Q28. Is Nibbāna realized at death or here in this life?
~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
Teachers who lecture in the fancy preaching halls only talk about Nibbāna after death. In the Tipiṭaka, however, we don’t find this idea. Instead, we find expressions such as sandiṭṭhika-nibbāna (Nibbāna that one sees personally) and diṭṭhadhamma-nibbāna (Nibbāna here and now). The blissful conditions experienced in the eight degrees of deep, subtle concentration known as absorptions (jhāna) are sandiṭṭhika- nibbāna or diṭṭhadhamma-nibbāna. For the present purpose, we may understand these absorptions to be a foretaste of Nibbāna. There are four with a material basis (rūpa-jhāna) and four with an immaterial basis (arūpa-jhāna). They have the flavor of, but aren’t identical with, real Nibbāna. Because these states aren’t perfect and absolute, they have been called sandiṭṭhika-nibbāna or diṭṭhadhamma-nibbāna.
Yet there are still better words than these. On one occasion the Buddha described the end of lust, hatred, and delusion as ‘sandiṭṭhikaṃ … akālikaṃ ehipassikaṃ opaneyyikaṃ paccattaṃ veditabbaṃ viññūhi,’ that is, ‘directly visible, giving immediate results, inviting all to see, leading inward, and to be individually experienced by the wise.’* These terms imply living persons who have realized, felt, and tasted Nibbāna, and who can call their friends to come and see what they have found. This shows clearly that people who haven’t died can know the taste of Nibbāna in their hearts.
There are other expressions as well. Anupādā-parinibbāna is something realized while life still remains. Parinibbāyati refers to the end of suffering and defilements without any need for the extinction or disintegration of the five aggregates (the body-mind complex), that is to say, without anyone needing to die physically.
(*) AN 3.55, Nibbuta Sutta.
(From “Buddha-Dhamma for Inquiring Minds”)
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Buddha-Dhamma for Students (title of original translation) was composed of two talks given by Ajahn Buddhadāsa in January 1966 to students at Thammasat University, Bangkok. It was translated from the Thai by Rod Bucknell, and revised in 2018 by Santikaro Upasaka. To read/download as free ebook (pdf).
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