Nibbana [nibbaana] is the culmination of the
Buddhist quest for perfection and happiness. In order to understand
the meaning of this term it is useful to refer to the verse
attributed to Kisa Gotami when she saw Prince Siddhattha returning
to the palace from the park on the eve of his great renunciation.
She declared:
Nibbutaa nuuna saa maataa, nibbuto nuuna so pitaa,
Nibbutaa nuuna saa naarii, yassaayam iidiso patii.1
"Happy/contented/peaceful indeed is the mother (who has such a
son), happy indeed is the father (who has such a son), happy indeed
is the woman who has such a one as her husband."
Nibbuta (from nir + v.r)
is often treated as the past participle of the
verb nibbaayati, andnibbaana is
the nominal form of that verb. It means happiness, contentment, and
peace.Nibbaayati also means to extinguish, to blow
out as in the blowing out of a lamp.2 Nibbana is so called
because it is the blowing out of the fires of greed, hatred, and
delusion (raagaggi, dosaggi, mohaggi) .3 When these fires are
blown out peace is attained, and one becomes completely cooled
— siitibhuuta .4 It is sometimes
conjectured that Nibbana is called cool because the Buddha preached
in a warm country, where the cool was appreciated as comfortable.
Had he taught in a cold climate, he might have described Nibbana in
terms of warmth. But it is certain that the term "cool" was chosen
to convey a literal psychological reality.5 Anger makes us hot and
restless. We use expressions such as "boiling with anger," and they
clearly express the intensity of the aggressive emotion. When such
negative emotions are completely eradicated, never to arise again,
the temperament has to be described as cool.
Nibbana is a state to be attained here and now in this very
life6 and not a state to be
attained only after death. In terms of living
experience Nibbana can be characterized by four special
attributes: happiness, moral perfection, realization, and freedom.
We shall take these up for discussion one by one.
Nibbana is described as the highest happiness, the supreme state of
bliss.7 Those who have attained
Nibbana live in utter bliss, free from hatred and mental illness
amongst those who are hateful and mentally ill.8 Sukha in
Paali denotes both happiness and pleasure. In English happiness
denotes more a sense of mental ease while pleasure denotes physical
well being. The Paali word sukha extends to both
these aspects and it is certain (as will be shown below) that
mental and physical bliss is experienced by one who has attained
Nibbana.
The experience of non-sensuous physical bliss for limited periods
is possible even before the attainment of Nibbana through the
practice of jhaana or meditative absorption. The
Saamaññaphala Sutta describes these physical experiences with the
help of eloquent similes.9 When bath powder is
kneaded with water into a neat wet ball, the moisture touches every
part of the ball but does not ooze out; similarly, the body of the
adept in the first jhaana is drenched and suffused with joy and
pleasure born of detachment from sense pleasures (vivekaja.m
piitisukha.m). The experience in the second jhaana is
elucidated with a different simile. A deep pool filled to the brim
with clear cool water is fed by underground springs, yet the waters
do not overflow and no part of the pool remains untouched by the
cool waters. Similarly joy and pleasure born of concentration
(samaadhija.m piitisukha.m) pervade the body of the
meditator in the second jhaana. The simile for the third jhaana is
a lotus born in water, grown in water, fully submerged in water,
and drawing nourishment from water, with no part of the lotus
remaining untouched by the cool water. Thus happiness/pleasure
suffuses, drenches, and permeates the entire body of the adept in
the third jhaana. These are the experiences of non-sensuous
pleasure before the attainment of Nibbana. On the attainment of
Nibbana more refined non-sensuous pleasure is permanently
established. The Ca"nkii Sutta specifically states that when a monk
realizes the ultimate truth, he experiences that truth "with the
body."10
Regarding the experience of the arahant, the Suttanipaata states
that by the destruction of all feelings/sensations a monk lives
desireless and at peace.11 Once Saariputta was
asked what happiness there can be when there is no
feeling/sensation.12 He explained that
the absence of feeling/sensation itself is happiness.13 It is relevant to
note here that the Buddha says that he does not speak of happiness
only with reference to pleasant feelings/sensations. Wherever there
is happiness or pleasure, that he recognizes as happiness or
pleasure.14
Here we are reminded of the statement that all mental states
converge on feelings.15 What is meant by
this statement seems to be that all mental states are translated
into sensations in the body. It is possible to understand the
import of this statement if we pay attention to a gross emotion,
such as anger. When we are angry we experience a variety of bodily
sensations: feeling hot, being restless, breaking out in a sweat,
trepidation, etc. When we are sad, tears come into our eyes. These
are brought about by changes in body chemistry through the
discharge of various glandular secretions. If intense emotions
bring about such gross sensations, we might conjecture that all
thoughts cause subtle sensations in the body resulting from changes
in body chemistry. We are hardly aware of these sensations which,
however, become noticeable with the development
of vedanaanupassanaa, contemplation of
sensations. Thoughts are endless and continuous; therefore, if this
interpretation that thoughts are translated into sensations is
correct, sensations too should be endless and continuous. The
Vedanaasa.myutta states that just as diverse winds constantly blow
in different directions, numerous sensations pass through the
body.16
An arahant has full control over his thoughts;17 therefore he must
have full control over his feelings/sensations too. What is meant
by the statement that "a monk lives desireless and at peace by the
destruction of all feelings/sensations" seems to be that he has
destroyed all psychogenic feelings/sensations. This leads us to
another statement: that all feelings/sensations partake of the
nature of suffering.18 In order to
understand the significance of this statement we must pay attention
to our postures. If we have to remain seated for some time, say for
an hour, we are not even aware of how many times we shift and
adjust our limbs to more comfortable positions. This happens almost
mechanically, as all the time we unconsciously seek to avoid
discomfort. This is because monotony of sensations, even pleasant
sensations, brings about discomfort and a change brings about a
temporary sensation of comfort. If there were no sensations
produced from within perhaps we would not need to change positions
so often and we would have a running sense of ease even if we
continue to remain in the same position for a long time.
