Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature

by Dalai Lama

  Nirvāṇa is the state beyond sorrow, sorrow referring to saṃsāra, its duḥkha, and origins. Alternatively, sorrow alludes to inherent existence, and nirvāṇa being beyond sorrow indicates that it is the emptiness of inherent existence.

  Four types of nirvāṇa are spoken of: natural nirvāṇa (prakṛti-nirvṛta), nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), nirvāṇa without remainder (nirupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), and nonabiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭha-nirvāṇa).

  Natural Nirvāṇa

  Natural nirvāṇa is the ultimate nature of a mind that is primordially pure and devoid of inherent existence; it is the mind’s emptiness of inherent existence. Candrakīrti says in Clear Words:

  Since only emptiness has the character of stopping all elaborations, it is called nirvāṇa.

  Emptiness itself is free from the elaborations of inherent existence. It appears in the way it exists to the main consciousness perceiving it; that is, to the wisdom directly realizing emptiness, emptiness appears without any elaboration of inherent existence at all. The mind has always been empty of inherent existence; this emptiness is called natural nirvāṇa, and by repeatedly realizing it we can attain the nirvāṇa that is the cessation of all duḥkha and its origins.

  Natural nirvāṇa is not actual nirvāṇa — nirvāṇa that is the passing beyond the sorrow of saṃsāra. However, as emptiness, natural nirvāṇa acts as the basis that allows for the attainment of actual nirvāṇa. As the primordial nature of the mind, it is a quality of the mind, so attaining nirvāṇa does not entail procuring an external quality. Rather it involves recognizing a quality of the mind that is already present. When the mind is polluted, it is unawakened, and when it is purified it is awakened. Its empty nature is present in both instances. Because the mind lacks inherent existence, it can be freed from all pollutants that are based on grasping inherent existence.

  In a more general way, natural nirvāṇa refers to emptiness. Everything around us — as well as the four truths and the basis, path, and result — are empty of inherent existence. In this way, all phenomena can be said to possess natural nirvāṇa or emptiness. However, only sentient beings can attain the nirvāṇa that is free from obscurations, because that nirvāṇa is the emptiness of the purified mind.

  Nirvāṇa with and without Remainder

  According to the Svātantrikas and below, remainder in the terms nirvāṇa with and without remainder refers to the ordinary aggregates, which are true duḥkha because they arise under the control of ignorance and polluted karma. Śrāvaka arhats first attain nirvāṇa with remainder, because at the time they eliminate all afflictive obscurations and attain liberation, they still have their ordinary bodies.71 When they die and shed those bodies, there is nirvāṇa without remainder because the continuity of the polluted aggregates has ceased.

  Vaibhāṣikas and Sautrāntikas, who do not accept one final vehicle — that is, they do not believe that all sentient beings can attain buddhahood — assert that at the time of nirvāṇa without remainder, when an arhat passes away, his or her continuum of consciousness ceases although the nirvāṇa without remainder exists.72 Prāsaṅgikas, Svātantrikas, and Cittamātra Reasoning Proponents who assert one final vehicle — that all sentient beings will eventually attain buddhahood — say that the continuum of consciousness exists even after arhats leave their polluted bodies. At this time they are born in the Sukhāvatī pure land; there they have nirvāṇa without remainder because no suffering aggregates remain and they instead have a mental body. While these arhats still have the five aggregates, they are not polluted aggregates because they were not taken under the control of afflictions and polluted karma.

  In Sukhāvatī, these arhats stay in meditative equipoise on emptiness for eons. In time, the buddhas will wake them from their meditative equipoise, teach them the Mahāyāna doctrine, and cause them to follow the bodhisattva path to full awakening. These arhats then generate bodhicitta and enter the bodhisattva path of accumulation. Unlike bodhisattvas who initially enter the bodhisattva path of accumulation and practice for three countless great eons to attain awakening, these arhats who later become bodhisattvas require a much longer time to attain awakening because the habituation of seeking only their own liberation is very strong. In the process of practicing the bodhisattva path, they often spend long periods of time in meditative equipoise on emptiness because they are captivated by the bliss of personal peace. It is difficult for them to generate great compassion and the great resolve that takes the responsibility for the welfare of all sentient beings.

