Alikening Nibbāna to Steadfast Assurance
Alikening Nibbāna to Steadfast Assurance
I once had a feeling, an imagining, that Nibbāna was a place of ultimate comfort - like the feeling a child has when he is tucked into bed at night by his mother. No fear of the dark. Just a lasting feeling of saftey into the night. Now i recall that, during this imagining, the candle was blown out, the room went dark, and flashes of consciousness sparked everywhere. Tidings of comfort and joy. Nibbāna must be a place devoid of fears and full of assurances. Dispelling ill-will to conquer fear and usher in comfort, and trust. Here's to non-hatred!
Like the three marks of conditioned existence, this world in itself is filthy, hostile, and crowded
Re: Alikening Nibbāna to Steadfast Assurance
The Questions of King Milinda http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebsut045.htm#naturePondera wrote:I once had a feeling, an imagining, that Nibbāna was a place of ultimate comfort - like the feeling a child has when he is tucked into bed at night by his mother. No fear of the dark. Just a lasting feeling of saftey into the night. Now i recall that, during this imagining, the candle was blown out, the room went dark, and flashes of consciousness sparked everywhere. Tidings of comfort and joy. Nibbāna must be a place devoid of fears and full of assurances. Dispelling ill-will to conquer fear and usher in comfort, and trust. Here's to non-hatred!
The Nature of Nirvana
King Milinda said: "I will grant you, Nagasena, that Nirvana is absolute Ease, and that nevertheless one cannot point to its form or shape, its duration or size, either by simile or explanation, by reason or by argument. But is there perhaps some quality of Nirvana which it shares with other things, and which lends itself to a metaphorical explanation?"
"Its form, O king, cannot be elucidated by similes, but its qualities can."
"How good to hear that, Nagasena! Speak then, quickly, so that I may have an explanation of even one of the aspects of Nirvana! Appease the fever of my heart! Allay it with the cool sweet breezes of your words!"
"Nirvana shares one quality with the lotus, two with water, three with medicine, ten with space, three with the wishing jewel, and five with a mountain peak. As the lotus is unstained by water, so is Nirvana unstained by all the defilements. As cool water allays feverish heat, so also Nirvana is cool and allays the fever of all the passions. Moreover, as water removes the thirst of men and beasts who are exhausted, parched, thirsty, and overpowered by heat, so also Nirvana removes the craving for sensuous enjoyments, the craving for further becoming, the craving for the cessation of becoming. As medicine protects from the torments of poison, so Nirvana from the torments of the poisonous passions. Moreover, as medicine puts an end to sickness, so Nirvana to all sufferings. Finally, Nirvana and medicine both give security. And these are the ten qualities which Nirvana shares with space. Neither is born, grows old, dies, passes away, or is reborn; both are unconquerable, cannot be stolen, are unsupported, are roads respectively for birds and Arhats to journey on, are unobstructed and infinite. Like the wishing jewel, Nirvana grants all one can desire, brings joy, and sheds light. As a mountain peak is lofty and exalted, so is Nirvana. As a mountain peak is unshakable, so is Nirvana. As a mountain peak is inaccessible, so is Nirvana inaccessible to all the passions. As no seeds can grow on a mountain peak, so the seeds of all the passions cannot grow in Nirvana. And finally, as a mountain peak is free from all desire to please or displease, so is Nirvana."
"Well said, Nagasena! So it is, and as such I accept it."
"He, the Blessed One, is indeed the Noble Lord, the Perfectly Enlightened One;
He is impeccable in conduct and understanding, the Serene One, the Knower of the Worlds;
He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained; he is Teacher of gods and men; he is Awake and Holy. "
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"The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One,
Apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation,
Leading to liberation, to be experienced individually by the wise. "
He is impeccable in conduct and understanding, the Serene One, the Knower of the Worlds;
He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained; he is Teacher of gods and men; he is Awake and Holy. "
--------------------------------------------
"The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One,
Apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation,
Leading to liberation, to be experienced individually by the wise. "
Re: Alikening Nibbāna to Steadfast Assurance
Thank you for that. It might have been me feeling this way, but for quite a few years, from 2003 till now, those years in which the world was in the supposed economic recess, I'd lost touch with a feeling of security and comfort within my own surroundings and my own community. Now it seems that comfort has returned. Personally I understand it as having arisen out of the thresholds of fear and inner aggression that I've been working to subdue. I wonder if this is only happening in me or could whole pockets of our world be finding a return to a sense of community as the fear spread by real threats and misconceived alike have withered in many respects? Hmm. Either way - I like it.
Pondéra
Pondéra
Like the three marks of conditioned existence, this world in itself is filthy, hostile, and crowded