Here it might be asked whether an arahant has lost the ability to
feel pain, which is also an essential part of the touch sensation.
It has to be pointed out that this is not so, for in that case an
arahant would not even know if a part of his body is seriously
injured or burnt. There is plenty of evidence to show that an
arahant does feel sensations caused by physical changes. For
instance, the Buddha felt acute pain when he was wounded by a stone
splinter19 and when he suffered
from indigestion.20 But he was able to
withstand the painful sensations with mindfulness and clear
comprehension without being fatigued by them. Again, an experience
of Saariputta throws light on the subject.21 His experience
refers to events which modern psychology designates as
"non-ordinary reality of altered states of consciousness."
A yakkha, a malevolent spirit, once gave Saariputta a
blow on the head. The blow, it is said, was so powerful that it was
capable of splitting a mountain peak or making a seven and a half
cubit high elephant go down on its knees. Moggallaana, who saw the
incident with his divine eye, inquired from Saariputta how he was
feeling. He replied that he was all right, but there was slight
pain in the head. This shows us that a blow which could have
deprived an ordinary person of life had only minimal impact on an
arahant.
Perhaps because the psychological factors which predispose a person
to the experience of sensations are perfectly well under control in
an arahant, he experiences only those sensations that are felt
purely physically by an animate organism. It seems as if the body
is under some sort of mentally regulated anesthesia which allows a
narrow margin of sensation to protect the body from external
danger. There are two kinds of pain, physical and mental,22 and arahants are
said to experience only physical pain,23 without the anxious
mental agony when experiencing physical pain.
It is also possible to look at this issue from another angle.
Though the texts state thatvedanaa is destroyed in
the arahant, they never say that the sense faculties are destroyed.
When describing the super-conscious state
of sa~n~naa-vedayitanirodha, the sense faculties
are said to be refined — vippasannaani
indriyaani.24 So in the case of
the arahant, too, the sense faculties must certainly be refined and
not rendered deficient in any way. In that case it is possible to
surmise that, though vedanaa is extinct,
body-sensitivity continues to be active and is thoroughly
refined.
The Vedanaasa.myutta differentiates between three types of joy and
pleasure:25
An arahant experiences both physical and mental bliss (so
kaayasukham pi cetosukham pi pa.tisa.mvedeti) as all tensions
(darathaa), torments (santaapaa), and fevers
(pari.laahaa) have been completely eliminated for
good.26
Bhaddiya was a monk who often exclaimed "What happiness, what
happiness!" (aho sukha.m aho sukha.m). This expression of
joy was misunderstood by his less developed fellow monks and they
reported the matter to the Buddha, suspecting that Bhaddiya was
often reminiscing about his lay comforts. On being questioned by
the Buddha Bhaddiya explained that he was a prince in his lay life
and that he had armed guards stationed in all strategic points
within and without his palace, yet still he suffered from insomnia
and insecurity, fearing that rivals might usurp his position and
even deprive him of his life. But now, though living all alone in
the open air, he is completely free from fear and anxiety.
Therefore, to express his happiness, he frequently exclaimed: "What
happiness, what happiness!"27
So great was the experience of joy on the attainment of release
from all mental intoxicants (aasavakkhaya) that sometimes
arahants have stayed in that same position continuously without
moving for seven days enjoying the bliss of emancipation.28 It is said that the
whole body was permeated with this joy and bliss.
