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by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Back in the days of the Buddha, nirvana (nibbana) had a
verb of its own:
nibbuti. It meant to "go out,"
like a flame. Because fire was thought to be in a state of
entrapment as it burned — both clinging to and trapped by the fuel
on which it fed — its going out was seen as an unbinding. To go
out was to be unbound. Sometimes another verb was used — parinibbuti
— with the "pari-" meaning total or all-around,
to indicate that the person unbound, unlike fire unbound, would
never again be trapped.
Now that nirvana has become an English word, it should have its
own English verb to convey the sense of "being unbound" as
well. At present, we say that a person "reaches" nirvana
or "enters" nirvana, implying that nibbana is a place
where you can go. But nirvana is most emphatically not a place. It's
realized only when the mind stops defining itself in terms of place:
of here, or there, or between the two.
This may seem like a word-chopper's problem — what can a verb
or two do to your practice? — but the idea of nirvana as a place
has created severe misunderstandings in the past, and it could
easily create misunderstandings now. There was a time when some
philosophers in India reasoned that if nirvana is one place and
samsara another, then entering into nirvana leaves you stuck: you've
limited your range of movement, for you can't get back to samsara.
Thus to solve this problem they invented what they thought was a new
kind of nirvana: an unestablished nirvana, in which one could be in
both places — nirvana and samsara — at once.
However, these philosophers misunderstood two important points
about the Buddha's teachings. The first was that neither samsara nor
nirvana is a place. Samsara is a process of creating places, even
whole worlds, (this is called becoming) and then wandering
through them (this is called birth). Nirvana is the end of
this process. You may be able to be in two places at once — or
even develop a sense of self so infinite that you can occupy all
places at once — but you can't feed a process and experience its
end at the same time. You're either feeding samsara or you're not.
If you feel the need to course freely through both samsara and
nirvana, you're simply engaging in more samsara-ing and keeping
yourself trapped.
The second point is that nirvana, from the very beginning, was
realized through unestablished consciousness — one that doesn't
come or go or stay in place. There's no way that anything
unestablished can get stuck anywhere at all, for it's not only
non-localized but also undefined.
The idea of a religious ideal as lying beyond space and
definition is not exclusive to the Buddha's teachings, but issues of
locality and definition, in the Buddha's eyes, had a specific
psychological meaning. This is why the non-locality of nirvana is
important to understand.
Just as all phenomena are rooted in desire, consciousness
localizes itself through passion. Passion is what creates the
"there" on which consciousness can land or get
established, whether the "there" is a form, feeling,
perception, thought-construct, or a type of consciousness itself.
Once consciousness gets established on any of these aggregates, it
becomes attached and then proliferates, feeding on everything around
it and creating all sorts of havoc. Wherever there's attachment,
that's where you get defined as a being. You create an identity
there, and in so doing you're limited there. Even if the
"there" is an infinite sense of awareness grounding,
surrounding, or permeating everything else, it's still limited, for
"grounding" and so forth are aspects of place. Wherever
there's place, no matter how subtle, passion lies latent, looking
for more food to feed on.
If, however, the passion can be removed, there's no more
"there" there. One sutta illustrates this with a simile:
the sun shining through the eastern wall of a house and landing on
the western wall. If the western wall, the ground beneath it, and
the waters beneath the ground were all removed, the sunlight
wouldn't land. In the same way, if passion for form, etc., could be
removed, consciousness would have no "where" to land, and
so would become unestablished. This doesn't mean that consciousness
would be annihilated, simply that — like the sunlight — it would
now have no locality. With no locality, it would no longer be
defined.
This is why the consciousness of nirvana is said to be
"without surface" (anidassanam), for it doesn't
land. Because the consciousness-aggregate covers only consciousness
that is near or far, past, present, or future — i.e., in
connection with space and time — consciousness without surface is
not included in the aggregates. It's not eternal because eternity is
a function of time. And because non-local also means undefined,
the Buddha insisted that an awakened person — unlike ordinary
people — can't be located or defined in any relation to the
aggregates in this life; after death, he/she can't be described as
existing, not existing, neither, or both, because descriptions can
apply only to definable things.
