The teaching of nirvana. How to achieve nirvana in everyday life

Sanskrit - cessation) - a state of detachment achieved during life through the renunciation of earthly aspirations. This condition makes it impossible to be reborn after death. According to the teachings of the Brahmins, nirvana means the communion of the individual spirit with the absolute (Brahman).

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Nirvana

Skt. nirvana - extinction), in the Buddhist cultural tradition - a state of consciousness of the highest level of development. Human P.GS, who has reached the state of nirvana, thereby becomes a Buddha - an enlightened one. The state of nirvana cannot be described in terms of human culture. It is opposite to “samsara” - such a development of consciousness that presupposes the continuation of suffering and further incarnations of the soul. Correct samsara leads to nirvana. Positively, nirvana means achieving a state of absolute freedom, peace and bliss. In nirvana, the improving samsara fades away, the chain of rebirths - incarnations - stops, and a person touches eternal existence. Nirvana can be achieved during life, but it is achieved in its perfect form after death. Buddhas who have achieved nirvana are unable to return to the state of samsara. At the same time, the ideas of “living incarnations” are known - Buddhas, who at turning points in history come to people to act as Spiritual leaders. Such incarnations (bodhisattvas) contribute to the progress of culture, which they cannot provide ordinary people, since they are not given a complete picture of what is happening, they do not know the real purpose of historical events. In various cultures there are ideas about the invisible to ordinary people spiritual homeland - the country of Shambhala, which is inhabited by spiritual beings of the nirvana level. In Slavic culture this is the country of “Belovodye”. Some teachings (Mahayana) distinguish several levels of nirvana according to the degree of perfection. Thus, in the Mahayana tradition, the highest level of development is possessed by bodhisattvas, who achieve not only the highest level of enlightenment and freedom, but are also able to “travel in dimensions.” For example, they can directly transition from a spiritual form to a physical one (while maintaining awareness of past incarnations and the astral-spiritual world).

In the Buddha's attitude towards nirvana one can discern a certain adaptation to the level of the audience. He sought to ensure that nirvana not only served as a contrast to the usual practice of his listeners, but also seemed to them an attractive goal. It is unlikely that the majority of Buddha’s followers would be inspired by the ideal of nothingness (this is how many European thinkers interpreted nirvana, seeing Buddhism as a form of nihilism), so for them He speaks of bliss, for the more “advanced” - of the cessation of consciousness. Nirvana does not necessarily entail physical death. The death of an arhat who has already experienced nirvana is called parinirvana (highest nirvana). It is believed that those who achieve it completely disappear from all existences, worlds and times, therefore bodhisattvas, caring for the welfare of other beings, postpone their final departure in order to help them alleviate their lot.

In the Mahayana, nirvana is identified with sunyata (emptiness), dharma-kaya (the unchanging essence of the Buddha) and dharma-dhatu (ultimate reality). Nirvana here is not the result of a process (otherwise it would be another transitory state), but the highest eternal truth, which is latently contained in empirical existence (the idea of ​​​​the identity of nirvana and samsara).

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Four noble truths, one might say, constitute the essence of Buddhism and tell what needs to be done with the suffering of people. These truths state that the life of sentient beings is full of various sufferings, and these sufferings have a beginning (cause) and an end, and you can achieve nirvana to end this suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path describes in detail what must be done to achieve nirvana. In other words, the Four Noble Truths describe the disease of human existence, and the Eightfold Path provides the recipe for healing. Understanding the truths and following the path will allow you to achieve peace and happiness in this life.

Steps

Part 1

Meditate regularly. Meditation is the key to the functioning of the mind and allows you to get closer to nirvana. Meditation should become a part of your daily life. You can learn to meditate on your own, but a teacher will always guide you and allow you to master the technique correctly. You can meditate alone, but meditating in a group under the guidance of a teacher will bring benefits. O bigger fruits.

• You cannot achieve nirvana without meditation. Meditation allows you to better understand yourself and the world around you.

1. Practice right view. Buddhist teachings (i.e. the Four Noble Truths) can be said to be the lens through which you should view the world. If you cannot accept the teaching, then you will not be able to achieve nirvana. Right view and right understanding are the foundation of the path. Look at the world realistically, not the way you would like it to be. You must strive to experience reality completely, through the lens of objectivity. It requires you to explore, study and learn.

