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The Roots of Good and Evil: An Anthology by Nyanaponika Thera
|Contents| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII |

VII.The Goal

32.    The Visible Nibbana   33.    What is Nibanna?   34.    Two Aspects of Nibbana   35.    The Happiness of Liberation Notes

32. THE VISIBLE NIBBANA  

When greed, hatred and delusion are abandoned, one neither aims at one's own harm, nor at the harm of others, nor at the harm of both, and one will not suffer pain and grief in one's mind. In that sense is Nibbana visible here and now.

    If one experiences the complete elimination of greed, the complete elimination of hatred, the complete elimination of delusion, in that sense is Nibbana visible here and now, of immediate result, inviting to come and see, onward-leading, to be directly experienced by the wise.


33 . WHAT IS NIBBANA?  

A wandering ascetic, Jambukhadaka by name, approached the venerable Sariputta and asked him the following question:

    'One speaks about "Nibbana,".  Now, what is that Nibbana, friend?'

    'It is the elimination of greed, the elimination of hatred, the elimination of delusion - this, friend, is called Nibbana.'

    'But is there a way, is there a path, friend, for the realization of that Nibbana?'

    'Yes, friend, there is such a way, there is a path for the realization of that Nibbana. It is the Noble Eightfold Path, namely right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.'


34. TWO ASPECTS OF NIBBANA  

This was said by the Blessed one, spoken by the Holy One, and thus I have heard:

    There are, O monks, two aspects of Nibbana: the Nibbana-element with the groups of existence still remaining (sa-upadisesa-nibbanadhatu), and the Nibbana-element with no groups remaining (anupadisesa-nibbanadhatu).

    What is now the Nibbana-element with the groups of existence still remaining? In that case, O monks, a monk is an Arahat: he is taint-free, has fulfilled the holy life, accomplished his task, thrown off the burden, attained his goal, cast off the fetters of existence and is liberated through right wisdom. But there still remain with him (until his death) the five sense-organs that have not yet disappeared and through which he still experiences what is pleasant and unpleasant, as well as bodily ease and pain. The extinction of greed, hatred and delusion in him, this is called the Nibbana-element with the groups of existence still remaining.

    And what is the Nibbana-element with no groups of existence remaining? In that case, O monks, a monk is an Arahat . . . liberated through right wisdom. In him, all those feelings, no longer relished, will even here (at his death) come to extinction. This is called the Nibbana-element with no groups of existence remaining. 35. THE HAPPINESS OF LIBERATION  

He, the Arahat, knows this:

    'Once there was greed, and that was evil; now that is no more, and so it is well. Once there was hatred, and that was evil; now that is no more, and so it is well. Once there was delusion, and that was evil; now that is no more, and so it is well.'

    Thus the Arahat lives, even during his lifetime, free of craving's hunger, stilled and cooled (of passion's heat), feeling happy, with his heart become holy.

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