Thus there are various passages in the Paali Canon which record the
experience of bliss in the attainment of Nibbana. But it appears
that this bliss is not confined to or dependent on the five
aggregates which constitute the individual. For the
Dvayataanupassanaa Sutta maintains that suffering (dukkha)
ceases to arise with the cessation of the five aggregates.29 Further, it is said
in the Alagadduupama Sutta that the perfected being
(tathaagata) cannot be identified with any of the five
personality factors even while he is still alive.30
Nibbana is a state of moral perfection. For one who has attained
Nibbana, all unwholesome motivational roots such as greed, hatred,
and delusion have been fully eradicated with no possibility of
their ever becoming active again. Therefore Nibbana is called the
destruction of greed, hatred and delusion (raagakkhaya,
dosakkhaya, mohakkhaya). All inflowing moral depravities are
destroyed, hence the epithet aasavakkhaya for
Nibbana. Craving has been uprooted for good,
therefore ta.nhakkhaya is another synonym. All
types of conceit, the superiority and the inferiority complex plus
the complex of equality (seyyamaana,
hiinamaana, and sadisamaana), are
eliminated. This necessarily has to be so as an arahant has no
egoistic delusions such as I and mine. Just as much as an arahant
has transcended egoism, he has transcended sexuality too. When
Somaa, a female arahant, was rebuked by Maara the Evil One, saying
that womankind with very little intelligence cannot attain that
state which is to be attained with great effort by seers and sages,
Somaa replied that womanhood is no impediment for the realization
of truth to one who is endowed with intelligence and
concentration.31 Further, she adds
that Maara must address these words to one who thinks "I am a man"
or "I am a woman" and not to one like herself. This reply seems to
imply that one loses even sexual identity on the attainment of
arahantship.
There is evidence that an arahant has undergone such transformation
in body chemistry that he has gone beyond the dichotomy of
masculinity and femininity. All normal physiological sexual
functions seem to be atrophied in an arahant as it is said that
seminal emission is impossible for an arahant even in
sleep.32 We may also note the
tradition maintaining that arahants never dream,33 maybe because they
have attained such perfect mental health that there is no necessity
to release tension through dreams.
The sublime modes of conduct (brahmavihaara) such as
loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity
(mettaa, karu.naa, muditaa, upekkhaa) are fully developed
without any limitations. An arahant is such a perfect being that it
is simply impossible for him to commit an immoral act. He is
incapable of wilfully destroying the life of a living creature. It
is impossible for him to stoop so low as to steal something, to
indulge in sex, to utter a deliberate lie, or to enjoy accumulated
goods as in the household life.34 One may wonder why
household life is an impossibility for an arahant. The reason may
be that the household is recognized as a fortress of greed where we
deposit all our belongings; it is, in other
words, the external repository of our ego. An arahant, who has
fully transcended the ego, is incapable of partaking of such an
institution.
Several expressions are used in the Paali Canon to denote the
cognitive aspect of the experience of Nibbana. "The mass of
darkness (of ignorance) has been torn asunder" (tamokkhandha.m
padaalita.m) 35 is a frequent
expression. In his First Sermon the Buddha describes the
realization of the Four Noble Truths as the arising of the eye,
wisdom, insight, knowledge, and light.36 "The three
knowledges have been attained" (tisso vijjaa anuppattaa)
is another expression.37 The triple knowledge
consists of retrocognition (pubbenivaasaanussati~naa.na),
clairvoyance (dibbacakkhu), and the knowledge of the
destruction of defilements (aasavakkhaya~naa.na). With the
first two knowledges one obtains personal verification of the
doctrines of rebirth and kamma respectively. With the destruction
of intoxicants one realizes the causal origination of all phenomena
and egolessness.38 Sometimes three
other cognitive faculties (abhi~n~naa) are mentioned as
extra qualifications of arahants, namely, miraculous powers
(iddhividha), the divine ear (dibbasota), and
telepathy (cetopariya~naa.na).39 With the attainment
of Nibbana one also realizes that birth is destroyed, the higher
life has been successfully lived, one's duty has been done, and
there is no more of this (mundane) existence.40
The Uddesavibha"nga Sutta explains the nature of consciousness and
the general cognitive attitude of an arahant:41
The Mahaasa.laayatanika Sutta explains more fully the cognitive
experience of an arahant from the angle of sense
experience.42 The arahant
realistically understands the nature of sense faculties, sense
objects, sense consciousness, sense contact established by the
convergence of these three factors, and the resulting sensations of
pleasure, pain, and hedonic neutrality. He does not get attached to
any of these factors. When he lives without deriving pleasure and
without getting attached to perceived sense objects and without
being deluded by the process of sense perception, recognizing the
evil consequences of sense perception, the five aggregates of
grasping or the personality factors do not get built up. They fall
apart, as craving which leads to rebirth is totally eliminated. All
physical and mental tensions (darathaa), torments
(santaapaa), and fevers (pari.laahaa) are
destroyed. The arahant experiences perfect physical and mental
bliss.
