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There is a lovely zen saying, a dialogue between new student and master:
"Master, if I put in great effort every day to attain awakening, how long will it take?"
The master replies, "20 years."
"What if I work really really hard?"
The master replies, "40 years."
Wanting enlightenment is paradoxical, because enlightenment is the absence of defilement, ...
25
There is a famous set of verses of the Buddha that go as follows:
“All conditioned things are impermanent” – when
one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from
suffering. This is the path to purification.
“All conditioned things are unsatisfactory” –
when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away
from suffering. This is the path to ...
20
No, Nirvana is not the goal of all Buddhists. According to Sakya and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist liberation methodologies can be divided in three major classes, corresponding to sentient being's mental capacity:
students of lower capacity seek pleasant living conditions and personal happiness. For these beings the teaching focuses on ...
19
In one sense he continues just as we do. Once he attained nirvana under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha carried on teaching for another 50 years. It was only on the death of his physical body that he underwent parinirvana, that is to say final release. However this just pushes the question on from nirvana to parinirvana.
The question of what happens to an ...
13
To answer your question let me draw an analogy. What is required to become a professor?
According to Wikipedia, "A professor is a highly accomplished and recognized academic, and the title is in most cases awarded only after decades of scholarly work to senior academics". Being a professor is not a concrete state, it is a label they put on years of hard work,...
12
This linguistic terminology generally has caused a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding.
The notion of not self is that is there no:
unchanging everlasting component which we can identify as self. Other contemporary teachers tried to identify such a part which they called Atman
there is nothing to which any one can have absolute or ever lasting ...
answered Sep 15 '14 at 9:38
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
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12
The Buddha himself gave the answer in the Maha Satipatthana Sutta—The Greater Discourse on Steadfast Mindfulness or the Great Discourse on the Establishing Awareness (DN22):
"Indeed, bhikkhus, whosoever practises these four satipatthanas in this manner for seven years, one of two results is to be expected in
him: Arahatship in this very existence,...
12
Nirvana isn't a heaven, but a state or condition where there is no
death, because there is also no birth, no coming into existence,
nothing made by conditioning, and therefore no time.
See Wikipedia - Nibbana
It isn't a place of pleasures, like heavens typically are, but a state of no becoming, no dualities like pleasure and pain. It neither is, nor ...
11
In the grand scheme of things, ending suffering and with it the endless cycle of rebirth is the ultimate goal of all forms of Buddhism.
However, while Theravada Buddhism focusses on personal enlightenment, other forms like Mahayana focus on the Bodhisattva ideal: Postponing enlightenment until all other lifeforms are free from suffering. In the Theravada ...
11
There was no person existing in the 1st place to cease to exist. What you mistake as a person is just the 5 aggregates of clinging. They are just natural processes of causes and effects. Once you attain Nibbana, the causes for continuation of the 5 aggregates are removed. Hence no continuation.
11
As I understand it, Crab Bucket is correct that this is a question to which an answer is never given. I will contribute some source and try to flesh out this answer a bit:
According to the Avyakata Sutta, the Buddha says that holding a viewpoint about what happens to an enlightened one after death is 'anguish' [Pāli: 'vippatisara'] and that well-instructed, ...
11
Call me an over-enthusiast but presently, the highest priority in my life is to achieve the object of Nirvana or moksha.
This is good! You need enthusiasm to stay motivated in your practice.You also have a sense of urgency which will help you progress.
By performing Vipassana, I want to achieve Nirvana and in this lifetime only. I'm prepared to do anything ...
10
This is a fundamental premise of Mayayana, that the goal is not to be extinguished and leave samsara like an Arhat, but to stick around until everyone is enlightened.
Here is the zen formulation of the Bodhisattva Vow (couldn't find the Tibetan version)
Beings are numberless; I vow to save them. Delusions are
inexhaustible; I vow to end them. Dharma ...
10
On traditional bhavachakra images, Nirvana in its "peace of mind" aspect is symbolized by the full moon.
While sentient beings down in the realms of Samsara are busy chasing desires and experiencing fruits of their own actions, Buddha points his finger at the moon as if saying: "if only you could let go of your attachments, you would get it right here and ...
9
Moksha and Nirvana are the same in that:
The cycle of live, death and rebirth is broken
once attained, one is free from Samsara
It's attainable through practise
Meditation techniques are employed in attaining both
They differ in that:
Moksha tends to explained as a merger with Atman, or Brahma which Buddhist don't believe.
Their main philosophical ...
9
Enlightenment, or Bodhi, refers to coming to a direct realization of the truth. Nibbana is the timeless state of perfect peace and happiness which occurs as a result of attaining Enlightenment, and it will occur immediately after attaining any of the four stages of enlightenment, and can be re-cultivated as well.
