Nibbāna (1 of 5) Introduction, Synonyms for Nibbāna

This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Dharmette: Nibbana (1 of 5) Introduction, Synonyms for Freedom. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on October 20, 2020. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Nibbāna (1 of 5) Introduction, Synonyms for Nibbāna

Introduction

So again, my warm greetings to all of you. I'm happy to be back here this Monday, this 7:00 a.m. sitting with you all, and to share the Dharma and the practice with you.

The topic for this week is going to be Nibbāna^[1]. The word Nibbāna is the Pāli language way of saying Nirvāna, which is the Sanskrit wording of it. This is a topic which is pretty central to the teachings of the Buddha. It's one of the definitions, or one of the stated goals, of the practice: to attain Nibbāna. But we have to look at this carefully—what this means, and what this experience is like.

First of all, the idea of the word Nibbāna is a metaphor. Later, after the time of the Buddha perhaps, it becomes more of a technical word. But the Buddha started using the word as a metaphor with a variety of different meanings. So, we'll look at the meanings of this word. For these five days we'll do it together. I think of it a little bit like an unfolding path that unfolds day by day. Hopefully, we can build on the teachings each day to go further on this topic.

Approaching the Topic of Nibbāna

It's a topic that I avoided teaching for many years. As a teacher, I had a somewhat ambivalent relationship to using the word Nibbāna or Nirvāna, partly because it can be a confusing topic. It lends itself to an idea of a transcendent goal that's apart from daily life. Often, there can be a lot of conceit about who has or doesn't have the experience of Nibbāna. A lot of confusion, comparative thinking, and striving goes into it. So, it just seemed always better not to talk about it. But in recent years, I've kind of changed my mind a little bit and see that we shouldn't shy away from it. It's an important part of the tradition and an important part of our potential. Maybe we can talk about it in a way that prevents some of the downsides of discussing it.

One of the tensions in the history I had with this word Nibbāna was that there were two general ways of emphasizing the practice. Some of my teachers would emphasize that the practice was just about being fully present for this experience, without any concern for a goal. If we start talking about enlightenment, Nibbāna, or Nirvāna, then we start talking about something which is not here, but rather somewhere else in the future—some potential. And if we're leaning into the future, we really miss the experience here. The point was to really just be present for this experience in a full, deeply unconditional, accepting way—just this experience.

Then I had other teachers who emphasized that there is something very different than just being here, and that is Nibbāna. It is this liberation, this deep release, this freedom that's possible. Sometimes it was presented as an experience you can have.

How do these two different emphases work together? One way is with a little saying: "The most effective way of getting from A to B is to be fully in A." So yes, there is a goal. But the way to attain that goal of Nibbāna is not to be leaning into the future, not to be striving, but really to settle into an unconditional acceptance of this moment just as it is. Comfortable, uncomfortable, pleasant, unpleasant, wonderful gardens or barren wildernesses—it doesn't really matter. What matters is the practice, which allows you to settle into how it is now. This is what it is; let's be mindful and present here.

Sometimes, however, just being mindful of the present and having no goal leaves some people with not enough incentive, imagination, or direction for how fully it's possible to be unconditionally here. Talking about Nibbāna is exploring the fullest potential of what it's like to be fully here and present.

A Metaphor from Golf

I'd like to give you another metaphor from my own experience. About eight years ago, when my son was thirteen or fourteen, we were on vacation and I did something which I've really never done before in my life. Because he was interested, we went to a golf course. We rented the clubs and golf balls, walked out on the greens, and did some practice putting and shooting before we got onto the proper golf course.

Then I was going to go first at the first tee. I put the tee into the ground, put the little white golf ball on top of it, and chose the club that you use for hitting the first good whack that's supposed to send the ball far. I got myself all settled up and ready to swing. This was a time to be really present and mindful. I was really right there, and it felt nice. It felt good to be engaged, to be in that posture the best I could, and to be out under the blue sky on this green grass near a forest. Just being there for that experience was quite lovely. I was involved in the task, focusing on the activity of swinging and hitting the ball.