We are not quite sure exactly what is meant by the realistic
understanding of the nature of sense faculties, but we might
suppose that an arahant intuitively understands, through the
framework of his own personality, how the sense stimuli pass
through sense receptors and nerve fibers and are interpreted at
brain centers. Modern science explains to a certain extent the
physiological processes involved in the activity of sense
perception, but this understanding is confined at best to the
intellectual level and is dependent on technological devices in
medical laboratories. Such knowledge cannot bring about the
attitudinal and emotional changes which are necessary for
liberation. An arahant's understanding springs from a deeper
experiential level with direct vision into the whole perceptual
process as explained, for instance, in the Madhupi.n.dika
Sutta.43
What is meant by the realistic understanding of sense objects? Most
likely it is the realization of the impermanent, unsatisfactory,
and non-substantial nature of all that is around us. This too is a
direct profound experience of acute sensitivity, a direct personal
vision into the dynamism of atomic and sub-atomic particles that go
to form the material world around us as well as our bodies.
The Dhammapada records that when a monk sees in his contemplations
the dynamic working of the physical and mental phenomena composing
his own personality, great joy arises in him, and that can only be
described as superhuman joy.44 One has direct
insight into the inner workings of one's body, the arising and
passing away of body cells, sensations, perceptions, activities,
and consciousness. Great is the joy and delight of this
realization, and it is the realization of deathlessness.45 This is what is
called the "bliss of enlightenment" (sambodhisukha).
All bonds which tie us down to suffering are torn asunder; thus
Nibbana is calledsa.myojanakkhaya .46 As the arahant has
complete mastery over his thoughts
(cetovasippatta),47 no recurring
unhealthy thoughts obsess him. Negative emotions restrict an
individual's psychological freedom; therefore greed, hatred, and
ignorance are described as pamaa.nakara.na, i.e. they
circumscribe an individual's freedom.48 Greed, hatred, and
ignorance are roots of unwholesome mental states which fetter the
individual within sa.msaara.
There is an interesting simile which illustrates the nature of a
fetter.49 If there is a white
bull and a black bull tied together by a rope, the question is
asked, whether the white bull is a fetter to the black bull or the
black bull is a fetter to the white bull. In fact neither is a
fetter to the other; the fetter is the rope by which they are tied
together. Similarly the desire we have for external objects is the
fetter that binds us. The arahant has cut this off and attained
freedom.
Unhealthy negative emotions are always self-oriented and
self-centered. The Dhammapada says that the fool laments, "He
abused me, he beat me, he
defeated me, he robbed me,"and
generates anger.50 As he is firmly tied
to the idea of the self or the ego, and he cannot wean himself away
from the experience which inflicted a wound on his ego, he is like
a dog tied to a post. This situation is quite in contrast to an
experience the Buddha had once.51 A brahman came and
abused him in very harsh language. The Buddha remained silent. When
at last the brahman stopped, the Buddha asked: "If you were to
visit a friend and you took a gift to him, but the friend declined
to accept the gift, what would you do?" The brahman replied that he
would take it back. The Buddha said: "You brought me a gift of much
abuse, I do not accept; you can take it back." The Buddha also
states that even if one is cut into pieces with a double-handled
saw, one should train oneself not to generate anger towards the
tormentor.52 Moggallaana was an
arahant who was mercilessly beaten by robbers but he was able to
maintain his composure without a trace of anger. Such is the
freedom one gains from negative emotions on the attainment of
Nibbana.
An arahant has fully developed
the brahmavihaaras, the sublime modes of conduct
— universal love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.
These positive qualities are generated by transcending the self and
are described as all-embracing and immeasurable
(appamaa.na).53 Thus they do not
limit the scope of psychological freedom as do the mental states
rooted in greed, hatred, and ignorance (pamaa.nakara.na).
The freedom won by an arahant is
called cetovimutti and pa~n~naavimutti, release
of mind and release through wisdom. Knowledge also arises in the
meditator that freedom has been gained (vimuttasmi.m vimuttam
iti ~naa.na.m hoti). This is called the "bliss of
emancipation" (vimuttisukha), the highest bliss that any
human being could enjoy.
Creativity is another aspect under which the achievement of an
arahant can be fruitfully discussed. The virtues of the arahant can
be succinctly summarized
as karu.naa andpa~n~naa, compassion and
wisdom. These are the two qualities through which the creativity of
the arahant finds expression. When arahants look at humanity they
are moved by great compassion as they fully realize the gravity of
the precarious condition of the worldlings. Therefore, they
willingly plunge into a life of selfless activity, preaching to the
people, trying to show them the path leading out of misery to
eternal peace. It is especially noteworthy that