Parinibbana in common usage today refers to ...
9
Nirodha is a term that is normally translated as 'cessation' or 'stopping'. It's what happens to suffering in the 3rd noble truth, dukkhanirodha (cessation of suffering) and to all of the other elements of the chain of Dependent Arising.
The context which you refer to is the state of nirodhasamāpatti (attainment of cessation), saññāvedayitanirodha1 (...
9
The practice of the eightfold noble path leads to the experience of nibbāna, just like the act of adverting the mind to the eye door leads to seeing light. Light, the object of seeing, is saṅkhata (conditioned), but nibbāna, the object of supermundane consciousness, is asaṅkhata (unconditioned). So nibbāna isn't the result of the eightfold noble path, the ...
9
According to Buddhism, even when I am typing these words and seeing the screen, there is no one there. The 'person' isn't an existing thing, it is just a label we put on things to describe how things work, and the label of person refers to a large group of many different mental and physical processes.
If there is ultimately no self, does that mean that all ...
9
"My question here is, is "the visible world is an illusion or dream" the main topic of Buddhism?"
No, it's not the main topic of Buddhism.
From the Pali canon point of view, it's also not a claim of Buddhism that the world is an illusion.
In contrast, the main topics of Buddhism are the nature of suffering, the nature of pleasure, the ultimate freedom of ...
9
One way to understand Buddhism, is to understand how the Buddha frames happiness and suffering and what he was trying to achieve.
Wordly Happiness & Suffering
First, the Buddha did not denied that we experience pleasure:
“Ānanda, there are these five cords of sensual pleasure. What five? Forms cognizable by the eye that are desirable, lovely, ...
8
This passage is according to the abhidhamma treatment of the attainment of nibbana. The two to three mind moments (yes, that's what it means) are called anulomañāṇa ("anuloma~naa.na") - knowledge of conformity, the twelfth stage of knowledge.
The Visuddhimagga (XXII.128) describes this according to the abhidhamma:
128. As he repeats, develops and ...
8
Since none of the 5 answers so far (at the moment of this writing) provide any external references that directly tackle this question, here are some from the actual suttas and Buddha's own words as preserved in the pali canon.
In MN 73, the wanderer Vacchagotta said this to the Buddha after hearing his Dhamma exposition and before going to him for refuge:
...
8
Light vs darkness is a better analogy to wisdom vs ignorance than happiness vs suffering. What you describe as happiness and suffering are just experiences. They belong to the Sankhara group in the five aggregates of clinging. Nibbana exists independently of the five aggregates. All experiences, whether they are pleasurable, painful or neutral, fall under ...
8
[A Mahayana perspective]
There are two components to Enlightenment: Realization (insight, awakening, Bodhi) and Liberation (unbinding, Nirvana, loss of form).
Very strong and talented people, with very few mental/emotional obscurations, determined on becoming Enlightened, and therefore diligently cleansing their minds from even slightest traces of ...
8
What the Buddha experienced at 35 was called sa-upādisesa-nibbāna - nirvana with remainder. What he experienced at 80 was called anupādisesa-nibbāna - nirvana without remainder:
“dvemā, bhikkhave, nibbānadhātuyo. katame dve? saupādisesā ca nibbānadhātu, anupādisesā ca nibbānadhātu.
There are these two, monks, elements of nibbāna. What two? The ...
8
There are two types of nirvana: saupādisesa-nibbāna (nirvana with remainder) and anupādisesa-nibbāna (nirvana without remainder) (Iti. 44).
It is true that for one who has attained anupādisesa-nibbāna there will be no more consciousness. This is because someone who has attained anupādisesa-nibbāna is dead*. It is the equivalent to the more familiar ...
8
Nibbana is asankhata dhatu (unconditioned element or unconditioned dhamma) therefore it is not a state of mind (MN 115).
Insight wisdom (vipassana) into the three characteristics uproots craving (SN 22.59).
Nibbana is a sense object (ayatana) of mind consciousness (Ud 8.1) but it is not a type of consciousness. This is why 'mind-objects' are called '...
7
No. If your goal is to attain enlightenment you've gotten it all wrong and I would recommend Brad Warner's book, Hardcore Zen. It is much more important to act appropriately.
From the book:
I'd been doing zazen for for over a decade by then and was pretty
miffed that I had yet to reach enlightenment...
Let me give you a little background. In a ...
7
Buddhism changes as it goes into different cultures and adapts and is influenced by local and preexisting culture. It changed when it went from Indian into China and again into Japan and again into Tibet. I believe it is changing still as it goes into the West. For instance my group the Triratna Community is an explicit attempt to bring Buddhism to the West ...
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