Perhaps Mahasi Sayadaw's take on Nibbana is on topic...
Extract from a long discourse.
http://www.mahasi.org.mm/discourse/E17/E17ch01.htmARAHATS OUTLOOK ON LIFE
The arahat has no illusion about the nature of sense-objects. He is aware of their unwholesomeness and this means he realizes the truth of dukkha because he is free from ignorance (avijjæ). So he has no craving for anything. Inevitably he has to fill the biological needs of his physical body such as eating, sleeping, etc., but he regards them as conditioned (sa³khæra) dukka and finds nothing that is pleasant to him.
The question arises as to whether he should long for speedy death to end such suffering. But the desire for early death or dissolution of the physical body too is a destructive desire and the Arahat is free from it. So there is an Arahat’s saying in the Theragæthæ that he has neither the wish to die nor the wish to live.
The Arahat does not wish to live a long life for life means largely the burden of suffering inherent in khandhæ. Although the burden of khahdhæ needs constant care and attention, it is not in the least reliable. To many middle-aged or old people, life offers little more than frustration, disappointment and bitterness. Living conditions go from bad to worse, physical health declines and there is nothing but complete disintegration and death that await us. Yet because of ignorance and attachment many people take delight in existence. On the other hand the Arahat is disillusioned and he finds life dreary and monotonous. Hence his distaste for life.
But the Arahat does not prefer death either. For death wish is an aggressive instinct which he has also conquered. What he wants is to attain Nibbæna, a longing that is somewhat analogous to that of a worker who wishes to get his daily or monthly wage.
The worker does not like to face hardship and privations for he as to work inevitable just to make his living but he does not want to lose his job either. He wants only money and looks forward to payday. Likewise, the Arahat waits for the moment when he should attain Nibbæna without anything left of his body mind complex. So when they think of their life span, the Arahats wonder how long they will have to bear the burden of næmarþpa khandha. Because of his disillusionment, the Arahat’s life-stream is completely out off after Nibbæna, hence it is called anupædisesa-nibbäna.
NOT ANNIHILATION BUT EXTINCTION OF SUFFERING
Those who believe in ego or soul deprecate Nibbäna as eternal death of a living being. In reality it is the total extinction of suffering that results from the non-recurrence of psychophysical phenomena together with their causes viz, kamma and defilements. So the Buddha points out the cessation of upædæna arising from the complete cessation of craving, the process of becoming (bhava) ceasing to arise due to cessation of upædæna and so on. With the non-arising of rebirth, there is the complete cessation of old age, death and other kinds of suffering.
Here the popular view is that birth, old age and death are evils that afflict living beings. But in point of fact these evils characterize only the psychophysical process and have nothing to do with a living entity. Since there is no ego or soul, it makes no sense to speak of the annihilation of a living being with the cessation of rebirth and suffering.
So those who regard Nibbæna as annihilation are not free from the illusion of ego-entity. To the intelligent Buddhist, Nibbæna means only cessation of suffering. This is evident in the story of bhikkhu Yamaka in the time of the Buddha.
STORY OF YAMAKA
Yamaka believed that the Arahat was annihilated after his death. He clung to his view although other bhikkhus pointed out its falsity. Then Særiputræ summoned him. Questioned by the elder thera, Yamaka admitted that all the five khandhæs are impermanent and suffering, that it would be a mistake to regard them as one’s possession or self. Særiputræ told him to see the five khandhæs as they really are. He would then become disillusioned, detached and liberated.
While hearing the sermon, Yamaka attained the sotæpanna stage. He was now free from false beliefs. Særiputræ then questioned him again. In response to the thera’s questions, Yamaka said that he did not identify the Arahat with the physical body. The perception, the feeling, conformations (sa³khæra) or the consciousness. Nor did he believe that the Arahat existed else where without the rþpa, vedanæ or any other khandhæ. Therefore since the Arahat or a living entity is not to be found in the five khandhæs even before death, it makes no sense to speak of the Arahat’s annihilation after his parinibbæna.
Yamaka confessed his mistaken view. He was now free from it and he knew what to say about the destiny of the Arahat. If someone were to ask him, “What happens when the Arahat passes away? he would answer, “the death of the Arahat means the complete cessation of suffering inherent in the impermanent five khandhæs.”
This statement about the Arahat was confirmed by Særiputræ. The thera likened the khandhæs to the murderer who poses as a friend and said that identifying the khandhæs with atta is like welcoming the murderer, etc.
Here the thera Yamaka at first believed that the Arahat was annihilated after death, that there was nothing left. This belief presupposes the illusion of ego-entity and so the annihilation-view of Nibbæna is called ucchedaditthi, the view that Nibban means the negation of atta after death. When he realized the truth and attained sotæpanna, Yamaka said that the death of the Arahat means the complete extinction of suffering inherent in the impermanent five khandhæs.
To sum up the way to the cessation of suffering, failure to note seeing, hearing and other psycho-physical phenomena leads to the arising of avijjæ, ta¼hæ, upædæna, kamma and sa³khæra that in turn cause birth, old age and death in future. Mindfulness of all phenomena forestalls the five present causes viz, avijjæ, etc and the five consequences that involve suffering.
