MEDITATION TIMES

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A PRODUCTION OF www.taoshobuddhameditations.com
Published by: www.taoshobuddhameditations.com
Country of Origin: Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies.
Chief Editor/Graphics Layout & Design: Swami Anand Neelambar
Editorial Team: Taoshobuddha, Swami Anand Neelambar
International Contributors: Hadhrat Maulawi Jalaluddin Ahmad Ar-Rowi, Lars Jensen

In This Issue
Editorial

For Queries, Comments, and Suggestions and to submit

Contributions, you can email the following persons:

Taoshobuddha: mailtaoshobuddha@gmail.com
Swami AnandNeelambaravatar411@gmail.com

Nirvana
Nirvana in Buddhism
You can also visit our website:

Nirvana and Samsara

Paths to Nirvana in the Pali canon
Master the Pulse of Cosmos
On Nirvana
Parinibbana Description
Nirvana and Hinduism

http://dhyan-samadhi.webs.com/
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http://meditationtimes.myeweb.net/

Nirvana the last nightmare

Osho on three Samadhis
Nirvana - the experience of Totality
Taoshobuddha in India

Nirvana
A realm here and now

MEDITATION TIMES
Published by Taoshobuddha Meditations
Trinidad, West indies

EDITORIAL
When a flame is put out, where does the flame
go? The flame was here and now is it no-where!
The flame has entered a realm invisible to mental
perception. If we had our inner vision available to
us, we would see the flame now-here. This realm
of now-here is nirvana.
We enter nirvana when all thoughts and
perception cease. By being still we know. Not that
we attain to stillness and we have to do
something else to know. Being still is knowing.
Usually we associate memory with knowing.
Memory is not knowing. Knowing is seeing the
thing as it is, as it exists. The realm of this
knowing is nirvana.

This is nirvana, the last nightmare before the

dawn of enlightenment.
Buddha had stopped at this point. The humanity
had to wait for another cycle of the age before
Osho could come and usher the new era. Osho
ushered in the era beyond enlightenment, the era
of the child again, the era back to the very
beginning. A return to innocence, a return to awe
and wonder this was Oshos contribution. And
the journey continues.
Nirvana is a realm here and now.

When we cease to exist as mental beings then we

truly come to knowledge. Mind does not know.
Mind cannot know. Knowing is beyond mind. To
come to knowledge we need a no mind. This no
mind is nirvana.
The Siddhartha search for many years and
gathered much information or what is called
borrowed knowledge. But he did not come to any
iota of knowing. Sitting under the Bodhi tree and
simply watching the stars disappear, just
disappearing from his human vision but still
existing exactly where they are; when the last star
disappeared...the last thoughts in his mind also
disappearedand the sun of enlightenment rose
in his consciousness. This is symbolic, yet an apt
description. Siddhartha dissolved and Buddha
became manifest. The flame of Siddhartha was
gone and the nothingness of Buddha appeared.
The tathagatha was born thus came thus gone.

Aaj itna hai this much for now.

Each liberated individual produces no

new karma. Instead he preserves a
particular individual personality which
is the outcome of the traces of his or
her karmic heritage. The very fact that
there is a psycho-physical substrate
during the remainder of an arahants
lifetime shows the continuing effect of
karma.

Meditation Times

What in Hinduism refers to as Samadhi is

called Nirvana in Buddhism. Samadhi or
Nirvana is like twilight hour. Just as
twilight hour neither belongs to day nor
night although it happens between the two
day and night; so too Samadhi or
Nirvana happens between two planes.
Actually there are many types of Samadhi.
One Samadhi will take place between the
fourth and the fifth body. Remember,
Samadhi is not a happening of one plane;
it always happens between two planes, it
is the twilight period. One may just as well
ask whether twilight belongs to the day or
the night. Twilight belongs neither to the
day nor the night; it is a happening
between day and night. So is Samadhi.
The first Samadhi occurs between the
fourth and the fifth planes. This
Samadhi leads to self-realization, atma
gyan.
One Samadhi occurs between the fifth
and the sixth planes; this in turn leads
to brahma gyan cosmic knowing.
The Samadhi that occurs between the
sixth and the seventh planes is the
Samadhi that leads to nirvana. So
generally speaking there are these three
Samadhi that occur between the last three
shariras, the last three bodies.
Nirvna

(Sanskrit:

Pali:

(Nibbna); Prakrit:
) is a central
concept in Indian religions.

