Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Thoughts on Nirvana

When reading the section on nirvana in chapter 3 of Gethin (p.74-79) I had some thoughts about nirvana and how a person would know if they had truly reached or experienced nirvana.

In the text, Gethin differentiates a person that has experienced nirvana and a person that hasn't by saying, "all his or her thoughts, words, and deeds are completely free of the motivations of greed, aversion, and delusion, and motivated instead entirely by generosity, friendliness, and wisdom" (p. 75). However, the text also makes a point to say that a person who has experienced nirvana will still continue to live in the world with other humans, and will "think, speak, and act as other people do" (p.75). My thoughts are, how would a person know when they've truly experienced nirvana? There is a quote from the Udana in the text that describes what the Buddha's mind experienced at the moment of nirvana, which certainly seems to be an indicator of having experienced nirvana. But keeping one's thoughts completely free of greed and delusion is not an easy task, and must take enormous effort to maintain throughout one's life. If you've experienced nirvana, does that mean that it is effortless to keep ones thoughts completely motivated by generosity and wisdom after that moment? Or, as stated before how people having experienced nirvana will continue to act like the others around them, does it still take all the concentration and effort that it did before? And finally, if this is the case and they still need to work to keep their thoughts in order, does that mean a person can (and this wording is I'm sure incorrect or problematic, but I'm not quite sure how else to put it) "leave" that awakened state if they accidentally "slip up" and have a thought that is not devoid of delusion?

If it's not already obvious, I have a very basic understanding of these philosophies, and I hope that even suggesting being able to leave an awakened state isn't an offensive question to ask.

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