  Prāsaṅgikas have a unique meaning for nirvāṇa with and without remainder. Remainder refers to the appearance of inherent existence and the dualistic appearance of subject and object. Nirvāṇa without remainder is the final true cessation when arhats have completely overcome the afflictive obscurations and attain nirvāṇa, the passing beyond sorrow, where sorrow indicates the afflictive obscurations. This occurs during meditative equipoise on emptiness. This nirvāṇa is free from the remainder of dualistic appearance and the appearance of inherent existence. Later, upon arising from meditative equipoise on emptiness, arhats again experience the false appearance of inherent existence due to cognitive obscurations. This is nirvāṇa with remainder of the appearances of inherent existence and of subject-object duality.

  Nonabiding Nirvāṇa

  Nonabiding nirvāṇa is the purified aspect of the ultimate nature of a mind that is forever free of both afflictive and cognitive obscurations. It is called nonabiding because a buddha does not abide in either saṃsāra or in the personal nirvāṇa of a śrāvaka arhat. All Buddhist practitioners agree that saṃsāra is clearly undesirable and want to be free from it. For bodhisattvas, who wish to attain full awakening to best work for the welfare of sentient beings, the personal nirvāṇa of an arhat is limited because arhats spend eons in blissful meditative equipoise on emptiness while sentient beings continue to suffer in saṃsāra. Bodhisattvas seek the nirvāṇa of a buddha, a nirvāṇa that lacks the impediments of both saṃsāra and personal nirvāṇa. Nonabiding nirvāṇa, possessed only by buddhas, is free from the two extremes of saṃsāra and personal nirvāṇa.

  Nonabiding nirvāṇa is also the nature dharmakāya of a buddha. It is the emptiness of a buddha’s mind, the purified state of the natural buddha nature. Nonabiding nirvāṇa possesses two purities: natural purity and purity from adventitious defilements. Its natural purity is its primordial emptiness of inherent existence; its purity from adventitious defilements is the aspect of true cessation.

  Pāli Tradition: Nirvāṇa

  In the Nālandā tradition, there is debate whether nirvāṇa is the cessation of something that once existed (the afflictions) or a state in which nothing existent was removed — an emptiness that is naturally free from inherent existence — and we now realize that emptiness. Most sages agree it is the latter. Pāli sūtras and commentators also speak of nirvāṇa in a variety of ways. In some cases, nirvāṇa refers to the elimination of the five aggregates subject to clinging; nirvāṇa is the state of cessation in which true duḥkha and the true origin of duḥkha have been eradicated. In other situations, nirvāṇa is spoken of as reality, the object of meditation of āryas’ meditative equipoise.

  Nirvāṇa as the Cessation of Duḥkha and Its Origin

  In the Buddha’s description of his own awakening, he says (MN 26.18–19):

  Then, monastics, being myself subject to birth, having understood the danger in what is subject to birth, seeking the unborn supreme security from bondage, nibbāna, I attained the unborn supreme security from bondage, nibbāna; being myself subject to aging, having understood the danger in what is subject to aging, seeking the unaging supreme security from bondage, nibbāna, I attained the unaging supreme security from bondage . . . [the passage continues with sickness, death, sorrow, defilement, in place of birth] . . . the knowledge and vision arose in me: “My deliverance is unshakeable; this is my last birth; now there is no rene
wal of being.”

  I considered: “This Dhamma that I have attained is profound, hard to see and hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise.” But this generation delights in worldliness, takes delight in worldliness, rejoices in worldliness. It is hard for such a generation to see this truth, namely, specific conditionality, dependent arising. And it is hard to see this truth, namely, the stilling of all formations [aggregates], the relinquishing of all attachments, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna . . .”

  “This Dhamma” refers to the four truths. “Specific conditionality, dependent arising” refers to the true origins of duḥkha, and “the stilling of all formations, the relinquishing of all attachments, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna” is the standard expression of nirvāṇa in the sūtras. It is the extinguishment of the aggregates (formations), which are true duḥkha, and of all attachment and craving, which are true origins of duḥkha. The reference to true origins implies the truth of duḥkha and the reference to true cessation implies the true path. In nirvāṇa all four truths have been realized.