   Have the right intentions. Focus on developing behaviors that are consistent with your belief system. Act as if all life deserves compassion and love. This should apply both to yourself and to other living beings. Reject selfish, cruel, or hateful thoughts. Love and non-violence should be your main principle.

   • Show love to all beings (people, animals and even plants), regardless of their status. For example, treat rich and poor with equal respect. All professions, races, ethnicities and ages should be treated equally to you.

2. Make sure you speak correctly. The third step is correct speech. Practicing correct speech, you must not lie, spread slander, gossip, or speak rudely. Speak only kind and truthful words. Your words should inspire and delight others. Know when to remain silent and say nothing - this is very important.

   • Practice correct speech every day.

3. Behave correctly. Your actions depend on what is in your heart and mind. Treat yourself and other people kindly. Don't ruin life and don't steal. Live a peaceful life and help others live the same. Be honest when interacting with other people. For example, don't lie or mislead others to get what you want.

   • Your presence and actions should be positive and improve the lives of others and society as a whole.

4. Choose the right lifestyle. Choose a profession or activity in accordance with your beliefs. Do not do work that harms others, involves killing animals, or involves deception. Selling guns or drugs or working in a slaughterhouse are not consistent with a healthy lifestyle. Whatever work you choose, you must do it honestly.

   • For example, if you work in sales, don't cheat or lie to people who buy your product.

5. Practice correct effort. Put the right amount of effort into everything you do to achieve success. Rid your mind of negative thoughts and focus on positive thoughts. Do everything with interest (go to school, have a career, make friends, engage in hobbies, and so on). Always practice positive thinking as it doesn't always come naturally. This will prepare your mind for mindfulness practice. Here are the four principles of right effort:

   Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness allows you to see reality and things as they are. The four foundations of mindfulness are contemplation of the body, feelings, states of mind and phenomena. When you are mindful, you are in the present moment and open to all experiences. You are focused in the present, not in the past or future. Be attentive to your body, your feelings, your thoughts, your ideas and everything that surrounds you.

   • Living in the present frees you from desires.
   • Mindfulness also means being attentive to the feelings, emotions and physical states of other people.

6. Focus on your mind. Correct concentration is the ability to concentrate your mind on one object and not be distracted by outside influences. Going all the way will allow you to learn to concentrate. Your mind will be focused and not filled with stress and anxiety. You will have a good relationship with yourself and with the whole world. Proper concentration allows you to see clearly, that is, to see the true essence.

   • Concentration is like awareness. However, when you concentrate, you are not aware of all the feelings and sensations. For example, if you are focused on an exam, you are only focused on the process of taking the exam. If you practiced mindfulness during an exam, you would be able to sense your emotions while taking the exam, see other people's actions, or how you sit during the exam.

   Part 2

   How to achieve nirvana in everyday life

   1. Practice loving-kindness (metta bhavana). Metta means non-romantic love, kindness and friendliness. These feelings come from the heart and can be nurtured and practiced. Usually the practice includes five stages. If you are a beginner, try to spend five minutes on each step.

      • Step 1: Feel "metta" towards yourself. Focus on feelings of peace, calm, strength and confidence. You can say to yourself: "May I be healthy and happy."
      • Step 2: Think about your friends and all the people you like. Repeat the phrase: “May they be healthy, may they be happy.”
      • Step 3: Think about those people for whom you have no feelings (neutral feelings) and mentally send them “metta”.
      • Step 4: Think about the people you don't like. Instead of thinking about why you don't like them and cultivating thoughts of hatred, send them metta.
      • Step 5: In the last step, think about all the people, everyone individual and about myself. Send "metta" to the people of your city, region, country and people around the world.

   2. Practice mindful breathing. This type of meditation will teach you to concentrate and focus on your thoughts. With this meditation you will learn to practice mindfulness, relax and relieve anxiety. Sit in a position that is comfortable for you. The back should be straight and relaxed, the shoulders should be relaxed and slightly thrown back. Place your hands on a pillow or on your lap. When you find a comfortable and correct position, start practicing. It consists of several stages. Spend at least 5 minutes on each step.

