Nibbana.

A word of warning in advance. This is going to be something of a critical entry. By this I mean, I am not going to try and relate what the living experience of an arhat is like, but address a misconception that seems to be somewhat common to people who aren't familiar with the Dhamma: that the state of cessation from suffering is similar to heaven, or it is somehow non-existence.





For example, here at Contender Ministries, we read,

"They believe that by following the teaching of Buddhism strictly and leading a perfect life they will escape a cycle of rebirths and cease to exist.  This end to the soul is called Nirvana.  It might seem hard to believe that anyone would look forward to a gift of nothing..."

And over here at Probe Ministries,

"The third key concept is nirvana. The term means "the blowing out" of existence. Nirvana is very different from the Christian concept of heaven. Nirvana is not a place like heaven, but rather an eternal state of being."

I will admit that two examples isn't much data to go on, but these two have been a good example of the sort of thinking that isn't grounded in the dhamma.

While the term has been properly defined above, the phrase "blowing out of existence" is nonsense. What does it even mean to "blow out" existence? The obvious parallel, drawn from a reading of the Pali Canon does much more than imply it's meaning through context. The obvious image is that of a candle. How many people associate candles with one's birthday?

Further, the common use of candles is nothing new. Think in particular that when one blows out a candle, one is snuffing a flame. Thus we read, from the Sutta Nipata (5.6),

"As a flame overthrown by the force of the wind
goes to an end
that cannot be classified,
so the sage free from naming activity
goes to an end
that cannot be classified. 

[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 has been known by you.

[The Buddha:] One who
has reached the end has no criterion
by which anyone would say that —
for him it doesn't exist.
When all phenomena are done away with,
all means of speaking
are done away with as well."

This is poignantly put in the Therigatha by Patacara,

"Washing my feet, I noticed
the
water.

And in watching it flow from high
to
low,
my heart was composed
like a fine thoroughbred steed.

Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut,
checked the bedding,
sat down on the bed.
And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick:
Like the flame's unbinding
was the liberation
of awareness."

Think also of the Fire sutta, SN 35.28

"Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs."

And with that in mind, the Upadana sutta, SN 12.52,

"Just as if a great mass of fire of ten... twenty... thirty or forty cartloads of timber were burning, into which a man simply would not time & again throw dried grass, dried cow dung, or dried timber, so that the great mass of fire — its original sustenance being consumed, and no other being offered — would, without nutriment, go out. In the same way, in one who keeps focusing on the drawbacks of clingable phenomena, craving ceases. From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging, illness & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering & stress."

Which all means that to say one who has realized the cessation of suffering exists or does not exist (SN 22.85), is to divide the undivided (AN 4.174) because nibbana experience cannot be described with convention, but may be experienced nonetheless (SN 35.116), and the only thing that ceases to be is five aggregates (SN 5.10).

As for the notion that nibbana is a "gift," that is a misunderstanding of how the Buddhist path is followed. The Buddha, of course, was not a savior (Dhp 276), and it is only through one's own efforts that nibbana can be realized (Snp 773, Dhp 160, DN 16). A blood sacrifice is not only irrelevant, but repellent and contrary to the notion of nibbana because it can only lead to more suffering (DN 5, AN 4.39, Ja 18). All this is related in the hope that anyone, regardless of religious or philosophical leaning, will take the time to understand what a concept might mean from within a belief system before trying to engage with it.

May all beings be happy and free from suffering.