In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with

the Supreme Being through Moksha. The
word literally means blowing out.
In the Buddhist context it refers to the
blowing out of the inherent qualities or
personality traits of greed, hatred, and
delusion.
Nirvana implies further connotations
of stilling, cooling, and peace. The
realization of Nirva implies the
ending of avidy (ignorance) which
perpetuates the will (chetana) into
effecting the incarnation of mind into
biological or other form passing on
forever
through
life
after
life
(Samsra).
Samsra
comes
into
existence
principally
because
of
craving and ignorance. A person can
attain Nirvna even when he is alive.
The word Nirvna is made of the prefix
ni[r]- (ni, nis, nih) which means out, or
away from, or without, and the root
v[na] (Pali. vti) which can be
translated as blowing as in blowing of
the wind, and also as smelling, etc. Thus
the word exists and is used to imply the
state of desirelessness, no mind, or a
state beyond duality of body mind and
intellect.
The Abhidharma-mahvibhsa-sstra,
which is a Sarvastivdin commentary,
gives the complete context of various
meanings that are derived from the
Sanskrit roots:

In sramanic or Buddhist thought, it is the

state of being free from suffering (or
dukkha).

Meditation Times

1. Vna, implies the path of rebirth,

+ nir, meaning leaving off' and
together the word means being
away from the path of rebirth.
Freedom from rebirth.

2. Vna, meaning stench, + nir,

meaning without: without the
stench of distressing karma
beyond the influence of karmas.
In that case actions do not bind.

or negation of truth. These are

three
characteristics
of
existence
c. (Impermanence,
anitya;
satisfactoriness,
dukkha,
soullessness, antman) or
ephemeral,
transient,
satisfactoriness,
suffering,
soullessness, and non steady.

3. Vna, meaning dense forests, +

nir,
meaning
without.
Put
together the word means to be
without the dense forest of the five
aggregates. These aggregates are
enumerated as under:
a. (panca skandha), or the three
roots of greed, hate and delusion
b. (Raga, dvesa, avidya) or
emotions, duality and ignorance

4. Vna, meaning weaving, + nir,

meaning knot = freedom from the
knot of the distressful thread of
karma.

Nirvana in Buddhism
Each liberated individual produces no new karma, but preserves a particular
individual personality which is the result of the traces of his or her karmic
heritage. The very fact that there is a psycho-physical substrate during the
remainder of an arahant's lifetime shows the continuing effect of karma.

he Buddha described Nirvna as the

state of mind that is free from
craving, anger and other afflicting
states (kilesas). It is also the end of the
world of conflicts and duality. There is no
identity left, and no boundaries for the
mind. The mind attains to a state of
beyond-ness. The seeker is at peace with
the world. He has compassion for all and
gives up obsessions and fixations. This
peace is achieved when the existing
volitional formations are pacified, and the
conditions for the production of new ones
are eradicated. In Nirva the root causes
of craving and aversion have been
extinguished, so that one is no longer
subject to human suffering (Pali: dukkha)
or further rebirth in Samsra.
The Pli Canon also contains other
perspectives on Nirvna. Firstly it refers to
the empty nature of all phenomena. It is
also presented as a radical reordering of

consciousness
awareness.

and

unleashing

of

In the Dhammapada, the Buddha calls

Nirvna the highest happiness. This
happiness is an enduring, transcendental
happiness integral to the calmness
attained through enlightenment or bodhi,
rather than the happiness derived from
impermanent things. The knowledge
accompanying
Nirva
is
expressed
through the word bodhi.
The Buddha explains Nirvna as the
unconditioned (asankhata) or unattached
mind, a mind that has come to a point of
perfect lucidity and clarity due to the
cessation of the production of volitional
formations. This is described by the
Buddha as deathlessness (Pali: amata
or amravati) and as the highest spiritual
attainment, the natural result that accrues
to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct

