the great Nibbana = annihilation, eternal, or something else thread

[ryanM]

Can Nibbana be an object of consciousness? I wouldn't think there is anything to be conscious of.

[Spiny Norman]

Can Nibbana be an object of consciousness? I wouldn't think there is anything to be conscious of.

Perhaps the unconditioned, as compared to the conditioned?

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .irel.html

[Akhandha]

Consciousness is a part of five aggregate.
So Nibbana is not consciousness.

So, it's unconscious state.

Like Superman, you mean. Is that even possible in your opinion?

Of course, it is possible. If you store your consciousness, you can do all you want. Consciousness (in my opinion) is like a seed everything can be re-deployed from again.

What is in your wish list after Parinibbana?

Freedom to do anything. I wouldn't like to get into a prison. It's useless to persuade me that unconscious state is the best bliss of all)

[SarathW]

Freedom to do anything.

Who said that you have to do things.
This is the unrest.

So, it's unconscious state.

No it is the remainder less perception and feeling.

[Akhandha]

Freedom to do anything.

Who said that you have to do things.
This is the unrest.

It's boring to death to do nothing! I hate doing nothing.

So, it's unconscious state.

No it is the remainder less perception and feeling.

no perception + no feeling = uncosciousness
no use of such a remainder.

[Nicolas]

It's boring to death to do nothing! I hate doing nothing.

Doing nothing is only boring if you have aversion to it, doing nothing is only hated if you have aversion to it.
What's so bad about doing nothing?
Blaise Pascal wrote: The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.
Why run around chasing things in the world that are anicca, dukkha, anatta?

[cappuccino]

Suffering from doing nothing is a description of samsara.

[SarathW]

It's boring to death to do nothing! I hate doing nothing.

This is one of the five hindrances.
You eliminate when you are in the first Jhana.

[freedom]

What I do not want to do is to go to my dad, mom or any relative's funeral, or run to the hospital because my son/daughter is sick.
What I do not want to do is to clean up the mess because my house is collapsed after a hurricane or a disaster.
What I do not want to do is to make many headache claims because I just got into a car accident.
What I do not want to do is to fight with robbers or bad people or in a war.
What I do not want to do is to fight for a terrible disease.
What I do not want to do is to go to hell or animal realm.
What I do not want to do is to run for my safety.
What I do not want to do is to see my love ones suffering.
What I do not want to do is to endure pain.

And so many more ...

I do not want to do any of those forever. If I can do nothing of those forever, that is really a bliss for me!

(Of course, we do not have to do many of the above in heaven, but even heaven does not guarantee that one will be free from hell forever.
Moreover, heavenly life does not guarantee that one will be free from all sufferings (according to what I know about Buddhism.))

[SarathW]

Doing nothing does not mean that you do not have Brahama Viharas.

[Mohan Gnanathilake]

The Pali word Nibbāna is formed of Ni and Vāna. Ni is a negative particle and Vāna means lusting or craving. “It is called Nibbāna, in that it is a departure from the craving which is called Vāna, lusting.” Literally, Nibbāna means non-attachment.
It may also be defined as the extinction of lust, hatred and ignorance. “The whole world is in flames,” says the Buddha. “By what fire is it kindled? By the fire of lust, hatred and ignorance, by the fire of birth, old age, death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief and despair it is kindled.”
It should not be understood that Nibbāna is a state of nothingness or annihilation owing to the fact that we cannot perceive it with our worldly knowledge. One cannot say that there exists no light just because the blind man does not see it. In that well-known story, too, the fish arguing with his friend, the turtle, triumphantly concluded that there exists no land.
Nibbāna of the Theravada Buddhists is neither a mere nothingness nor a state of annihilation, but what it is no words can adequately express.

***Submitted by Mohan Barathi Gnanathilake***

The source of this post is “Buddhism in a Nutshell” by Venerable Narada Mahathera.

[Mohan Gnanathilake]

The Pali word Nibbāna is formed of Ni and Vāna. Ni is a negative particle and Vāna means lusting or craving. “It is called Nibbāna, in that it is a departure from the craving which is called Vāna, lusting.” Literally, Nibbāna means non-attachment.
It may also be defined as the extinction of lust, hatred and ignorance. “The whole world is in flames,” says the Buddha. “By what fire is it kindled? By the fire of lust, hatred and ignorance, by the fire of birth, old age, death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief and despair it is kindled.”
It should not be understood that Nibbāna is a state of nothingness or annihilation owing to the fact that we cannot perceive it with our worldly knowledge. One cannot say that there exists no light just because the blind man does not see it. In that well-known story, too, the fish arguing with his friend, the turtle, triumphantly concluded that there exists no land.
Nibbāna of the Theravada Buddhists is neither a mere nothingness nor a state of annihilation, but what it is no words can adequately express.

***Submitted by Mohan Barathi Gnanathilake***

The source of this post is “Buddhism in a Nutshell” by Venerable Narada Mahathera.

As a Theravada Buddhist I believe that only when all defilements have been eradicated will there be no cause any more which can produce a next life, and thus there will be no more rebirth. That means the end of all sorrow. Nibbāna is the end of rebirth because nibbāna is the end of defilements.

People may think that it is not very desirable not to be born again. If we have not attained nibbāna we cannot imagine what nibbāna is like. It does not make much sense therefore to speculate about nibbāna. At the present moment we can experience our defilements; we can experience the sorrow which is caused in the world by greed, hatred and ignorance.

When wisdom is highly developed nibbāna can be realized. Defilements are so deeply rooted that they can only be eradicated stage by stage.

[Mohan Gnanathilake]

How is Nibbana to be attained?
It is by following the Noble Eightfold Path which consists of Right Understanding (sammā-diṭṭhi), Right Thought (sammā-sankappa), Right Speech (Sammā-vācā), Right Action (sammā-kammanta), Right Livelihood (sammā-ājīva), Right Effort (sammā-vāyāma), Right Mindfulness (sammā-sati), and Right Concentration (sammā-samādhi).

***Submitted by Mohan Barathi Gnanathilake***

The source of this post is “Buddhism in a Nutshell” by Venerable Narada Mahathera

[Mohan Gnanathilake]

How is Nibbana to be attained?
It is by following the Noble Eightfold Path which consists of Right Understanding (sammā-diṭṭhi), Right Thought (sammā-sankappa), Right Speech (Sammā-vācā), Right Action (sammā-kammanta), Right Livelihood (sammā-ājīva), Right Effort (sammā-vāyāma), Right Mindfulness (sammā-sati), and Right Concentration (sammā-samādhi).

***Submitted by Mohan Barathi Gnanathilake***

The source of this post is “Buddhism in a Nutshell” by Venerable Narada Mahathera

As a Theravada Buddhist I believe that anything in the world can urge us to develop the Noble Eightfold Path, until the goal is attained: the eradication of attachment or ‘lobha’, aversion or ‘dosa’ and ignorance ‘moha’.A very precise knowledge of all the different phenomena which appear should be developed in order to see them as they are, as Soul-lessness or ‘annattā’, beyond control. This is the development of the Noble Eightfold Path.

[SamKR]

How is Nibbana to be attained?
...

"Nibbana to be attained" sounds oxymoron to me because Nibbana is the end of attainments (or the obsessive need to attain anything), and it it a good example of limitation of language/concepts to talk about what is beyond concepts, and of course there is a need to use different seemingly contradictory statements aimed towards people at different levels of understanding.