The essential step toward this non-localized, undefined
realization is to cut back on the proliferations of consciousness.
This first involves contemplating the drawbacks of keeping
consciousness trapped in the process of feeding. This contemplation
gives urgency to the next steps: bringing the mind to oneness in
concentration, gradually refining that oneness, and then dropping it
to zero. The drawbacks of feeding are most graphically described in Samyutta Nikaya
XII.63, A Son's Flesh. The process of gradually refining
oneness is probably best described in Majjhima Nikaya 121, The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness, while the
drop to zero is best described in the Buddha's famous instructions
to Bahiya: "'In reference to the seen, there will be only the
seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the
sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the
cognized.' That is how you should train yourself. When for you there
will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in
reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed,
only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bahiya, there
is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in
connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you
there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This,
just this, is the end of stress."
With no here or there or between the two, you obviously can't use
the verb "enter" or "reach" to describe this
realization, even metaphorically. Maybe we should make the word
nirvana into a verb itself: "When there is no you in connection
with that, you nirvana." That way we can indicate that
unbinding is an action unlike any other, and we can head off any
mistaken notion about getting "stuck" in total freedom.
Related Readings
"All beings subsist on nutriment." [Khuddakapatha
4]
Then Ven. Radha went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having
bowed down to him sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said
to the Blessed One: "'A being,' lord. 'A being,' it's said.
To what extent is one said to be 'a being'?"
"Any desire, passion, delight, or craving for form, Radha:
when one is caught up (satta) there, tied up (visatta)
there, one is said to be 'a being (satta).'
"Any desire, passion, delight, or craving for feeling...
perception... fabrications... consciousness, Radha: when one is
caught up there, tied up there, one is said to be 'a being.'"
— Samyutta Nikaya XXIII.2
"If one stays obsessed with form, that's what one is
measured (limited) by. Whatever one is measured by, that's how one
is classified.
"If one stays obsessed with feeling...
"If one stays obsessed with perception...
"If one stays obsessed with fabrications...
"If one stays obsessed with consciousness, that's what one
is measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that's how one is
classified.
"But if one doesn't stay obsessed with form, that's not
what one is measured by. Whatever one isn't measured by, that's
not how one is classified.
"If one doesn't stay obsessed with feeling...
"If one doesn't stay obsessed with perception...
"If one doesn't stay obsessed with fabrications...
"If one doesn't stay obsessed with consciousness, that's
not what one is measured by. Whatever one isn't measured by,
that's not how one is classified."
— Samyutta Nikaya XXII.36
"If one stays obsessed with form, that's what one is
measured (limited) by.
"One attached is unreleased; one unattached is released.
Should consciousness, when standing, stand attached to (a
physical) form, supported by form (as its object), established on
form, watered with delight, it would exhibit growth, increase,
& proliferation.
[Similarly with feeling, perception, and fabrications.]
"If a monk abandons passion for the property of form...
feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness, then owing
to the abandonment of passion, the support is cut off, and there
is no base for consciousness. Consciousness, thus unestablished,
not proliferating, not performing any function, is released. Owing
to its release, it is steady. Owing to its steadiness, it is
contented. Owing to its contentment, it is not agitated. Not
agitated, he (the monk) is totally unbound right within. He
discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task
done. There is nothing further for this world.'"
— Samyutta Nikaya XXII.53
"What one intends, what one arranges, and what one
obsesses about:
This is a support for the stationing of
consciousness. There being a support, there is a landing of
consciousness. When that consciousness lands and grows, there is
the production of renewed becoming in the future. When there is
the production of renewed becoming in the future, there is future
birth, aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress,
& despair. Such is the origination of this entire mass of
suffering & stress.
"If one doesn't intend and doesn't arrange, but one still
obsesses [about something], this is a support for the stationing
of consciousness. There being a support, there is a landing of
consciousness. When that consciousness lands and grows, there is
the production of renewed becoming in the future. When there is
the production of renewed becoming in the future, there is future
birth, aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress,
& despair. Such [too] is the origination of this entire mass
of suffering & stress.