Meditation Times

and practice in accordance with the Noble

Eightfold Path. Such a life engenders
increasing control over the generation of
karma (Sanskrit; Pali, kamma).
It produces wholesome karma with
positive results and finally allows the
cessation of the origination of karma
altogether with the attainment of Nibbna.
Otherwise, beings forever wander through
the impermanent and suffering-generating
realms of desire, form, and formlessness,
collectively termed Samsra.
Each liberated individual produces no
new karma, but preserves a particular
individual personality which is the
result of the traces of his or her
karmic heritage. The very fact that
there is a psycho-physical substrate
during the remainder of an arahant's
lifetime shows the continuing effect
of karma.
The stance of the early scriptures is that
attaining Nibbna in either the current or
some future birth depends on effort, and
is not pre-determined.
Nirva in the sutras is never conceived of
as a place (such as one might conceive heaven), rather the antinomy of samsra
which itself is synonymous with ignorance
(avidy, Pli avijj). Remember:
The liberated mind (citta) that does
not cling to the samsara or its affairs
is called Nibbna.
Nirvna is meant specifically a state - that
ends the identity of the mind (citta) with
empirical
phenomena.
Doctrinally,
Nibbna is said of the mind which no
longer is coming (bhava) and going
(vibhava), but which has attained a
status in perpetuity, whereby liberation
(vimutta) can be said.
It carries further connotations of stilling,
cooling, and peace. The realizing of

Nirva is compared to the ending of

avidy (ignorance) which perpetuates the
will
(chetana)
into
effecting
the
incarnation of mind into biological or other
form passing on forever through life after
life (Samsra). Samsra comes into
existence principally because of craving
and ignorance. A person can attain
Nirvna even when he is alive.
When a person who has realized Nirva
dies, his death is referred as parinirva
(Pali: parinibbana). It is the state of his
fully passing away, as his life was his last
link to the cycle of death and rebirth
(Samsra), and he will not be reborn
again. Buddhism says that the ultimate
goal and end of samsric existence is
realization of Nirvna. What happens to a
person after his parinirva cannot be
explained, as it is outside of all
conceivable experience. Through a series
of questions, Sariputta brings a monk to
admit that he cannot pin down the
Tathagata as a truth or reality even in
the present life, so to speculate regarding
the ontological status of an arahant after
death is improper.
Individuals up to the level of nonreturning may experience Nirvna as an
object of mental consciousness. Certain
meditations while Nibbana is an object of
samdhi can be used to the level of nonreturning or the gnosis of the arahant.
This is attained through a progression of
insight, if the meditator realizes that even
that state is constructed and therefore
impermanent, the fetters are destroyed,
arahantship is attained, and Nibbna is
realized.
Transcendent Knowing
The mind is aware. It is conscious. In
many places the Buddha describes his
enlightenment in terms of knowing: such
as in the Dhammacakkapavattana
Sutta, Knowing arose (a udapdi).
With
nirva
the
consciousness
is

Meditation Times

released, and the mind becomes aware in

a way that is totally unconstrained by
anything in the conditioned world. The
Buddha describes this in a variety of
passages. One way is as follows:
Nirvana is the state of Consciousness
without feature, and without end. It brings
luminosity all around!
The Buddha avoided the use of Sanskrit
because
of
many
philosophers
contemporary with him and priests. He
opted for a more broad-brush, colloquial
style, geared to particular listeners in a
language which they could understand. As
a result he used Pali a language that was
born and grew in the plains at the foot of
mountains in Nepal. Thus viana here
can be assumed to mean knowing but
not
the
partial,
fragmented,
and
discriminative (vi-) knowing (-ana) which
the word usually implies. Instead it must
mean a knowing of a primordial,
transcendent
nature,
otherwise
the
passage which contains it would be selfcontradictory.
The choice of words may have been made.
The passages may represent an example
of the Buddha using his skill in means to
teach Brahmins in terms they were
familiar
with.
This
unmanifest
consciousness differs from the kinds of
consciousness associated with the six
senses, which have a surface that they
fall upon and arise in response to.
According to Peter Harvey, the early texts
are ambivalent as to whether or not the
term consciousness is accurate. In a
liberated individual, consciousness is
directly experienced, in a way that is
free
from
any
dependence
on
conditions at all.

