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The Three
Buddhist Nibbānas
Three
nibbānas (i.e. nirvanas) are mentioned in the Buddhist Theravada canon.
Two in Ittivutakasutta (44)
and 1 in the
Parinibbānasutta. 1. Nibbāna 1 is attained in this life.
It is either of short duration or life-long. The persona (i.e. an ‘emerged phenomenon’ 1 hence sans ‘inherent existence’, so the Heart Sutra) who attains Nibbāna 1 is
one ‘who has exhausted the taints, who has lived out the life, done what was to be done, laid down the burden,
reached the highest goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and who is
completely liberated through final
knowledge. His five sense-faculties remain, owing
to the presence of which he still encounters the agreeable 2. Nibbāna 2 is attained in this life
if and when a persona (i.e. an emerged phenomenan)1 who has
lived out the life…. and is completely liberated through final knowledge. All
in him that is felt will, since he does not relish it, become cool here in
this very life: this is called the element of Nibbāna without result of
past clinging left.” 3. Nibbāna 3 happens when a person who
as achieved Nibbāna 2 dies, becomes wholly
extinct (= unborn, since karmic residue and the life drivers have been
eliminated), therefore cannot be reborn. Whether or not the ‘emerged
phenomenon’ that finally ends in/at Nirvana 3, hence as unborn, can respond
to its achievement with bliss is a matter of belief (not fact). Some
Buddhists refuse to comment on the parameters, if any, of Nibbāna 3. Others claim that
Nirvana 3 is ‘A Land of Bliss’. The ‘life’ of a samskara ≈ an
‘emerged phenomenon’ ≈ a persona
1.
“Yan kiñci samudayadhamman sabban tan nirodhadhammanti.” = “Whatever arises due to conditions ceases when the conditions (for its arising) cease.” Vin.Mv. 1:6 Etymology of the word nirvanaTurning a fiction into a fact |
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