"But when one doesn't intend, arrange, or obsess [about
anything], there is no support for the stationing of
consciousness. There being no support, there is no landing of
consciousness. When that consciousness doesn't land & grow,
there is no production of renewed becoming in the future. When
there is no production of renewed becoming in the future, there is
no future birth, aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain,
distress, or despair. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of
suffering & stress."
— Samyutta Nikaya XII.38
"There are these four nutriments for the maintenance of
beings who have come into being or for the support of those in
search of a place to be born. Which four? Physical food, gross or
refined; contact as the second, intellectual intention the third,
and consciousness the fourth. These are the four nutriments for
the maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the
support of those in search of a place to be born.
"Where there is passion, delight, & craving for the
nutriment of physical food, consciousness lands there and grows.
Where consciousness lands and grows, name-&-form alights.
Where name-&-form alights, there is the growth of
fabrications. Where there is the growth of fabrications, there is
the production of renewed becoming in the future. Where there is
the production of renewed becoming in the future, there is future
birth, aging, & death, together, I tell you, with sorrow,
affliction, & despair.
[Similarly with the nutriment of contact, intellectual
intention, and consciousness.]
"Just as — when there is dye, lac, yellow orpiment,
indigo, or crimson — a dyer or painter would paint the picture
of a woman or a man, complete in all its parts, on a well-polished
panel or wall, or on a piece of cloth; in the same way, where
there is passion, delight, & craving for the nutriment of
physical food... contact... intellectual intention...
consciousness, consciousness lands there and grows. Where
consciousness lands and grows, name-&-form alights. Where
name-&-form alights, there is the growth of fabrications.
Where there is the growth of fabrications, there is the production
of renewed becoming in the future. Where there is the production
of renewed becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging,
& death, together, I tell you, with sorrow, affliction, &
despair.
"Where there is no passion for the nutriment of physical
food, where there is no delight, no craving, then consciousness
does not land there or grow. Where consciousness does not land or
grow, name-&-form does not alight. Where name-&-form does
not alight, there is no growth of fabrications. Where there is no
growth of fabrications, there is no production of renewed becoming
in the future. Where there is no production of renewed becoming in
the future, there is no future birth, aging, & death. That, I
tell you, has no sorrow, affliction, or despair.
[Similarly with the nutriment of contact, intellectual
intention, and consciousness.]
"Just as if there were a roofed house or a roofed hall
having windows on the north, the south, or the east. When the sun
rises, and a ray has entered by way of the window, where does it
land?"
"On the western wall, lord."
"And if there is no western wall, where does it
land?"
"On the ground, lord."
"And if there is no ground, where does it land?"
"On the water, lord."
"And if there is no water, where does it land?"
"It does not land, lord."
"In the same way, where there is no passion for the
nutriment of physical food... contact... intellectual intention...
consciousness, where there is no delight, no craving, then
consciousness does not land there or grow. Where consciousness
does not land or grow, name-&-form does not alight. Where
name-&-form does not alight, there is no growth of
fabrications. Where there is no growth of fabrications, there is
no production of renewed becoming in the future. Where there is no
production of renewed becoming in the future, there is no future
birth, aging, & death. That, I tell you, has no sorrow,
affliction, or despair."
— Samyutta Nikaya XII.64
"One neither fabricates nor mentally fashions for the sake
of becoming or un-becoming. This being the case, one is not
sustained by anything in the world (doesn't cling to anything in
the world). Unsustained, one is not agitated. Unagitated, one is
totally unbound right within. One discerns that 'Birth is ended,
the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further
for this world.'
"Sensing a feeling of pleasure, one discerns that it is
fleeting, not grasped at, not relished. Sensing a feeling of
pain... Sensing a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain, one
discerns that it is fleeting, not grasped at, not relished.
Sensing a feeling of pleasure, one senses it disjoined from it.