This
luminous
consciousness
is
identical with Nirva. Others disagree,
finding it to be not Nirva itself, instead
to be a kind of consciousness accessible
only to arahants. A passage in the
Majjhima Nikaya refers it to empty
space. For liberated ones the luminous,
unsupported consciousness associated
with nibbana is directly known without
mediation of the mental consciousness
factor in dependent co-arising, and is the
transcending of all objects of mental
consciousness.
Therefore it differs radically from the
concept in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads
and the Bhagavad Gita. It is described as
accessing
the
individuals
inmost
consciousness, in that it is not considered
an aspect, even the deepest aspect, of the
individuals personality, and is not to be
confused in any way with a Self.
Furthermore, it transcends the sphere of
infinite consciousness, the sixth of the
Buddhist jhanas, which is in itself not the
ending of the concept of I.
Nagarjuna alluded to a passage regarding
this level of consciousness in the
Dighanikaya in two different works. He
wrote:
The Sage has declared that earth, water,
fire, and wind, long, short, fine and
coarse, good, and so on are extinguished
in consciousness ... Here long and short,
fine and coarse, good and bad, here name
and form all stop.
A related idea, which finds support in the
Pali
Canon
and
the
contemporary
Theravada practice tradition despite its
absence in the Theravada commentaries
and Abhidhamma, is that the mind of the
arahant is itself nibbana.

Meditation Times

In Mahyna Buddhism, Nirvana and

Samsara are said to be not-different when
viewed from the ultimate nature of the
Dharmakaya. An individual can attain
Nirvana by following the Buddhist path. If
they were ultimately different this would
be impossible. Thus, the duality between
Nirvana and Samsara is only accurate on
the conventional level. Another way to
arrive at this conclusion is through the
analysis that all phenomena are empty of
an essential identity, and therefore
suffering is never inherent in any
situation. Thus liberation from suffering
and its causes is not a metaphysical shift
of any kind.
The Theravda school makes the
antithesis of Samsara and Nibbna the
starting point of the entire quest for
deliverance. Even more, it treats this
antithesis as determinative of the final

goal, which is precisely the transcendence

of Samsara and the attainment of
liberation
in
Nibbna.
Whereas
Theravada differs significantly from the
Mahyna schools, which also starts with
the duality of Samsara and Nirvana, is in
not regarding this polarity as a mere
preparatory lesson tailored for those with
blunt
faculties,
to
be
eventually
superseded by some higher realization of
non-duality. From the standpoint of the
Pli Suttas, even for the Buddha and the
Arahants suffering and its cessation,
Samsara and Nibbna, remain distinct.
Both schools agree that Shakyamuni
Buddha was in sasra while having
attained Nirva, in so far as he was seen
by all while simultaneously free from
Samsara.

Paths to Nirvana in the Pali canon

Buddhas are born, reach enlightenment, set turning the Wheel of Dharma, and
enter Nirvana. However, all this is only illusion: the appearance of a Buddha is
the absence of arising, duration and destruction; their Nirvana is the fact that
they are always and at all times in Nirvana.
In
Visuddhimagga
Buddhaghosa
identifies various options within the Pali
canon for pursuing a path to Nirvana,
including:
1. by insight (vipashyana) alone
2. by jhana and understanding
3. by deeds, vision and righteousness
4.
by
virtue,
consciousness
and
understanding
5. by virtue, understanding, concentration
and effort

6. by the four foundations of mindfulness

(Satipatthana Sutta,)
Depending on ones analysis, each of
these options could be seen as a
reframing of the Buddhas Threefold
Training of virtue, mental development
and wisdom.
The idea of Nirvana as purified, nondualistic superior mind can be found in

Meditation Times

some Mahayana texts. The Samputa, for

instance, states:
Undefiled
by
lust
and
emotional
impurities, unclouded by any dualistic
perceptions, this superior mind is indeed
the supreme Nirvana.
Some Mahayana traditions see the Buddha
in almost domestic terms, viewing his
visible manifestations as projections from
within the state of Nirvana.
According to Professor Etienne Lamotte,
Buddhas are always and at all times in
Nirvana, and their corporeal displays of
themselves and their Buddhic careers are
ultimately illusory. Lamotte writes of the
Buddhas:
they are born, reach enlightenment,
set turning the Wheel of Dharma, and
enter Nirvana. However, all this is
only illusion: the appearance of a
Buddha is the absence of arising,
duration
and
destruction;
their
Nirvana is the fact that they are
always and at all times in Nirvana.
Some Mahayana sutras go even further
and attempt to characterize the nature of
Nirvana
itself.
The
Mahayana
Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which has as
one of its main topics precisely the realm
or dhatu of Nirvana, has the Buddha
speak of four essential elements which
make up Nirvana. One of these is Self
(atman), which is construed as the
enduring Self of the Buddha.
Writing on this Mahayana understanding
of Nirvana, William Edward Soothill and
Lewis Hodous state:
The Nirvana Sutra claims for Nirvana the
ancient ideas of permanence, bliss,
personality, purity in the transcendental
realm. Mahayana declares that Hinayana,
by
denying
personality
in
the
transcendental realm, denies the existence

