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On the Nature of Nibbana

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On the Nature of Nibbana On the Nature of Nibbāna by The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw of Burma Translated by U Htin Fatt Buddha Sāsanānuggaha Organisation Mahāsi Translation Committee, Rangoon On the Nature of Nibbāna by The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw of Burma Translated by U Htin Fatt First printed and published in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma July 1981 Latest Edition Edited by Bhikkhu Pesala September 2021 All rights reserved Contents Editor’s Preface..............................................................................vii Foreword.......................................................................................viii Part I Introduction................................................................................1 What Is Nibbāna?.............................................................................2 Ratana Sutta Paritta.....................................................................4 Calling A Halt to Kamma...........................................................5 Purification of Mind....................................................................6 Purification of View....................................................................6 Knowledge by Discerning Conditionality..................................7 Knowledge of Arising and Passing Away..................................7 Arahantship Through Almsgiving.............................................8 Arahantship Through Insight Meditation..................................9 No Yearning for Death Nor for Life............................................9 Rebirth is Dependent on Craving.............................................11 No Craving Means No Rebirth.................................................11 Like A Flame Extinguished.......................................................12 The Meaning of Nibbāna................................................................13 The Meaning of Peace...............................................................15 The Cycle of Defilements..........................................................15 The Cycle of Actions.................................................................15 The Cycle of Results..................................................................18 How to Escape from the Three Cycles............................................19 Annihilation of Existence..........................................................21 The Sammasa Sutta...................................................................21 Like the Stump of a Palm Tree..................................................22 Nibbāna Is Happiness...............................................................23 True Bliss...................................................................................24 Different Stages of Jhānic Bliss..................................................25 Part II Mental Formations and Nibbāna....................................................27 1. Arising and Non-arising.......................................................27 2. Occurrence and Non-occurrence...........................................28 3. Having Signs and Signless....................................................29 4. Accumulation and Non-accumulation..................................32 5. Rebirth-linking and Absence of Rebirth-linking...................36 The Three Burdens..........................................................................37 1. The Burden of Defilements....................................................37 2. The Burden of Actions...........................................................37 3. The Burden of the Aggregates...............................................38 iii iv Contents Discarding All Burdens..................................................................39 The Fetter of Existence..............................................................39 Five Sense Faculties...................................................................40 Cessation of Lust.......................................................................40 Nibbāna Without Remainder....................................................41 Two Noteworthy Verses...........................................................42 Part III The Story of Bāhiya Dārucīriya......................................................44 The Bāhiya Sutta........................................................................45 How Bāhiya Dārucīriya Met the Buddha.................................46 Just See As You See It................................................................47 Bāhiya Becomes An Arahant.....................................................50 The Eye and Visual Perception.......................................................51 The Ear and Auditory Perception.............................................52 The Nose and Olfactory Perception..........................................52 The Tongue and Gustatory Perception.....................................52 The Body and Tactile Perception..............................................53 The Mind and Perception of Ideas............................................53 Cessation of the Senses is Nibbāna.................................................54 Fixing the Mind on Nibbāna.....................................................54 The Right Method of Practice....................................................55 Knowledge of Disgust...............................................................57 Part IV Respectful Attention.......................................................................58 The Attentiveness of A Female Spirit.......................................59 About the Nature of Nibbāna.........................................................60 Nibbāna is Real.........................................................................61 No Primary Elements in Nibbāna.............................................61 Matter Is Non-existent in Nibbāna............................................62 Absence of Formless Consciousness.........................................63 Absence of Mind and Matter in Nibbāna.................................64 Nibbāna Is beyond All Realms..................................................65 Attributes of Nibbāna.....................................................................65 Nibbāna Has No Mass..............................................................65 Nibbāna Is Deathless and Birthless...........................................66 Nibbāna Has No Abode............................................................66 No Occurrence of Mind and Matter..........................................66 Nibbāna Offers No Sense-objects..............................................66 The End of the World.....................................................................67 The Rohitassa Sutta...................................................................67 Suffering Ends With the End of the World...............................67 The Four Noble Truths Reside in the Body..............................68 Contents v The Universe Is within..............................................................69 Meditating on the Four Elements..............................................70 An Easy Method of Meditation......................................................71 Suffering and Its Cause Manifest During Ideation...................74 Discovery of Nibbāna Where the Universe Ends.....................76 No Foothold..............................................................................78 Part V The Cessation of Craving................................................................79 Let Me Think About It ..............................................................80 Loath to Earn Merit for Nibbāna...............................................80 Maung Kāla...............................................................................80 Excels A Deva or Brahma..........................................................83 Excels the King of Brahmas.......................................................84 Beings in Sensual Realms Dislike A Brahmā’s Life...................84 Beings in the Realms of Form Dislike the Absence of Form.......85 Craving Has No Affinity for Nibbāna............................................85 The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering ........................86 The Four Substrata of Existence................................................87 Cessation As Expounded in the Kevaṭṭa Sutta.........................88 About Supernormal Powers...........................................................90 Psychic Powers..........................................................................90 The Power of Mind Reading.....................................................92 The Power of Instruction...........................................................93 Where Do the Four Elements Cease?........................................93 Part VI The Peace of Nibbāna is Real..........................................................96 The Story of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī................................................96 Cousin Nanda and Son Rāhula...............................................100 Parinibbāna of Suddhodana....................................................100 Admission of Women into the Saṅgha....................................100 Venerable Ānanda Intervened................................................101 Permission Granted.................................................................102 The Parinibbāna of Gotamī Therī............................................102 Gotamī Therī’s Tribute to the Buddha....................................104
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