The ultimate end of Buddha‘s ethics is nirvana which literally means “extinguished”. Some people, according to the origin, interpret it to mean the end of life but the idea is wrong.
Had it been so the Buddha would not have attained nirvana before his death. It is equally incorrect to interpret Buddha’s silence to mean that the person who achieves nirvana has no existence after death.
Nirvana means the extinguishing of the fires of passion. In it the fires of avarice, jealousy, anger and doubt are extinguished and impurities of the mind like sexual, ignorant and affective tendencies are vanquished.
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It affects the end of the cycle of rebirth. In Buddhist literature profuse mention is made of the lighting and extinguishing of fire. Nirvana has been said to be or described as a state of calm or equanimity in which passion and the sorrows accruing from it are completely becalmed.
It is neither die destructions of existence nor inactivity. Nirvana can be attained in this life. A rational and social life is not precluded from it Buddha’s own life can exemplify this aspect.
Nirvana does not imply abstention from action but from the attachment, repulsion and labour conjoined to action the body does exist hi the state of nirvana but the thirsting is destroyed.
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It is the equivalent of or similar to the liberation firm life, a conception of the Upanishads. But there is no rebirth later nirvana. The person attaining nirvana goes out like a light According to Rhys Davids nirvana is like die calm, sinless state of the mind and it can best be expressed as purity or perfect peace.
Having once attained spiritual consciousness permanently, there is no longer any necessity for persisting in a state of concentration and there is no longer any fear of limitations due to actions.
Actually according to Buddha attachment, repulsion etc., when present cause the action to become a limitation. In its absence there are no impressions, created and no limitation like rebirth.
As in the case of speeds, the plant grows only when the seed is fresh and not fried when sown so in the case of actions, where actions performed without attachment do not cause any restrictions.
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In nirvana the individual’s ego is destroyed because its substratum pain and longing etc have been completely eliminated. Nirvana is in every conceivable aspect a state of unrestricted calm. A free person has perfect insight, perfect impassion, pure peace, perfect control calm mind, calm world and calm actions.
State of Peace:
In Pali religious text, nirvana is described as a state of peace. In this Pitaka, nirvana has been described by adjectives such as eternal healthy ultimate end, perfect safety and place of no fear.
In the Dhammapada it has been called a state of perfect bliss; perfect peace and freedom from agreed and doubt Nirvana is neither externalism nor nihilism. It is stated by Buddha that “It is unknown, unique, uncreated and uncultured.
Had there not been some eternal, then there was no escape for the born”. According to Oldenburg, that there is some eternal for Buddha, only means that the person born can be free from the curse of birth.
Nirvana is painlessness, purity, consummation of moral efforts, freedom, real bliss, escape from passions, perfect peace, perfect self control add complete extinction of birth and sorrows.
In this way nirvana is indescribable. As Dr. Keith expresses it, all practical words are inappropriate in the description of the indescribable (nirvana). According to Dr. Dasgupta too nirvana cannot be described in terms of physical or worldly experience. It can neither be said to be positive nor negative.
It is an extraordinary, indescribable state beyond thought it is deep and unfathomable like the ocean. Nagasena the famous Buddhist preacher, while describing nirvana to king with the help of similes had said that those who have no experience of nirvana cannot feel it by means of these similes.
Forms of Nirvana:
Some of oldest Pali texts look upon nirvana as a moral state achieved in this life. Some of the later Sanskrit text treats unqualified absolute nirvana as the death of the being after which there is no life.
Result of Nirvana:
With nirvana the reasons for birth come to an end and the probability of rebirth and pain after death is excluded. The person who has achieved nirvana spends alive of perfect knowledge and calm till death.
Actually worldly pleasures and ordinary experiences are incapable of describing nirvana. It can only be said that in Nirvana man becomes relieved of all his pains. Even before attaining perfect liberation man sheds his pains as he progresses towards the state of nirvana.