of the Buddha. In Mahayana, final Nirvana

is transcendental, and is also used as a
term for the Absolute.
At the time this scripture was written,
there was already a long tradition of
positive language about Nirvana and the
Buddha. While in early Buddhist thought
Nirvana is characterized by permanence,
bliss, and purity, it is viewed as being the
stopping of the breeding-ground for the I
am attitude, and is beyond all possibility
of
the
Self-delusion.
The
Mahaparinirvana Sutra, a long and
highly composite Mahayana scripture,
refers to the Buddhas using the term
Self in order to win over non-Buddhist
ascetics. From this, it continues: The
Buddha-nature is in fact not the self. For
the sake of [guiding] sentient beings, I
describe it as the self.
The Ratnagotravibhaga, a related text,
points out that the teaching of the
tathagatagarbha is intended to win
sentient beings over to abandoning
affection for ones self - one of the five
defects caused by non-Buddhist teaching.
Youru Wang notes similar language in the
Lankavatara Sutra, and then writes:
Noticing this context is important. It will
help us to avoid jumping to the conclusion
that tathagatagarbha thought is simply
another case of metaphysical imagination.
However, some have objected to this
reading regarding the Mahparinirvna
Sutra in particular, and claim that the
Buddha then caps his comments in this
passage with an affirmation of the reality
of the Self, declaring that he is in fact that
Self:
Due to various causes and conditions, I
have also taught that that which is the self
is devoid of self, for though there is truly
the self, I have taught that there is no-self
or annatta, and yet there is no falsehood
in that. The Buddha-dhtu is devoid of
self. When the Tathagata teaches that

Meditation Times

there is no self, it is because of the

Eternal. The Tathgata is the Self, and
his teaching that there is no self is
because he has attained mastery or
sovereignty [aisvarya].
In the Nirvna Sutra, the Buddha states
that he will now teach previously
undisclosed
doctrines
(including
on
Nirvana) and that his earlier teaching on
non-Self was one of expediency only. Dr.
Kosho Yamamoto writes:
He says that the non-Self which he once
taught is none but of expediency He
says that he is now ready to speak about
the undisclosed teachings. Men abide in
upside-down thoughts. So he will now
speak of the affirmative attributes of
Nirvana, which are none other than the
Eternal, Bliss, the Self and the Pure.
According to some scholars, the language
used in the Tathgatagarbha genre of
sutras can be seen as an attempt to state
orthodox Buddhist teachings of dependent
origination
using
positive
language
instead, to prevent people from being
turned away from Buddhism by a false
impression of nihilism. For example, in
some of these sutras the perfection of the
wisdom of not-self is stated to be the true
self; the ultimate goal of the path is then
characterized using a range of positive
language that had been used in Indian
philosophy previously by essentialist

philosophers,
but
which
was
now
transmuted
into
a
new
Buddhist
vocabulary to describe a being who has
successfully completed the Buddhist path.
Dr. Yamamoto points out that this
affirmative characterization of Nirvana
pertains to a supposedly higher form of
Nirvana that of Great Nirvana.
Speaking of the Bodhisattva Highly
Virtuous King chapter of the Nirvana
Sutra, Yamamoto quotes the scripture
itself: What is nirvana? ...this is as in the
case in which one who has hunger has
peace and bliss as he has taken a little
food. Yamamoto continues with the
quotation, adding his own comment:
But such a Nirvna cannot be called
Great Nirvna. And it ( the Buddhas
new revelation regarding Nirvana) goes on
to dwell on the Great Self, Great Bliss,
and Great Purity, all of which, along with
the Eternal, constitute the four attributes
of Great Nirvana.
According to some scholars, the Self
discussed in and related sutras does not
represent a substantial Self. Rather, it is a
positive language expression of emptiness
and represents the potentiality to realize
Buddhahood through Buddhist practices.
In this view, the intention of the teaching
of 'tathgatagarbha' or Buddha nature is
stereological rather than theoretical.