I was really present and concentrated right there, and the experience was great. I swung that club and—whoosh! I missed the ball completely. It was still sitting peacefully on the tee. Okay, so I got myself all settled up again and ready to do it again. And again, I just missed it completely. I don't know how many times I missed it, but eventually I hit it. The first time I hit it, I could feel the good sound of a whack, and then the ball went about three feet, rolling on the ground. That was a wonderful, glorious beginning to my golf career. [Laughter]

Of course, I put the ball back on the tee and tried again. Eventually, I hit the ball, and it was a very nice-sounding whack. The ball lifted up in the air and sailed down the golf course.

What happened to me was that everything stopped. I kind of felt my mind floating, flying with the golf ball up into the air. There was a sense of release, freedom, ease, and openness watching the golf ball fly. The idea of purpose and being intentional with the swing—being really present in a conscious way—vanished completely. There was no intentionality, there was no "me" there, there was no trying to be mindful of anything. It was just natural awareness and this complete release of intentionality or purpose.

While I was trying to make the swings to hit the ball, there was a very nice mindfulness and presence that was satisfying. But there was a whole order of magnitude difference in the satisfaction, ease, freedom, and well-being that came when the intentional, conscious mindfulness of being present dropped away. I was just there with this great feeling of timeless openness with the ball flying through the air. After that ball was through the air, I said, "Oh, this is why people go golfing—maybe for that experience."

Two Ways of Being Present

These are two different ways of being in the present moment. One is a little more intentional, more focused, more involved. The other involves complete release. Nibbāna is a kind of being present. It is being fully at A, just like many people might experience mindfulness as, "Ahh, I'm fully here." But it's fully here with this release, this freedom, this ease.

The tradition describes it in many different ways. There's one list of 33 synonyms for this experience. I'll read you some of the words to give you a sense of the richness and the value that the Buddha put on this experience. He called it: peaceful, sublime, happy, calm, wonderful, amazing, health, non-troubled, purity, freedom, the island, the shelter, the refuge, truth, what's subtle, and destination.

These are very positive words that suggest this is held up in high value. It's not, as some people think, that the word Nirvāna or Nibbāna means a quenching or extinguishing of everything into some kind of bareness. There's something about this release—the freedom of the ball going through the air, of the bird flying through the air—that is quite wonderful. There are very positive associations with the word Nibbāna.

In fact, one of the colloquial meanings of it is health. Another one is to become peaceful and tamed. A well-tamed, peaceful horse is described as being a horse that has Nibbāna. It also has the meaning of a fire going out—not because it's been blown out, but because the fuel which kept it burning has finished. There's nothing more to burn. The idea of health sometimes relates to the idea that the fever of an illness has broken, and there's no more fever burning us.

Metaphors for Nibbāna

This experience of Nibbāna has a number of metaphors that go with it. One of them in this list is an island. It's also sometimes called the other shore. This shore is where there's a lot of danger and a lot of suffering. The other shore, or the island we go to, is a place that's free of danger, free of the floods of life, free of the winds of distress that can happen. It is sometimes presented as a location, a place, but that's a metaphor. In Theravada Buddhism^[2], there's another metaphor that it's a wonderful palace or capital city that we come to at the end of the path.

Regardless of what it is—and we'll talk about it as we go through this week—it is a qualitatively significant way of unconditionally being present for experience right here. It brings a tremendous feeling of well-being and sets us on a new course of practice. We understand the possibilities of well-being and peace in a radically different way, where it comes from the inside out rather than from the world towards us.

One of the synonyms for this experience is the word happy, sukha^[3]. Sometimes the word delight is used. There was a nun, Uttamā^[4], who lived in the time of the Buddha and composed a poem. She said:

"The seven factors of awakening^[5], the path for attaining release, I've cultivated them all, as instructed by the Buddha. I attained what I wished. I am the true daughter of the Buddha, always delighting in Nibbāna."

The Buddha said Nibbāna is the greatest happiness. Nibbāna is also described as the release from all suffering. So this is release from all suffering, happiness, something we delight in. It teaches us the full potential of mindfulness—the full potential of being fully present here for this experience.

That will be what we talk about over these next days. Hopefully, I'll do so in a way that is relevant for you and helps you understand this important topic.

Thank you very much, and I look forward to being here with you tomorrow.