      Support and encourage others. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to achieve inner peace and share this experience with other people. Achieving nirvana will be beneficial not only for you, but for the whole world. You must become a source of support and inspiration for others. It's very simple - how to hug and support someone at a time when they are feeling down. If a person is important to you or does something good for you, tell them how you feel. Let people know how grateful you are to them and how much you appreciate them. If someone is having a bad day, listen and give that person a chance to talk it out.

      Remember to have compassion for people. Your happiness is directly related to the happiness of other people. Showing compassion brings joy to all people. You can practice compassion in different ways:

      • Turn off your cell phone when spending time with friends or family.
      • Look other people in the eyes, especially when they are talking to you, listen without interrupting.
      • Volunteer.
      • Open doors for other people.
      • Be sensitive to other people. For example, if someone is upset, pay attention to it and try to understand the reasons. Offer your help. Listen and show you care.

   3. Remember to be mindful. When practicing mindfulness, you must pay attention to what you are thinking and feeling in the present moment. Mindfulness should be practiced not only during meditation, but also in everyday life. For example, be mindful when you eat, shower, or get dressed. Start by practicing mindfulness during one certain type activities, focusing on the sensations in your body and on your breathing.

      • If you want to practice mindfulness while eating, focus on the taste, texture and smell of the food you eat.
      • When washing dishes, pay attention to the temperature of the water, how your hands act as you wash the dishes, and how the water rinses the dishes.
      • Instead of listening to music or watching TV as you get dressed for school or work, prepare yourself to do so in silence. Monitor your feelings. Do you feel tired or energized when you get out of bed? How do you feel in your body when you shower or get dressed?

   Part 3

   Four Noble Truths

   1. Define suffering. The Buddha describes suffering differently than we are used to thinking about it. Suffering is an integral part of life. Dukha is the truth that all living beings suffer. We are used to using the word suffering to describe conditions such as illness, aging, injury, physical or emotional pain. But the Buddha describes suffering differently: he describes it as mainly unfulfilled desires and cravings (attachment) for something. Desires and attachments are the cause of suffering because people rarely feel satisfied or satisfied. As soon as one desire is satisfied, another desire appears, and it is a vicious circle.

      Identify the causes of suffering. Desires and ignorance are the root of suffering. Unfulfilled desires are the worst type of suffering. For example, if you are sick, you suffer. When you're sick, you want to feel better. Your unsatisfied desire to be healthy is much worse than the discomfort caused by the disease. Every time you desire something (a thing, an opportunity, a person, or an achievement) that you cannot get, you suffer. The path to Nirvana must be based on three ideas. First, you must have the right intentions and mindset. Secondly, you must live with the right intentions and thoughts every day. Finally, you must understand the true reality and have the right attitude towards all things.

   • Your personal path to enlightenment may be different from other people's: just as every snowflake is unique, so is every person's path. Practice what feels natural or right to you.
   • Try different methods of meditation, because meditation is just a tool or method that you use on the path. To achieve the goal, various tools can be useful.
   • Nirvana is achieved when the misconception about the existence of oneself and everything else ceases. There are various methods to achieve this state. None of them are right or wrong, better or worse. Sometimes it is possible to achieve nirvana by chance, and sometimes it takes a lot of time and effort.
   • No one else knows what your path is, but sometimes a teacher can tell you where to go. Most teachers/traditions/sects are very tightly attached to the described path of enlightenment, and one of the main obstacles to this enlightenment is this attachment to opinion/point of view. You must not forget about irony along the way.
   • Individual practice is essential to achieving nirvana. The role of a teacher is to help you grow and become spiritually self-reliant. The role of the teacher is not to create codependency and regression to an infantile state, but on the contrary. Unfortunately, the first happens very, very often.
   • Reaching nirvana is probably not easy. This may take a long time. Even if you think it's impossible, keep trying.
   • You can practice Buddhism on your own, but you are more likely to achieve O Better luck if you go to the temple and find a teacher. Don't rush into choosing, but trust your own intuition - even if it takes time to find the right teacher, you will only get benefits. There are good teachers, and there are not so good ones. Search the internet for temples, groups (sanghas) or teachers and see what they have to say about them and their teachings.
   • The Eightfold Path is not linear. It's a journey you go on every day.
   • Find something you enjoy and commit yourself to it.
   • Don't forget for a moment the benefits that enlightenment brings. Constantly remind yourself of them and let it motivate you.
   • On the way, everyone is overcome by doubts.
   • Awakening may fade, but knowledge cannot be lost.
   • Awakenings remain and become deeper over time.
   • Awakenings often occur during times of serious personal crisis.
   • Focus on practice and maybe you will achieve your goal. Once you concentrate on the goal, practice will not yield results.
   • Find groups or courses online that teach awakening meditation. You are sure to find many useful resources.
   • Nirvana can be achieved through any spiritual or religious practice, even if these practices deny the existence of nirvana. There is plenty of evidence for this. For example, very often followers of Christianity say that insight came to them, that God revealed truths to them, and the like.