  In some sūtras, nirvāṇa is said to be the eradication of attachment, anger, and ignorance (SN 38:1):

  Friend Sāriputta, it is said, “Nibbāna, nibbāna.” What now is nibbāna?”

  [Sāriputta]: “The destruction of sensual desire, the destruction of animosity, the destruction of confusion: this, friend, is called nibbāna.”

  This meaning fits in well with the etymological explanation of nirvāṇa. Literally, nibbāna indicates extinguishment. In Pāli, the word is formed from the negative particle ni and vana, which refers to craving. Thus nibbāna is the destruction or absence of the craving that propels repeated rebirths in cyclic existence. In Sanskrit, nir means “out” and va means “to blow.” Here nirvāṇa indicates that ignorance, the root of cyclic existence, and craving, the affliction that links one life to the next, have been blown out and extinguished. In this sense, nirvāṇa is the absence of something that once existed.

  Nirvāṇa as the Object of Meditation

  Some sūtras in the Pāli tradition present nirvāṇa as the object of meditation of a supramundane path, where it refers more to a negation or lack of something that never existed. The Buddha says (AN 3.47):

  There are, O monastics, these three characteristics that define the unconditioned [nibbāna]. What three? No arising is seen, no vanishing is seen, no changing while it persists is seen.

  Unlike conditioned phenomena that arise and pass away, nirvāṇa — the unconditioned — is free from such fluctuation. Having no arising, nirvāṇa is not produced from causes and conditions. It never vanishes or ceases because of causes and conditions, and while it exists, it does not change or transform into something else. Here nirvāṇa is presented as a simple negation of attributes that never existed in it. The Buddha describes nirvāṇa (Udāna 8.4):73

  One that is dependent [on craving and views] has wavering. One that is not dependent has no wavering. There being no wavering, there is calm. There being calm, there is no yearning. There being no yearning, there is no coming or going [birth and death]. There being no coming or going, there is no passing away or arising [succession of deaths and rebirths]. There being no passing away or arising, there is neither a here nor a there [this world or another world] nor an in-between-the-two. This, just this, is the end of duḥkha.

  In another sūtra, the Buddha says (Ud 8.1):

  There is, monastics, that base where there is neither earth, nor water, nor heat, nor air; neither the base of the infinity of space, nor the base of the infinity of consciousness, nor the base of nothingness, nor the base of neither-discrimination-nor-nondiscrimination; neither this world nor another world, neither sun nor moon. Here, monastics, I say there is no coming, no going, no standing still, no passing away, and no being reborn. It is not established, not moving, without support. Just this is the end of duḥkha.

  And in another sūtra from the Udāna, he says (Ud 8.3):

  There is, monastics, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated. If, monastics, there were no unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, no escape would be discerned from what is born, become, made, fabricated. But because there is an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unfabricated, therefore an escape is discerned from what is born, become, made, fabricated.

  Here nirvāṇa is a distinct phenomenon that has nothing to do with matter or with even the deepest samādhis in saṃsāra. Nirvāṇa is a negation — no coming, no going, not made, and so forth — without anything being posited in their stead. Because nirvāṇa exists, saṃsāra can be overcome; nirvāṇa is not total nonexistence. The language the Buddha uses in the above two passages reminds us of Nāgārjuna’s homage in his Treatise on the Middle Way:

  I prostrate to the perfect Buddha,

  the best of all teachers, who taught that

  that which is dependent arising is

  without cessation, without arising,

  without annihilation, without absolutism,

  without coming, without going,

  without distinction, without identity,

  and peaceful — free from fabrication.

  The Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha explains nirvāṇa (CMA 258):

  Nibbāna is termed supramundane and is to be realized by the knowledge of the four paths. It becomes an object of the paths and fruits, and is called nibbāna because it is a departure from craving, which is an entanglement.

