaning of Nibbana. This must occur fairly often for
living things to survive. That we have some time to relax both
bodily and mentally provides us with the freshness and vitality
needed to live.
Why don't we
understand and feel thankful for this kind of Nibbana at least a
little bit? We're lucky that the instincts can manage by themselves.
Conscious beings naturally search for periods that are free from
craving, thirst, and egoism. We might call this natural urge "the
Nibbana instinct." If there is unremitting thirst, life must die.
Thus, infants know how to suck the breast and mosquitoes know how to
buzz around sucking blood to sustain their lives until they are
slapped to death. Our instincts have this virtue built in: they
search for periods of time sufficiently free from defilement or free
from thirst to maintain life. Whenever there is freedom and voidness
there is always this little Nibbana, until we know how to make it
into the lasting or perfect Nibbana of the Arahant. It isn't death,
but rather is deathlessness, in particular, spiritual deathlessness.
If anyone sees this fact, they'll personally experience that we can
survive only through this kind of Nibbana. We don't survive just
because of that rice and food that so infatuate people. We realize
that everybody must have this thing called "Nibbana" and must depend
on it as their lives' sustenance. So who can object to us talking
about "Nibbana for everyone"?
In order to better understand the meaning of
the word "Nibbana," we ought to look at it from the perspective of
linguistics. A material sense of the word is found in the phrase
"pajjotasseva nibbanam" This "nibbana" refers to the
ordinary quenching of a lamp, and more broadly to any source of heat
or fire. When the rice porridge is still hot, the cook yells out
from the kitchen, "wait a moment, let it nibbana first." When
the goldsmith melts down gold and pours it into a mold, he sprinkles
water on it to cool it down. The word used in Pali here is
"nibbapeyya," to first make it nibbana or cool before
working it into some shape or form.
Even the wild animals that are captured from
the jungle and tamed like pussycats are said to have been
"nibbana-ed." Sensual pleasures cool down foolish people in a
way appropriate for them. Unwavering concentration on material forms
(rupajhanas) brings coolness free from those fires of
sensuality. Although temporary, these absorptions (jhanas)
are certain levels of Nibbana, also. The "experience of nothingness"
(akincanyayatana) and the other formless absorptions
(arupajhanas) bring levels of coolness free from the fires
that arises out of attractive material things. Nibbana due to the
ending of all defilements brings the final coolness that is the
ultimate in all respects.
Certain groups of teachers have come up with
the word "sivamokkha-mahanibbana," which they explain as some
kind of town or city. Although no one can make any sense of it, they
keep it around for people to bow to when this strange word is
declaimed from the pulpits of their run of the mill temples.
There is also the word "nibbuti,"
meaning an ethical level of Nibbana. It refers to a cool heart and
cool life such as that which impressed a young woman on seeing
Prince Siddhartha. She exclaimed, "Whoever's son this gentleman is,
his mother and father are nibbuta (that is, cool); whoever's
husband he is, that woman is nibbuta (once again, cool)."
Such examples have the meaning of Nibbana, also. Nowadays the monks
in Thailand chant the benefits of ethical behavior with "silena
nibbutim yanti," which means nibbuti is achieved through
healthy morality (sila). This comes after the lesser benefits
of ethical living, such as acquisition of wealth and attaining happy
births (sugati). The purpose here is for Nibbana to have a
place in ordinary daily life.
This coolness of heart and peace
of mind that everyone desires is the meaning of
Nibbana. However, people
misunderstand it and aim only for sex, which is hot stuff. Thus,
they get a deceptive Nibbana. People have clung to such an
interpretation since, or even before, the Buddha's time, such as can
be found among the sixty-two wrong views listed in the Brahmajala Sutta.(5)
Please consider the history and basic meaning
of the word "Nibbana." In all cases it points to coolness of heart
and mind, according to the higher or lower awareness of each person.
The essential meaning, however, is always in the nurturing and
sustaining of life. It lessens the time when fires burn the mind
just enough for us to survive and eventually develops to the highest
level, which absolutely quenches all fires. The highest degree of
realization in Buddhism, according to the Buddha, is the end of
lust, the end of hatred, and the end of delusion, which is the final
quenching of all fires and the coolest coolness that life can
be.
Nibbana is not the mind, but is
something that the mind can experience, or, as the Buddha put it, is a certain
ayatana that wisdom can experience. Forms, sounds, odors,
flavors, and tactile sensations are material or physical
ayatana, things the body can experience. The formless
absorptions from the experience of endless space
(akasanancayatana) up to and including the experience of neither
perception nor non-perception (nevasanyanasanyayatana)
are mental ayatana that the
mind can experience.(6) Then, Nibbana is a spiritual ayatana
for mindfulness and wisdom to experience and realize. We should
consider it something that Nature has provided for the highest level
of humanity. We ought to know it so that Nibbana and our lives are
not in vain. Every one of us has mindfulness and wisdom in order to
touch Nibbana. Don't let it go to waste!
The Nibbana-element exists naturally so
that Nibbana will be realized, like a precious medicine which ends
all dukkha. There is the dukkha or disease which ordinary medicines
cannot cure, namely, the disease of defilement that must be cured by
the extinction of defilements, through which this
nibbana-dhatu is realized. This highest spiritual illness
lies deeply hidden in us and torments us secretly. Anyone who can
quench it has reached the pinnacle of being human.