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Meaning of the word nirvana

nirvana in the crossword dictionary

nirvana

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

nirvana

nirvana, plural no, w. (Sanskrit nirvвna - disappearance, extinction) (book). Buddhists have a blissful state of the soul, freed from the suffering of personal existence. ? Death, non-existence (poet.). Immerse yourself in nirvana (colloquial) - transl. surrender to a state of complete peace.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.

nirvana

Y, f. In Buddhism and some other religions: a blissful state of detachment from life, liberation from life's worries and aspirations. Immerse yourself in nirvana (translated: surrender to a state of complete peace; outdated and bookish).

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

nirvana

A blissful state of detachment from life, liberation from everyday worries and aspirations (in Buddhism and some other religions).

The place of residence of souls in this state.

trans. State of peace, bliss.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

nirvana

NIRVANA (Sanskrit - extinction) is the central concept of Buddhism and Jainism, meaning the highest state, the goal of human aspirations. In Buddhism - a psychological state of completeness of inner being, absence of desires, complete satisfaction and self-sufficiency, absolute detachment from the outside world; In the course of the development of Buddhism, along with the ethical and psychological concept of nirvana, the idea of ​​it as an absolute also arises. In Jainism, the perfect state of the soul, freed from the shackles of matter, the endless game of birth and death (samsara).

Mythological dictionary

nirvana

(Buddhist) - “extinction” is the highest state of consciousness, which allows you to get rid of the chain of rebirths (samsara). It is believed that N. can be achieved during life, but it is fully achieved only after death. Beings who have reached N. cannot return to samsara, but can provide assistance to people and other beings seeking to get rid of the shackles of samsara.

Nirvana

(Sanskrit, literally ≈ fading, fading), the central concept of the religious philosophy of Buddhism (as well as Jainism), meaning the highest state, the ultimate goal of human spiritual aspirations. In Buddhist texts, N. is characterized as something incomprehensible, inexpressible, the opposite of what can be in “this world and the other world,” essentially representing a state of internal completeness and absolute detachment from external existence. Psychologically, N.'s state is negatively described as a lack of passion, thirst for life in general, and positively as a state of perfection, satisfaction and self-sufficiency. Self-absorption, excluding the need to turn to the external, in the N. state is characterized by a certain “activity” of the intellect, feelings and will that cannot be dissected, which can be defined as a state of contemplative concentration. The Buddhist ideal - the absence of thoughts about happiness and unhappiness, good and evil, apparent indifference to basic human aspirations - can even be described as the absence of any specific goal at all. The only identifiable sensation in N.’s state is the feeling of unconnectedness, independence, and freedom. However, this is not freedom that “overcame” the world, but freedom that “sublated” the world, since the world does not oppose the human person in Buddhism and, therefore, does not require overcoming.

Although achieving N. involves abandoning the idea of ​​happiness in general, Buddhist texts describe N. not only as a state of peace, but also as a state of bliss. In the 20th century N. ceased to be identified with the state of absolute nothingness (R. Childers, Great Britain, F. I. Shcherbatskaya, USSR, etc.). However, it is hardly justified to identify N. with the state of super-existence, which began in this life and continues after death (in the works of T. W. Rhys-Davids, Great Britain, H. Glasenapp, Germany, etc.). The state of complete satisfaction, in principle, removes the question of the duration of satisfaction and, consequently, of the future life. Considering this and at the same time the Buddhist non-recognition of death as destruction, we can assume that N. has nothing to do with the category of time at all.

