2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Is nirvana a permanent state?
You may find the statement, "Nirvana is unconditioned reality." to be nonsense, but that statement has textual support from the Pali canon and notable scholar-monks, such as Bhikkhu Bodhi. Nibbana is described by the Buddha as a "dhatu,' i.e., element or realm. Bhikkhu Bodhi's own view as expressed in In the Buddha's Words is that Nibbana seems to refer to both the cessation of greed, hatred, and delusions, and the Unconditioned, Deathless element or realm realizable only with the cessation of the defilements. The Pali Canon describes that the Noble Ones (the 4 pairs of streamwinners, once-returners, nonreturners, and arahants) perceive Nibbana as an object of meditation with their "Dhamma Eye." The Buddha calls Nibbana the Unborn, Deathless, the Island, the Sanctuary, the Un-ailing state.
I don't think numbersev meant that Nibbana was a physical reality, since physical things are by their very nature conditioned and numberserv says that Nibbana is unconditioned.
I agree that Nibbana is not "reality itself" because the Dhamma describes two aspects of so-called reality, Samsara and Nibbana, which the Northern Transmission considers coextensive with ignorance being what keeps one from finding the peace of the Unconditioned within the realm of conditions.
Comment by redsparks2025 at 25/02/2025 at 02:36 UTC*
1 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I don't think the statement of "*Nirvana is unconditioned reality*" to be nonsense *per se* but either ambiguous or incomplete because there is (a) our physical reality and (b) our perceived reality and (c) some type of ultimate and/or transcendent reality beyond death where some say consciousness without a physical form resides .... and then in Buddhism there is one stage further to that ultimate/transcendental reality called sunyata (voidness) where all things arise from which would include our consciousness.
Also don't forget that the next stage after achieving nirvana in our physical form is achieving parinirvana[1] that is said what Gautama Buddha achieved after death. There is not a single stage of nirvana but several and they are all dependent upon mind.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parinirvana
So circling back to the OP's original question "*Is nirvana a permanent state?*" my answer would be certainly not as that would defy one of Buddhism core principles of impermanence and furthermore especially not if one achieves that state in one's physical form where one's mind is still subject to all the mental defilements especially in the lay community with all it's worldly concerns.
How long can you hold your mind in bliss or even in equanimity whilst being surrounded by all the suffering in the world? And where does the "*blown out*" (i.e., nirvana) mind truly reside? And has this discussion blown your mind or was there even a mind there to have been blown out?