|
The Meaning of Nir’vana
The ancient
Sanskrit word ‘nirvana’ is a metaphor. The metaphor is a user friendly
analogy (or simile) for the ambiguous notion of blowing or going out, i.e.
like a fire or a storm. The metaphor
‘nirvana’ is as accurate/inaccurate as the metaphor ‘sunrise’. Everyone has
experienced a sunrise … BUT …. the
sun doesn’t actually rise, does it? During his 40
year long career, the Buddha did not once provide an accurate factual
description or analysis of the biophysical, possible neural mechanics of the
going out (or going beyond) process. Consequently no one knows for sure precisely
what he meant when he used the term, that is to say, ‘IF’ he used the term at
all and ‘IF’ it was as important to him as it was to his later populist Mahayana
followers needing to ‘sell’ a positive goal. What the (very
secular) metaphor ‘nirvana’ appears to have been intended to describe is
‘having come to rest’. You’ve attained nirvana (i.e. your inner storm (of
confusion, emotions, good or bad intentions) has ceased to blow, or your
inner fire has been extinguished) when you’re @ rest, when you‘re in the ‘On
Standby’ or ‘Shut down’ mode. So, nirvana basically
means: RIP (@rest = in peace) There are
two kinds of @rest states: 1.
@ relative rest, for instance when your running (your car) in neutral,
i.e. on stand-by. 2.
@ absolute rest, when you’ve turned off (your car), i.e. after ‘shut
down’. @ Relative
rest nirvana is achieved in two ways. Firstly,
when you’ve reached (and stopped at) your destination. More precisely stated,
when you’ve completed a task (and stopped). Completion is self-signalled with
a surge of released energy (called enlightenment), self-represented as the various
intensities of elation, i.e. happiness, joy, bliss, rapture and so on, the
formere gradually dissipating into (the feeling of) @rest ≈ nirvana, i.e. when you ‘wait’‘on
standby’. And
secondly, before you start your journey (or task), i.e. before GO, to wit,
‘The calm before the storm.’ The majority of early (non-religious) Buddhist
meditation – and Yoga – techniques are ‘return to before GO’ or ‘Don’t Start’
(i.e. prevent (or suppress) birth or rebirth) exercises. They return to @
rest status ≈
on standby (or
pre ‘turn on’) mode prior to the stress (or turbulence; see Patanjali’s Yoga
Sutra No 2) of task (or journey) performance (i.e. coming alive, ‘arising’). It’s in
between ‘GO’ and ‘STOP’ that stress (Sanskrit: samsara = the stressful
process of a life cycle = a life) happens. In between ‘GO’ and ‘STOP’ you
(i.e. a bio-logical device processing to completion = fulfilment) are
undecided, incomplete, imperfect, stressed; indeed distressed if you can’t
complete. The level of distress resulting from non-completion of a task is
self-signalled (i.e. interpreted) as the various intensities of (energy) depression
(to wit: en-darkenment), further self-represented with the feeling icons of unhappiness,
misery, agony, and so on. So, in so
far as the vague metaphor nirvana can be understood at all, it appears to
mean: function (i.e. task processing) stopped, ended, ceased, abated,
extinguished and so on. When stopped, peace (i.e. on ‘standby’ or shut down)
happens, and suffering (Pali: dukkha), resulting from stress and distress, has
ended. There’s
really nothing noble (Pali: Aryan), spiritual (i.e. life giving), mystical (i.e.
mysterious) or religious, or good or bad about (the notion of) NIRVANA,
unless a corrupt Buddhist priest makes it so in order to sweeten his sales
pitch.
|