Meditation Times

Master the Pulse of Cosmos

And the miracle happens. When you are one with yourself, or you are
harmonious both within and without the miracle happens. In that case
you become one with the whole. You are the pulse of the cosmos. And
that is the ultimate state. Call it NIRVANA. Call it kingdom of God. Call it
God-realization or whatsoever name you want to give it yet it remains
nameless. This is nameless, formless or dimensionless. But this has been
the Ultimate of all the seekers of truth.

You are many. You are a crowd. The

master is one. There has no noise within.
There is no crowd within either. He is not
a crowd. You are not one. You are many
selves or personalities. As a result one
moment you are one thing one mood.
Next moment you are another thing. You
go on changing. Master is the pulse of the
cosmos. He is totality. And bliss is the
outcome of this totality or inner oneness.
Just watch your mind. Every moment you
go on changing, because one self says do
this. Then another self comes and pursues
to do something else. And you have many
selves. You are multi-psychic. You do not
have one mind, you have many minds.
And you are being tortured by all these
minds and pulled into different directions.
The master is NO MIND, hence he
becomes one. With no desire, no
possessions, also no desire even for
heaven, he is bound to become one. He
becomes
integrated.
He
is
really
individual.
The word individual means one who is
indivisible. You are not INDIVIDUALS; you
are only persons, or personalities. And
that too you are not one. You have many
personalities, many faces, with many
masks. The master has no masks, or
faces. Instead he has only one face. This
is the original face. He is simply natural.
He has no mind; hence he is one.

And the miracle happens: when you are

one with yourself, or you are harmonious
both within and without. In that case you
become one with the whole. You are the
pulse of the cosmos. And that is the
ultimate state. Call it nirvana, call it
kingdom of God, call it God-realization, or
whatsoever name you want to give it
yet it remains nameless. This is nameless,
formless or dimensionless. But this has
been the Ultimate of all the seekers of
truth.
Let this be your only goal. Prepare for it.
The Sutras of Buddha will help you
tremendously. Meditate over them. For
example ATMA DEEPO BHAVA is not
philosophy. This sutra is methodology of
the master and the instruction. Once the
inner lamp of your being is lit
understanding dawns. With understanding
inner harmony and bliss come. First the
explosion happens within and then inner
bliss and harmony overflows in the outer
dimension. Together when this happens
you may be in the world but the world will
not be within. This is beyond-ness. You
may call this NIRVANA. They are not
philosophy; they are just statements of
inner truths, statements of his experience.
And they are also statements of my
experience.
You all have the potential of being a
buddha. Therefore never settle for
anything less than that.

Meditation Times

On Nirvana

Nirvna is the highest happiness. It is transcendence. It is a state beyond

mind. A state that is yet cannot be described.

Gautama Buddha:
Where there is nothing; where naught
is grasped, there is the Isle of NoBeyond. Nirva do I call it the utter
extinction of aging and dying.
Thus the liberated mind/will (citta)
which does not cling means Nibbna
In Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta the
Buddha refers nibbana to the cessation
and extinguishing of a fire where the
materials for sustenance have been
removed: Profound, Vaccha, is this
phenomenon, hard to see, hard to
realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the
scope of conjecture, subtle, to-beexperienced by the wise.
There is that dimension where there is
neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor
wind; neither dimension of the
infinitude of space, nor dimension of
the infinitude of consciousness, nor
dimension
of
nothingness,
nor
dimension of neither perception nor
non-perception; neither this world, nor
the next world, nor sun, nor moon.
And there, I say, there is neither
coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither
passing away nor arising: without

stance, without foundation, without

support [mental object]. This, just
this, is the end of stress.
Said immediately after the physical
death of Gautama Buddha wherein his
mind (citta) is - parinirva - the
essence of liberation:
No longer with (subsists by)in-breath
nor out-breath, so is him (Gautama)
who is steadfast in mind (citta),
inherently quelled from all desires the
mighty sage has passed beyond. With
mind (citta) limitless he no longer
bears
sensations;
illumined
and
unbound (nibbana), his mind (citta) is
definitely (ahu) liberated.
And what is the Nibbana property with
no fuel remaining? There is the case
where a monk is an arahant whose
fermentations have ended, who has
reached fulfillment, finished the task,
laid down the burden, attained the true
goal, ended the fetter of becoming,
and is released through right gnosis.
For him, all that is sensed, being
unrealized, will grow cold right here.
This is termed the Nibbana property
with no fuel remaining." [Itivuttaka
2.17]