Sensing a feeling of pain... Sensing a feeling of neither pleasure
nor pain, one senses it disjoined from it."
— Majjhima Nikaya 140
Nandaka: "Just as if a skilled butcher or butcher's
apprentice, having killed a cow, were to carve it up with a sharp
carving knife so that — without damaging the substance of the
inner flesh, without damaging the substance of the outer hide —
he would cut, sever, & detach only the skin muscles,
connective tissues, & attachments in between. Having cut,
severed, & detached the outer skin, and then covering the cow
again with that very skin, if he were to say that the cow was
joined to the skin just as it had been: would he be speaking
rightly?"
"No, venerable sir. Why is that? Because if the skilled
butcher or butcher's apprentice, having killed a cow, were to...
cut, sever, & detach only the skin muscles, connective
tissues, & attachments in between; and... having covered the
cow again with that very skin, then no matter how much he might
say that the cow was joined to the skin just as it had been, the
cow would still be disjoined from the skin."
"This simile, sisters, I have given to convey a message.
The message is this: The substance of the inner flesh stands for
the six internal media; the substance of the outer hide, for the
six external media. The skin muscles, connective tissues, &
attachments in between stand for passion & delight. And the
sharp knife stands for noble discernment — the noble discernment
that cuts, severs, & detaches the defilements, fetters, &
bonds in between."
— Majjhima Nikaya 146
Gone to the beyond of becoming,
you let go of in front,
let go of behind,
let go of between.
With a heart everywhere let-go,
you don't come again to birth
& aging.
— Dhp 348
Then the Blessed One went with a large number of monks to the
Black Rock on the slope of Isigili. From afar he saw Ven. Vakkali
lying dead on a couch. Now at that time a smokiness, a darkness
was moving to the east, moved to the west, moved to the north, the
south, above, below, moved to the intermediate directions. The
Blessed One said, "Monks, do you see that smokiness, that
darkness...?"
"Yes, Lord."
"That is Mara, the Evil One. He is searching for the
consciousness of Vakkali the clansman: "Where is the
consciousness of Vakkali the clansman established?" But,
monks, it is through unestablished consciousness that Vakkali the
clansman has become totally unbound."
— Samyutta Nikaya XXII.87
Upasiva:
He who has reached the end:
Does he not exist,
or is he for eternity free from dis-ease?
Please, sage, declare this to me
as this phenomenon (dhamma) has been known by you.
The Buddha:
One who has reached the end has no criterion (limit)
by which anyone would say that —
for him it doesn't exist.
When all phenomena (dhamma)
are done away with,
all means of speaking
are done away with as well.
— Sn V.6
"What do you think, Anuradha: Do you regard form as the
Tathagata?"
"No, lord."
"Do you regard feeling as the Tathagata?"
"No, lord."
"Do you regard perception as the Tathagata?"
"No, lord."
"Do you regard fabrications as the Tathagata?"
"No, lord."
"Do you regard consciousness as the Tathagata?"
"No, lord."
"What do you think, Anuradha: Do you regard the Tathagata
as being in form?... Elsewhere than form?... In feeling?...
Elsewhere than feeling?... In perception?... Elsewhere than
perception?... In fabrications?... Elsewhere than fabrications?...
In consciousness?... Elsewhere than consciousness?"
"No, lord."
"What do you think, Anuradha: Do you regard the Tathagata
as form-feeling-perception-fabrications-consciousness?"
"No, lord."
"Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is without
form, without feeling, without perception, without fabrications,
without consciousness?"
"No, lord."
"And so, Anuradha — when you can't pin down the
Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it
proper for you to declare, 'Friends, the Tathagata — the supreme
man, the superlative man, attainer of the superlative attainment
— being described, is described otherwise than with these four
positions: The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist after
death, both does & does not exist after death, neither exists
nor does not exist after death'?"
"No, lord."
"Very good, Anuradha. Very good. Both formerly & now,
it is only stress that I describe, and the cessation of
stress."
— Samyutta Nikaya XXII.86
"But, Master Gotama, the monk whose mind is thus released:
Where does he reappear?"