In the course of the development of Buddhism, along with the ethical and psychological concept of N., ideas about it as an absolute reality arise, and attempts are made to ontologize the psychological state [the concept of Sarvastivadins in the Hinayana; Madhyamika teaching in Mahayana, equating N. shunyata (emptiness), etc.]. In Jainism, N. means the perfect state of the soul, freed from the shackles of matter, from the endless game of birth and death.

N.'s concept is in line with mystical ideas about achieving a perfect state of soul or psyche, building a “kingdom not of this world within us.” A feature of the Buddhist and partly Jain idea of ​​N., which distinguishes it not only from the ideas of Christian mysticism, Manichaeism, Sufism, but also from the Hindu concepts of “liberation”, is (despite a certain similarity with these concepts in the Mahayana) reliance only on one’s own strength and absolute the disconnection of N.'s achievement from the idea of ​​the transcendent (God, good), the affirmation of the postulate of human divinity. Absolute detachment from everything external and an undoubted egocentric attitude lead many of N.'s followers to withdraw from participation in the life of society.

Lit.: Vallée Poussin L. de la, Nirvana, P., 1925; Stcherbatsky Th., The conception of Buddhist nirvana, Leningrad, 1927; Frauwallner E., Die Philosophie des Buddhismus, 3 Aufl., B., 1969; Conze E., Buddhist thought in India, L., ; Welbon G. R., The Buddhist Nirvana and its Western interpreters, Chi.≈L., 1968; Johansson R., The psychology of Nirvana, N.Y., 1970. See also lit. at Art. Buddhism.

V. P. Luchina.

Wikipedia

Nirvana

Nirvana, Nibbana- a concept in Indian religious thought denoting the highest goal of all living beings and playing vital role in Buddhism. There are many definitions of the concept of "nirvana", but it is usually associated with the state of liberation from suffering inherent in existence in samsara.

In Buddhism, Nirvana:

• freedom from desires, suffering and attachments;
• liberation from suffering, from the circle of births (samsara);
• a state of consciousness in which the elements of sanatana - the stream of consciousness (dharma) are at peace;
• the highest goal of the aspirations of believers in early Buddhism and Theravada, achievable after the eradication of all defilements.

In addition to “nirvana with remainder,” the Pali suttas distinguish “nirvana without remainder” (parinirvana). In addition, "impermanent nirvana" is sometimes mentioned, which is spoken of as peace or the state of a Buddha who has transcended nirvana and samsara. Late Indian and Tibetan Buddhism use the concept of “natural nirvana” or emptiness (shunyata). Longchen Rabjam linked nirvana with rigpa (the state of the Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra).

There have always been and continue to be debates among Buddhist scholars and adherents of Buddhism regarding how exactly nirvana should be understood. In Brahmanism and Hinduism, nirvana is merging with Brahman.

Nirvana (film, 1997)

"Nirvana"(1997) - the film by Italian director Gabriele Salvatores is considered a classic work of cyberpunk.

Nirvana (film, 2008)

"Nirvana"- Russian film, drama, filmed in 2008 by director Igor Voloshin. The film is dedicated to the problems of youth.

Examples of the use of the word nirvana in literature.

Tamba said: - The Diamond Chariot is the Path for people who live by murder, theft and all other mortal sins, but at the same time do not lose hope of achieving Nirvana.

This is if there is a God, but according to Buddhism, it seems He is not, so we will finish with Buddhism, in the hope that God needs us in an assembled state, and not in the form of archival drawings of what once was, but floated into nirvana.

To those who are unable to achieve nirvana, there is neither peace nor bliss: the absolute as overcoming any kind of nostalgia is a reward that goes only to those who agree to lay down their arms.

That is why the doctrines of Brahman and Nirvana did not become the last truth revealed to the pre-Christian world, and that is why they shared a common fate: Brahmanism resulted in Hindu paganism, and the philosophy of Gautama was overshadowed by popular Buddhism.

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Nirvana, then it is undeniable that Buddhist philosophy does not preach final annihilation, just as it is claimed that Jesus appeared to his disciples after death, so it is believed to this day that Gotama descended from Nirvana.

Omelette Like a Mirror of English Cuisine, Descent into Nirvana, Numismatic Epic.

And those who achieve this perfect peace called Nirvana, or in the Hindu language - Samadhi, makes this much easier with the help of music.

O Govinda, it seems to me that of all the Samanas existing in the world, perhaps not one will achieve Nirvana.

