| The experience of Nirvana is not just limited to the | | | | Buddha tell us that he was peaceful. Lots of is illusions, |
| moment of the Buddha's passing. It isn't just the | | | | concerns and desires slipped away. He was also wise. |
| moment where his personality ceases to exist. The | | | | He was able to see reality for what it was and |
| Buddha also experienced Nirvana at the moment of | | | | understand it. He was unattached, there was nothing |
| his awakening, when he knew that he was no longer | | | | that bounded him. And he was free. |
| bound by ignorance and desire. | | | | One of the words for Nirvana that is very commonly |
| When we understand this concept this way we can | | | | used in the Buddhist tradition is the Indian word for |
| see that Nirvana isn't just the cessation of life. The | | | | freedom. |
| Buddha lived for forty years between that first | | | | I think that is also possible for us to imagine that he |
| moment of his Nirvana and his Parinirvana, his passing. | | | | was able to act with spontaneity and clarity of mind. |
| Nirvana is a quality of mind or state of being that | | | | He also acted with a sense of compassion and |
| characterizes the Buddha's life for that whole forty | | | | attentiveness to the suffering of others. |
| years period between his awakening and his passing. | | | | With this, we can build an ideal that goes beyond the |
| That period represents the ultimate achievement of | | | | image of extinction. Nirvana is indeed the cessation of |
| human life. | | | | the cycle of deaths and rebirths, but it is also the |
| What is it like? The images that we have of the | | | | perfect realization of the qualities valuable in human life. |