"'Reappear,' Vaccha, doesn't apply."
"In that case, Master Gotama, he does not reappear."
"'Does not reappear,' Vaccha, doesn't apply."
"...both does & does not reappear."
"...doesn't apply."
"...neither does nor does not reappear."
"...doesn't apply."
"How is it, Master Gotama, when Master Gotama is asked if
the monk reappears... does not reappear... both does & does
not reappear... neither does nor does not reappear, he says, '...
doesn't apply' in each case. At this point, Master Gotama, I am
befuddled; at this point, confused. The modicum of clarity coming
to me from your earlier conversation is now obscured."
"Of course you're befuddled, Vaccha. Of course you're
confused. Deep, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, hard to
realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture,
subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise. For those with other views,
other practices, other satisfactions, other aims, other teachers,
it is difficult to know. That being the case, I will now put some
questions to you. Answer as you see fit. How do you construe this,
Vaccha: If a fire were burning in front of you, would you know
that, 'This fire is burning in front of me'?"
"...yes..."
"And suppose someone were to ask you, Vaccha, 'This fire
burning in front of you, dependent on what is it burning?' Thus
asked, how would you reply?"
"...I would reply, 'This fire burning in front of me is
burning dependent on grass & timber as its sustenance.'"
"If the fire burning in front of you were to go out, would
you know that, 'This fire burning in front of me has gone
out'?"
"...yes..."
"And suppose someone were to ask you, 'This fire that has
gone out in front of you, in which direction from here has it
gone? East? West? North? Or south?' Thus asked, how would you
reply?"
"That doesn't apply, Master Gotama. Any fire burning
dependent on a sustenance of grass & timber, being unnourished
— from having consumed that sustenance and not being offered any
other — is classified simply as 'out' (unbound)."
"Even so, Vaccha, any physical form by which one
describing the Tathagata would describe him: That the Tathagata
has abandoned, its root destroyed, like an uprooted palm tree,
deprived of the conditions of existence, not destined for future
arising. Freed from the classification of form, Vaccha, the
Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard to fathom, like the sea.
'Reappears' doesn't apply. 'Does not reappear' doesn't apply.
'Both does & does not reappear' doesn't apply. 'Neither
reappears nor does not reappear' doesn't apply.
"Any feeling... Any perception... Any mental
fabrication...
"Any consciousness by which one describing the Tathagata
would describe him: That the Tathagata has abandoned, its root
destroyed, like an uprooted palm tree, deprived of the conditions
of existence, not destined for future arising. Freed from the
classification of consciousness, Vaccha, the Tathagata is deep,
boundless, hard to fathom, like the sea. 'Reappears' doesn't
apply. 'Does not reappear' doesn't apply. 'Both does & does
not reappear' doesn't apply. 'Neither reappears nor does not
reappear' doesn't apply."
— Majjhima Nikaya 72
"Consciousness without surface, without end, luminous all
around, does not partake of the solidity of earth, the liquidity
of water, the radiance of fire, the windiness of wind, the
divinity of devas [and so on through a list of the various levels
of godhood to] the allness of the All."
— Majjhima Nikaya 49
Consciousness without surface,
without end,
luminous all around:
Here water, earth, fire, & wind
have no footing.
Here long & short
coarse & fine
fair & foul
name & form
are all brought to an end.
With the cessation of [the aggregate of] consciousness
each is here brought to an end.
— Digha Nikaya 11
Not hoarding,
having understood food,
their pasture — emptiness
& freedom without sign:
their trail,
like that of birds through space,
can't be traced.
Effluents ended,
independent of nutriment,
their pasture — emptiness
& freedom without sign:
their trail,
like that of birds through space,
can't be traced.
— Dhammapada 92-93
| Source: Copyright
© 2005 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Reproduced and reformatted from
Access to Insight edition © 2005 For free distribution. This
work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and
redistributed in any medium. It is the author's wish, however,
that any such republication and redistribution be made available
to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and that
translations and other derivative works be clearly marked as
such. |
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