When wanderers in other worlds talk about Eden, like the teachers of Semitic religions, or about the palaces of Brahma and Vishnu, about the heavens of the Iranian Asuras or Hindu devas, about the blissful land of Sukhavati, even about Nirvana- they take as the last goal only individual steps within Shadanakar, individual peaks of metacultures and the highest transmyths of religions, or, finally, the reality of the World Salvaterra.

To you, who always make unnecessary friends, to you, who lose everything except long-suffering, who do not fly forward, skipping steps - over trampled near and middle, and distant ones, to you, who kiss the pure hand of the hidalgo, in Christ - without a cross, on the cross - without deception , who gives for an eighth of a leaf nirvana, for an insignificant word, ready to be slaughtered, adapted only to scribbling paper, reaching the posthumous peak in glory - from my nails to my last tripe I surrender!

The boundaries of one’s own essence dissolved in undivided happiness and harmony: for a person this would be called God’s insight or nirvana.

Firstly, you can lose any certainty and enter the state 000 000 or the state nirvana, but this is also a form, and it does not correspond or correspond to other forms in the same way.

And after they reached nirvana, Georg separated from his half and went into another world, the world of sleep.

However, in this case, in the concept Nirvana his own doctrine finds the closest and least falsifiable religious expression.

Almost everyone has heard the sonorous word “nirvana” in one context or another, but not everyone knows that this is not only the name of a cult rock band that left a bright mark on the musical culture of the last century, but also a sacred term, which is one of the most important concepts in eastern spiritual practices.

The level of a person’s culture is also manifested in his erudition, so even if you are not a fan of Eastern philosophy, knowledge of the meaning of the word “nirvana” will definitely not be superfluous.

What is nirvana?

Translated from Sanskrit the word "nirvana" means "cessation, extinction" . Sanskrit is one of the ancient Indian languages, in which the legendary sages, who stood at the origins of numerous philosophical teachings and spiritual practices of the East, expounded their teachings.

In Western culture, the words “cessation” and “extinction” are more negative than creative, but Eastern culture is radically different from anything we are used to. Achieving nirvana is a desirable goal for everyone, as well as for adherents of some other Indian religious and philosophical teachings.

There are many definitions of the concept of “nirvana,” but they all agree that nirvana is liberation from the suffering inherent in samsara. That is, in this case we are talking about the cessation and extinction of suffering and delusions, and, you see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.

IN Buddhist tradition Nirvana is:

- liberation from the circle of rebirths;

- freedom from suffering, desires and attachments;

- a state in which consciousness is at rest;

- the highest goal of aspiration in the early schools of Buddhism (in modern schools, nirvana is only an intermediate step to achieve higher stages of enlightenment).


Buddhists call nirvana a special state in which consciousness in the usual sense of the word fades away, acquiring a fundamentally different quality that allows one to completely free the mind from illusions, making it suitable for the perception of absolute truth. The flow of thoughts stops, the illusory world loses its power over man, and true essence things and concepts becomes obvious without any explanation.

In a state of nirvana, human consciousness comes into complete harmony with the surrounding universe, while there is simply no room left for worries and anxieties, which is why we can say that nirvana is a state of absolute happiness.

When there are no passions, desires or attachments left in the soul, nothing can anymore cause it suffering or anxiety. Nirvana is not a legend; many enlightened people can reach this state at will.

What is the path to achieving nirvana?

The path to achieving nirvana is to cleanse your own consciousness of everything unnecessary through regular meditation. Nirvana is a very real state, familiar firsthand to many adherents of Eastern religions, but it is quite difficult to describe it in words, for the simple reason that in the state of nirvana, the concepts and terms familiar to us lose all meaning, and the sensations experienced in nirvana have no no meaning or explanation in the context of our usual thoughts and words.

There is an ancient parable that successfully illustrates the above. In one lake there lived a turtle. She spent most of her time in the water, where she made friends with the fish inhabiting the lake. But sometimes the turtle went ashore to do its business, and the fish were very surprised, not understanding where it was disappearing.

All their lives, the fish had not seen anything except the lake in which they lived, so for them it was a whole universe, and they simply could not imagine anything outside its boundaries.

