In Samsara Exists Nibbana ❖ ในวัฏฏสงสารมีนิพพาน
~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN RELIGIONS Series No. 12
[Introduction by Buddha-Nigama, Chiangmai, Thailand.]
To the ordinary person, samsara is generally thought of as something differed and opposed to Nirvana (Pali: Vatta: Nibbana): man is always roaming in this whirlpool of samsara until he reaches out at Nibbana. But I would like to propose here that Nibbana does exist in that very whirlpool. The wise man, searching without external effort, can discover it, but the fool cannot; and it is the matter of one’s own ability.
What is the basis for saying this?
Let us first consider the Lord Buddha’s saying: “The world, the cause of the world, the cessation of the world, and the way to the cessation of the world, I declare, exists within our six-foot body with perception and mind.” The world here means suffering (dukkha), the troubles of human beings; and within the six-foot body with perception and mind means the living physical body of a man. In the dead body, there cannot be found these four truths. In other words, suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way to the cessation of suffering, can all be found in a living body.
Furthermore, since there exists both suffering and the cessation of suffering within our living body, it is inevitable the whirlpool of samsara and Nibbana are there; and the Lord Buddha has already declared the truth.
The body and the mind are just natural elements composed of solid, liquid, air, fire, space, and consciousness (vinnana). In the ordinary state of their compounded existence, the body and mind is passive, neither in samsara nor Nibbana. Only in the face of excitement, the mind-body (nama rupa) become the ground of either Nibbana or samsara.
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