The idea of nirvana, enlightenment, an end to suffering is very attractive. It seems like a rare and special thing. It is like a transcendence from how things seem to how they are. It may take many lifetimes to recognize nirvana, but we may only get one lifetime. However that works, the time to recognize nirvana is now.
To recognize nirvana, you have to know what you are seeking. Nirvana is not such a rare and special thing. It is an element of everything. It is an ending. The word nirvana comes from Sanskrit where it means “to extinguish”. The root words of nirvana are “va”, which means “to blow” and “nis”, which means “out”. If you can imagine a flame and picture yourself blowing it out, then you understand the meaning of nirvana.
For the Buddha, nirvana was an end to the cycle of life and death. It was supreme liberation. He blew out the fire of mental formations. He lived and he died, and recognized nirvana in each moment. The Buddha spent thousands of hours in meditation observing how his mind worked. By sitting and observing his mind, he shaped his mind. He could see ideas come and go. He felt pain and sorrow, grief and love. In each of those experiences he also felt nirvana, the evaporation of thoughts. Each moment of joy and suffering contained its end.
We have all experienced the end of suffering. When we are children, nirvana is the pain going away when our parent kisses our skinned knee. The scrape is still there, but the fear and suffering that came with it evaporate. As children, we suffer from childhood suffering. As teens, we suffer from teen suffering. As adults, we suffer from adult suffering. At each stage of our lives we extinguish old forms of suffering and new forms arise.
Extinguishing suffering is important. It is something we can actively do in each moment. When we notice the thoughts and ideas that lead to our suffering, we can help them pass by blowing them out. After a tough day at work or school, if we come home and decompress, the day’s suffering ends. When we go to bed at night, the waking suffering ends. When we eat a meal, the suffering of our hunger ends. When we sit meditation, we let all of our thoughts settle as we breathe in and blow out. We put down all of the suffering of the past and future and work with where we are. When the bell rings the suffering of mediation ends.
Nirvana means that your current suffering contains an end. Like a candle flame is made of heat and wick and wax our suffering is made of memories, projections and ideas. When we focus our attention on our breath, other thoughts go away. In that way we blow out the flame of our suffering and taste a little nirvana now.
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