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Nibbāna (2 of 5) Going Out of the Fire

So again, good day, warm greetings. The topic of these talks this week is Nibbāna, or in Sanskrit, Nirvāna. It is often seen as the ultimate goal in Buddhism. One of the primary etymological explanations of what Nibbāna means is that it comes from the expression "to blow out"—to blow out a fire. When it comes into the teachings of the Buddha, however, it isn't the action of forcefully blowing the fire out, but rather refers to the fire going out when the fuel is removed. It is the extinguishing of a fire when its fuel is burned up—the going out of the flame.

This negative idea of an ultimate goal has to be put into context. In ancient India, during the time of the Buddha, the Brahminical religion—one of the dominant religions of his time—had Brahmin priests whose important practices included sacred fire rituals. The idea was to fuel the fire, adding ghee or wood to keep it going, and putting sacrificial objects into the fire for the gods. There were supposed to have been three sacramental fires that were part of their religion: the fires of sacrifice, but also the metaphoric fires of the soul (the Atman)^[1], the fires of Brahman (the ultimate being of the universe), and the fire of the sun. These different fires, whether sacrificial or metaphoric, were kept going and fueled by the Brahmins.

The Buddha changed the meaning of the three fires of the Brahmins. He talked instead about the three fires of greed, hatred, and delusion. Those are the fires that Nirvāna extinguishes; they go out with practice.

There is a very famous teaching of the Buddha that is often called the Fire Sermon in English. T.S. Eliot incorporated this teaching into his famous poem The Waste Land^[2]. I remember seeing a book on the hundred greatest speeches ever given in history, and the Buddha's Fire Sermon was one of them. I'll share a brief snippet of it. It goes something like this: "The world is on fire. The eyes are on fire, the ears are on fire, the nose is on fire, the tongue is on fire, the body is on fire, the mind is on fire." What is it on fire with? The fires of greed, hatred, and delusion.

The primary definition of Nibbāna in the teachings of the Buddha is the ending of those three fires. It's not an extinguishing of life or an extinguishing of everything, but rather an extinguishing of these particular forms of excitement that humans can get caught up in, which have the aspect of burning us. Burning is harm. This idea of a fire that burns and harms us is closely related to the concept of suffering in Buddhism. A fundamental teaching in Buddhism is about the end of suffering, and Nibbāna is sometimes described as exactly that: the end of suffering. It is the end of the fires of greed, hate, and delusion—the end of the burning that goes on.

Understanding that Nirvāna is the end of something is very important. The metaphor that a fire is kept going by the fuel that feeds it reflects back to the idea of practice. Our practice is about beginning to no longer add fuel to the fires—to the excitement, the attachments, the greed, and the hatred that we have. It is not so much a forceful extinguishing of something, but rather no longer adding the fuel.

This is one of the functions of meditation practice, mindfulness practice, and concentration practice: to let the mind become very self-satisfied, self-enjoying, present, and connected here. The attention is not reaching out for anything, not wanting something, not pushing something away, and not confused or deluded by things. Instead, it is able to stay present in a clear, luminous way. That luminosity and clarity, which allows things to be as they are, is a presence and attention that doesn't add fuel to anything. Part of what we are learning to do in Buddhist meditation practice is how to be luminously, clearly present without adding to the fire, allowing it to go out.

Another word often used in relation to Nibbāna is "cooling." Things that are hot or excited go cool. This metaphor of the cooling of the mind works particularly well in India, which has a very hot climate, and where cooling is such a refreshing, peaceful experience. Growing up in a rainy, foggy, cold English climate, the idea of cold or cool has very different cultural and emotional connotations. But in this context, it means refreshment—the refreshing of the mind.

So, the fires go out. Then we come to the English word enlightenment, or awakening, which is sometimes used as a synonym for Nibbāna. It is a little strange to use that to translate Nibbāna, but the Buddha certainly talks about how when there is awakening—when there is this ending of the fires—it is replaced by a luminosity, a radiance. Light, as a metaphor, doesn't hurt; it doesn't burn. Light just shines on things so we can clearly see what is there. In that clarity, all kinds of things are possible that are not possible if we are on fire.

The richness of the word Nibbāna and the related word nibbuti is that in its original context, people didn't hear it only as the ending of something. They also heard it referring to health and happiness. Sometimes Nibbāna is called a great happiness. The related past participle, nibbuta, is also used for happiness. There is actually wordplay in Pali texts using these terms—the happiness of liberation, the happiness of freedom, the happiness of Nirvāna, the happiness of release: nibbute nibbutaṃ^[3]. The association with the going out of the flames of greed, hate, and delusion is that it leaves us with luminosity, happiness, and well-being.

This is a very positive message that is sometimes lost in English, where Nibbāna is described as "extinguishing" or the "quenching" of thirst, greed, hate, and delusion. For many people, "quenching" is not a very appealing idea. But it is not really a forceful blowing out or quenching. It is allowing something to simply dissipate because it is no longer being fed.

Reflection: Feeding the Fire

You might think about this for the next while: How is it that you feed and fuel your excitement? Maybe you don't want to use the word "fires" of the mind, but rather the "excitement" or "agitation" of the mind. How does it get fueled? How do you add to it? If you have strong desire, craving, or greed, in what ways does the mind keep it going? If you have aversions, jealousy, or hostilities, to what degree does the mind add fuel to the fire? And if you are bewildered, perplexed, confused, and uncommitted, not knowing what to do—what is happening in the mind? What are you doing to keep fueling that fire, that agitation?

When you can see that clearly, what is it like to pull away, to step away, so that you are no longer adding that fuel? You are not letting go of anything; you are just not feeding it. What happens then?

The most common definition the Buddha gave for Nibbāna is the destruction of greed, hatred, and delusion. That teaching gets repeated a lot in the suttas. Hopefully, this little talk gives you a bigger context for understanding why the Buddha would make the destruction of greed, hatred, and delusion the goal of practice. These are the fires that burn us.

Thank you, and we will continue on this theme tomorrow.