Nirvana

Nirvana is the state of enlightenment and this state is reached when one succeeds in controlling his sensorial feelings, his body and soul and when he perceives the truth about human life and conquers his cravings which cause pains and miseries.

Thus in Buddhism, there is no God who can reward a fidel with paradise or eternal life.

Each individual, through his own personal effort, must perform the deed himself.

As Lord Buddha said as he passed away to his disciple Ananda, “Decay is inherent in all compound things. Work out, Ananda, your own salvation with diligence.”

Buddha and his teachings help relieve human sufferings and lead these who are willing to make their own efforts to elevate themselves above earthly attachments and attain the final objective of ultimate and permanent state of serenity.

Nirvana, as I said, is the state when or where passion, aversion and confusion are extinct.

In the Buddhist belief, Lord Buddha is neither omnipotent, nor omnipresent nor omniscient.

Lord Buddha is not the creator of the world and Buddhism never talks about the creation of the world.

Lord Buddha said simply, “Don’t ask me this question, because if I were to discuss the creation of the world, others can advance other theories and we begin unending discussions.”

Lord Buddha was a simple human being who, in his long search for the truth, experimented with ascetism and body mortification but he found out that truth lies in the Middle Path, in moderation, self-discipline and self-control, control of the body and the mind.

In essence his teachings consist of what the Buddhists call the “Four Noble Truths”

I. Existence is unhappiness

II. Unhappiness is caused by selfish cravings

III. Selfish cravings can be destroyed

IV. It can be destroyed by following the eightfold path

1) Right understanding

2) Right purpose (or aspiration)

3) Right speech

4) Right conduct

5) Right vocation

6) Right effort

7) Right alertness

8) Right concentration

Through his extraordinary psycho-analytical power, Lord Buddha or the Perfect One, discovered the causes of human unhappiness and misery,

And that the blind demanding nature of the human beings pushes them to ask of the world and the universe, more than the universe can give,

And when human cravings are not satisfied, the frustration moves them to act in such a way as to cause unhappiness and sufferings to others.Lord Buddha then shows the way to salvation.

Through repeated efforts of absolute mental and spiritual concentration, the mind becomes free from sudden promptings and unpredictable vagaries and flittings caused by selfish craving.

Once domination of the body and mind is achieved, the person can escape the cycle of rebirth. He enters Nirvana, where “Tanha” or craving is destroyed.

He is from then on liberated and he possesses “inward peace and strength, insight in truth, the joy of complete oneness with reality and the love toward all creatures in the universe.”

Although Lord Buddha’s discovery of truth dates back almost 26 centuries ago, his teachings remain as lively, effective and up-to-date as ever.

Credit : Archarn Chalermchai KositpipatFrom : Sompong Yusoontorn