Sometimes they asked the turtle where it was going and where it was coming from, then it honestly answered them that it was on the shore, but this word meant nothing to the fish, they could not imagine how anything could exist in the world other than the water around them and the objects in it, the words “walk along the shore” sounded to them like a meaningless set of sounds.

The fish discussed in the parable simply did not have the opportunity to leave the lake and walk along the shore. Human capabilities are broader. Although Nirvana cannot be described in clear words, it can be achieved and experienced. A necessary condition To achieve nirvana is to stop the so-called “internal dialogue”.

A process occurs almost constantly in the human consciousness, which is essentially a dialogue with oneself. Even when it seems to us that we are not thinking about anything, our consciousness is still quietly whispering to itself, it continues to ask itself questions and answer them. There are meditation techniques that allow you to stop this dialogue and feel inner silence. It is in this silence that the entrance to nirvana is found.


By stopping the internal dialogue, a person opens his consciousness to new sensations for which in his normal state he simply does not have the resources. Having learned from at will stop the internal dialogue, you will come very close to nirvana, but it is not possible to describe in understandable words the last step towards achieving it, since the entire world familiar to us is a “lake”, and nirvana is located beyond its borders.

In order to learn how to fall into nirvana, it is best to find an experienced guide who knows the way there and back; independent attempts can be dangerous, because fish thrown ashore do not always manage to return back without outside help.

(Sanskrit nirvâna, Pali nibbâna, lit. “extinction”), in the Buddhist religious-mythological system, one of the main concepts, denotes the highest state of consciousness, opposite to samsara, when there are no rebirths and transitions from one sphere of samsaric existence to another. Of the samsaric beings, only man can achieve N. and become a Buddha. According to the theory of Buddhism, nothing definite can be said about N., except that it is a state of freedom, peace and bliss (although all these words are inadequate to describe N.). It is believed that N. can be achieved during life, but it is fully achieved only after death (the so-called pari-nirvana). Beings who have gone to N. (i.e., Buddhas) theoretically cannot return to samsara, but in the mythology of Buddhism there are often stories in which “nirvanic beings” help people and other beings to break out of the shackles of samsara. In Mahayana mythology, emanations of Buddhas - bodhisattvas - do this. The Buddhas themselves can reincarnate into humans (for example, Amitabha reincarnates as the Panchen Lama).
In Mahayana mythology, there are several levels of N. Hinayana supporters (the so-called nirvana of shravakas and pratyekabuddhas) are considered lower than the Nirvana achieved by bodhisattvas.
Lit.: Mäll L., Four terms of Prajnaparamitic psychology (article 1), in: Transactions on Oriental Studies, 2, Tartu, 1973, p. 202-16; Stcherbatsky Th., The conception of Buddhist Nirvana, Leningrad, 1927.
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Definitions, meanings of words in other dictionaries:

Big dictionary esoteric terms - edited by Doctor of Medical Sciences Stepanov A.M.

(Sanskrit: extinction). 1. Eternal peace, cessation (not obligatory for the beings themselves, but obligatory for their ego, desires, selfish actions and mentality). Nirvana is freedom from desires and other limitations of the flesh, a state of contemplation, improvement of the spiritual...

Encyclopedia "Religion"

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Philosophical Dictionary

(Sanskrit.) According to Orientalists, complete "extinction", like the flame of a candle, is the absolute annihilation of existence. But in esoteric interpretations, this is a state of absolute existence and absolute consciousness, where the Ego of a person, who has reached the highest degree during life...

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(Sanskrit - cooling, fading, fading): in ancient Indian philosophical and religious thought it means an ideal state of detachment, characterized by the loss of the sense of “I”, the disappearance of personality, individual consciousness. “I” dissolves in the Absolute (Brahman), ceases...

Philosophical Dictionary

(Sanskrit, lit. - extinction) - center, concept of religion. philosophy of Buddhism" of Jainism. This term denotes complete disappearance, liberation from the bonds of samsara, the highest. a state of mind in which all earthly attachments are overcome, there are no desires or passions. N. - break in the circuit...

Philosophical Dictionary

(Sanskrit - extinction, cessation) - in Buddhism it is understood as the destruction of desires, the cessation of suffering, of all “thirst” - the thirst for life, the thirst for knowledge, the extinction of passions and the work of consciousness, the exit from reincarnation. From the point of view of a carnal ("samsaric") person, this is cessation...