  Nirvāṇa is the object of only a supramundane path — the supreme, ultimate mind cognizing the supreme, ultimate object. Nirvāṇa is spoken of as having three aspects (CMA 260): (1) Because nirvāṇa is empty of ignorance, animosity, and attachment and because it is empty of the conditioned, it is emptiness (P. suññata). (2) Because it is free from the signs of ignorance, animosity, and attachment and is free from the signs of conditioned things, it is signless (P. animitta). (3) Because nirvāṇa is free from the hankering of ignorance, anger, and attachment and because it is not wished for by craving, it is wishless (P. appaṇihita).

  Ānanda once asked Śāriputra if a monk could attain a samādhi in which he does not perceive any mundane phenomenon such as the four elements, the formless absorptions, this world and the world beyond, yet still be percipient. Śāriputra points to his experience of a state of samādhi in which this occurs (AN 10.7):

  “Nibbāna is cessation of becoming, nibbāna is cessation of becoming” — one such perception arose in me and another such perception ceased. Just as when a fire of twigs is burning, one flame arises and another flame ceases, even so, “Nibbāna is cessation of becoming, nibbāna is cessation of becoming” — one such perception arose in me and another such perception ceased. On that occasion, friend, I perceived that nibbāna is the cessation of becoming.

  Śāriputra indicates that nirvāṇa is the object of his perception. The commentary explains that he entered a samādhi of the fruition attainment of an arhat, which is an attainment in which the mind of the arhat is absorbed on nirvāṇa as an object. It is not cessation of discrimination and feeling or the attainment of cessation in which there is no discrimination or feeling, because Śāriputra is conscious. In this samādhi an arhat may focus on one aspect of nirvāṇa — for example, peaceful. It seems that Śāriputra is focusing on nirvāṇa and the cessation of becoming — that is, the absence of any active karma that could bring rebirth.

  Buddhaghoṣa refutes a number of misconceptions about nirvāṇa (Vism 16:67–74). The first is that nirvāṇa is nonexistent. Nirvāṇa exists because it is apprehended by the supramundane path. The fact that the limited minds of ordinary beings cannot perceive it does not render it nonexistent. If nirvāṇa were nonexistent, practicing the path would be futile and attempting to realize nirvāṇa would be useless.

  Buddhaghoṣa also refutes the assertion that nirvāṇa is simply the disintegration of defilements and the ceasing of existence. If nirvāṇa were the d
estruction of craving, it would not be the unconditioned, because the destruction of craving is a conditioned event. Nirvāṇa is called the destruction of craving because realizing it brings the destruction of craving. However, it is not the destruction of craving because the destruction of craving is produced by causes; it has a beginning and an end, whereas nirvāṇa has no beginning or end and is definitely unconditioned. “It is uncreated because it has no first beginning,” Buddhaghoṣa says. There is no cause that brings about its arising; it is not made of matter.

  The commentaries engage in many debates such as these, so there must have been a variety of viewpoints and a lot of discussion in India and Sri Lanka about what characterized nirvāṇa. We see the sūtras give two senses of nirvāṇa: It is the goal — a blissful state free from duḥkha and its origins — that can be experienced in this life. It is also the object to be meditated on — the unconditioned, the unborn, the unmoving that transcends all conditioned things.

  Pāli commentators propose several ways to bring these two together and show that they are compatible. One is that nirvāṇa is metaphorically said to be the destruction of attachment, animosity, and confusion, but in actuality it is the unconditioned element that is seen by the attainment of the supramundane path and fruit. The realization of this unconditioned element has the effect of cutting away and finally eliminating attachment, animosity, and confusion. Because those defilements are destroyed in dependence upon seeing nirvāṇa, nirvāṇa is called the destruction of attachment, animosity, and confusion, although it is not the destruction of those three poisons.

  While nirvāṇa is realized in time by a person, it does not come into existence through the act of being realized. As the unconditioned element, nirvāṇa always exists; it is the unborn, unoriginated, unchanging, deathless. Because nirvāṇa exists, the eradication of defilements is possible. The cultivation of the ārya path brings realization of the unconditioned, and this realization cuts off the defilements. The meditator who has reached the extinction of defilements gains access to a special meditative attainment in which he or she can abide directly experiencing the bliss of nirvāṇa in this very life.74 The object that is seen by that meditative attainment is the unborn, unceasing, unconditioned.