The words "there is no Nibbana" are more wrong
than wrong can be because the nibbana-element exists naturally,
everywhere, always, only nobody is interested enough to find it. The
Lord Buddha discovered and revealed it to us through his enormous
compassion, but we cut the story short thinking that in this era
there is no Nibbana anymore, when we should instead say that nobody
understands it or is interested in it. Merely by becoming proper
followers of the Buddha, Nibbana will appear. It is already waiting
for people to find it.
We cannot create Nibbana because it is
beyond all causes and conditions. Nevertheless, we can create the
conditions for realizing Nibbana, namely, all actions which lead to
the abandonment of the defilements. We won't claim, as some do, that
"doing good is a condition for Nibbana." Condition (paccaya)
implies causal necessity, but there is nothing which has such power
over Nibbana. The right words are "doing good is a condition for
realizing Nibbana," which can be done in any age or period. Old
folks like the words "Stairway to Nibbana" because they think it is
a place or city, which is what they have been taught. Still, it is
an acceptable enough phrase, meaning simply "supporting conditions
for the realization of Nibbana."
There are dozens of synonyms for
Nibbana, for example, the
Deathless, Permanence, Peace, Safety, Health, Diseaselessness,
Freedom, Emancipation, Shelter, Refuge, Immunity, Island (for those
fallen into water), Highest Benefit, Supreme Joy, Other Shore, That
Which Should Be Reached, and the End of Concocting. All of these are
thoroughly cool, because there aren't any fires to make them hot.
Peaceful coolness is their meaning or value; unfortunately, it is a
value too subtle to interest people who are still overly enveloped
by selfishness. When brushing aside the defilements for the first
time, you will certainly be delighted by Nibbana more than anything
ever before. This is available to and possible for everyone. May we
take the word "coolness" as the supreme value.
The expression that best conveys
the meaning of Nibbana is "the end of dukkha." Although the Buddha used this term, it's of
no interest for those people who feel that they don't have any
dukkha or suffering. They don't feel they have dukkha: they just
want the things they want and think there isn't any dukkha to
quench. Consequently, they don't care about quenching dukkha or
about the end of dukkha. Even a large number of the many foreigners
who come to Suan Mokkh feel this way. However, once we tell them
there is a new life, or quenching of thirst, or life which is beyond
positive and negative, they really start to get interested. This is
the difficulty of language, which we nonetheless must use to get
people interested in Nibbana. For each person, there must be one
translation of the word "Nibbana" especially for that person. This
is no minor difficulty. Yet deep down, without being conscious of or
having any intention toward it, everyone wants Nibbana if only
through the power of instinct.
The study of Nibbana in daily life is
possible in order to have a better understanding of and a greater
interest in Nibbana's meaning. When seeing a fire go out or
something hot cooling down, look for the meaning of Nibbana in it.
When bathing or drinking ice water, when a breeze blows or rain
falls, take notice of the meaning of Nibbana. When a fever subsides,
a swelling goes down, or a headache goes away, recognize the meaning
of Nibbana as found in those things. When perspiring, sleeping
comfortably, or eating one's fill, see the meaning of Nibbana. When
seeing an animal with all its fierceness and danger tamed away, see
the meaning of Nibbana. All of these are lessons to help us
understand the nature of Nibbana in every moment. The mind will
regularly incline towards contentment in Nibbana and this helps the
mind to flow more easily along the path of Nibbana.
Whenever you find coolness in your experience,
mark that coolness firmly in your heart, and breathe out and in.
Breathing in is cool, breathing out is cool. In cool, out cool — do
this for a little while. This is an excellent lesson that will help
you to become a Lover of Nibbana (Nibbanakamo)
more quickly. The instincts will develop in an enlightened
(bodhi) way more than if you don't practice like this.
Natural Nibbana — the unconscious quenching of defilement — will
occur more often and easily. This is the best way to help
nature.
In conclusion, Nibbana is not death.
Rather, it is the coolness and deathlessness that is full of life.
In the Pali scriptures, the word "Nibbana" is never used regarding
death. Nibbana is a natural element always ready to make contact
with the mind in the sense of being one kind of ayatana
(sensible thing). If there were no Nibbana, Buddhism would have no
meaning. The genuine kind of Nibbana, different from the Nibbana of
other sects, was discovered by the Buddha. Natural Nibbana can
happen simply because the defilements arise and end naturally
because they are just another kind of concocted nature. Every time
the defilements don't appear, Nibbana becomes apparent to the mind.
This kind of Nibbana nourishes the lives of living things so they
survive and don't go crazy. At least, it lets us sleep at night.
Nibbana isn't any kind of special city anywhere. It is in the mind
that is now void of besieging defilements. For the morality of
ordinary people at home, its name is "nibbuti." Nibbana isn't
the mind, but it appears to the mind as a certain ayatana. We
can experience Nibbana here and now by breathing in cool and
breathing out cool. It is the automatic quenching of heat, of
thirst, of dukkha in ordinary life, even without our being conscious
of it. It is the eternal nourishment and sustenance of life.
I hope that you all will begin to know that
"Nibbana for everyone" isn't just "dyeing cats for sale," but is the
genuine cat for catching rats — that is, dukkha and anxiety —
according to the mindfulness and wisdom of each person!
Footnotes
on separate page (to allow for flipping back &
forth).
First electronic edition: September
1996
Transcribed and proofread: Scott Oser <oser@hep.uchicago.edu>
Final
editing by Santikaro Bhikkhu