05/05/2021 – What Is Nirvana?

What is nirvana? Do you need some inner peace? Let’s get into it. This is TenOnReligion.

Hey peeps, it’s Dr. B. with TenOnReligion. This video is closed-captioned here on YouTube and the transcript is available at TenOnReligion.com. Many people are confused about some of the main ideas of Buddhism, not only because it’s so different from Western traditions, but also because it’s different from other Hindu traditions as well. Buddhism started in northern India around 2500 years ago and over the centuries has spread to most areas of Asia. To oversimply the situation, there are three main umbrellas of Buddhism that developed. The oldest one is Theravada Buddhism, which became centered largely in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand. The second is Mahayana Buddhism, which signifies a group of Buddhist traditions centered in East Asia, basically China, Korea, and Japan. The third is Vajrayana Buddhism which is largely in Tibet and Mongolia.

Anyone can be a Buddhist and strive for Buddhist ideals by participating in specific practices, but some go all in and live their entire lives in separate Buddhist communities as monks or nuns. Kind of like the old Buddhist joke:

A Buddhist monk walks up to a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor hands over the hot dog and the bun with all the trimmings, and the Buddhist hands over a twenty dollar bill. The vendor pockets it.
The Buddhist asks, "Where's my change?"
And the vendor replies, "Change must come from within."
A gun then extends from the Buddhist's chest and he asks again, “Where’s my change?”
The vendor says, "Whoa, buddy, where did that come from?"
The Buddhist replies, "This is my inner piece."

That was completely inappropriate.

Okay, so what’s the main point of Buddhism? It is based on ancient teachings about the human condition which are called the Four Noble Truths. In four words, these are suffering, cause, end, path. Suffering means the idea that our existence in the world can never fully satisfy us. Everything is constantly changing. The cause of this is our desires and our attachments to them. Get tired of your cellphone, you get a new one. You need a new pair of shoes, a new outfit, a new tv, more electronics, a new car, you get the picture. It’s endless! End means there is a way out. Theoretically if one could slowly curb the desires by eliminating the things which we desire, then eventually desire itself would end. Path means the methods one uses to try to end desire. Sounds simple, right? Well, not really.

Part of the issue is that Buddhism comes out of the Indian cultural context of what is now often labeled Hinduism. Specifically, the view of what a person is. In many of the Hindu traditions, there is both a material and a non-material part of a person. The physical body, the material part, is temporary, but the non-material part, called atman, continues on. Atman is trapped in this cycle called samsara, being reincarnated over and over again. To be incarnate is to take on a physical form. To be reincarnated is to take on a physical form again. One’s atman continues on through this cycle until eventually breaking out, where one’s atman merges with the true ultimate reality, called Brahman. The many sub-traditions of Hinduism provide different reasons why one is caught up in this endless cycle of samsara, but in general it’s because of our ignorance or illusion. In Buddhism, it’s our suffering in this world of endless desires. One of the big differences between this view of Hinduism that atman is stuck in this cycle and needs to rejoin with Brahman, the ultimate reality, is that Buddhism denies there is this idea of an ultimate reality like Brahman. Since there is no Brahman, that means that everything else, including the self, the atman, is also an illusion. As opposed to Hindu’s atman, Buddhism refers to this lack of a permanent self with the term anatman. We think we have a “self” because our desires continually create it as a result of our karma, or past actions.

So in Buddhism, the main idea is to permanently end the suffering and desires. Many scholars believe this is where the word nirvana comes from, to extinguish, as in to finally and completely extinguish one’s desires so one can be at peace. Other traditions in Buddhism use the term sunyata, or nothingness to describe this. An interesting historical figure in Buddhism who tried to provide a better account of this process was Nagarjuna, who lived around 1800 years ago. His concept became known as the idea of two truths. There is conventional truth and there is absolute truth. Conventional truth is the truth that we think we know through our sense perceptions – see, hear, taste, touch, smell. But this is not the way things really are, which is absolute truth. Absolute truth is beyond linguistic description, beyond the ability of language to describe it, and can only be gained after one reaches enlightenment and attains nirvana. This is achieved through the ending of all desire. After one “nirvana-s” the causes of suffering no longer arise. Then after the death of the physical body, one “parinirvana-s” meaning one will no longer be reborn in the cycle of samsara. So what happens? Where are you? It’s really unclear, and the issue is further complicated by the idea that when one passes into nirvana one also passes over from conventional truth into absolute truth in understanding things. But then, since absolute truth is beyond linguistic description, one cannot “say” anything about it, and that’s why some traditions prefer using the term sunyata, or emptiness. One can ask the question, but there can be no answer. This is often referred to as the silence of the Buddha. And now I’m going to be silent.

This was just a quick overview of some basic Buddhist concepts. That’s it for today. I hope this vlog has helped you better understand this topic. Until next time, stay curious. If you enjoyed this, please like this video and subscribe to the channel. This is TenOnReligion.