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Parinibbana Description
The body disintegrated, perception ceased, pain and rapture were entirely consumed, and
fabrications were stilled: consciousness has come to its end. [Udana 8.9]
Sutta Nipta, tr. Rune Johansson:
acc yath vtavegena khitto
attha paleti na upeti sankha
eva muni nmaky kimutto
attha paleti na upeti sankha
atthan gatassa na pamam atthi
ynea na vajju ta tassan atthi
sabbesu dhammesu samhatesu
samhat vdapathpi sabbe
Like a flame that has been blown out by a strong wind goes to rest and cannot be defined,
just so the sage who is freed from name and body goes to rest and cannot be defined.
For him who has gone to rest there is no measure by means of which one could describe
him. That is not for him. When all (dharmas) have gone, all signs of recognition have also
gone. Venerable Sariputta: The destruction of greed, hatred and delusion is Nirva.

Nirvana and Hinduism

In Hinduism, Moksha is the liberation from the cycle of birth and death and ones worldly
conception of self. A person reaches the state of Nirvana only when Moksha is attained.
The Union with the Supreme Being Brahman and this experience of blissful ego-less-ness
is termed Nirvana. In Advaita Vedanta philosophy, however the concepts of Moksha and
Nirvana are nearly analogous with certain views overlapping.
The word Nirvana was first used in its technical sense in Buddhism, and cannot be found
in any of the pre-Buddhist Upanishads. K. N. Upadhaya in his work The Impact of Early
Buddhism on Hindu Thought says he believes the use of the term in the Bhagavad
Gita to be a sign of early Buddhist influence upon Hindu thought.

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Nirvana means the ultimate enlightenment, the state when the ego disappears,
when man is no more separate from existence not even a thin curtain
separates him, not even a transparent glass separates him when all separation
disappears. That meeting with the total, that merger with the whole, that
melting into the absolute, is called nirvana. - Osho
Osho
not
only
calls
Nirvana
or
enlightenment a nightmare instead the
last nightmare.
Why does Osho say that nirvana,
enlightenment, is a nightmare - and not
only a nightmare but the last nightmare?
Because as long as we keep hoping for
some future paradise, we are sacrificing
the present for a moment that will never
come. Our desire to achieve nirvana
becomes the very obstacle to its
happening.
Osho challenges us to wake up and stop
dreaming. He exposes the tricks and
habits of our minds that keep us from
being in the here and now, living this
moment totally. As he relates them to our
lives today, we begin to discover the art of
being present and joyful in the simple
ordinariness of life.
Muso, the national teacher,
And one of the most illustrious masters of
his day,
Left the capital in the company of a
disciple
For a distant province.
On reaching the tenryu river
They had to wait for an hour
Before they could board the ferry.

Just as the ferry was about to leave the

shore
A drunken samurai ran up
And jumped into the packed boat,
Nearly swamping it.
He tottered wildly as the small craft
Made its way across the river.
The ferryman,
Fearing for the safety of his passengers,
Begged him to stand quietly.
Were like sardines in here,
Said the samurai gruffly.
Then, pointing to Muso,
Why not toss out the bonzae?
Please be patient,' Muso said,
Well reach the other side soon.
What! bawled the samurai, me be
patient?
Listen here, if you don't jump off this
thing`
I swear Ill drown you.'
The masters calm so infuriated the
samurai
That he struck musos head with his iron
fan,
Drawing blood.
Musos disciple had had enough by this
time,
And as he was a powerful man,
Wanted to challenge the samurai.

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I cant permit him to go on living after

this, he said.
Why get so worked up over a trifle?
Muso said with a smile.
Its exactly in matters of this kind
That the bonzaes training proves itself.
Patience, you must remember,
Is more than just a word.
Then he recited an extempore waka:
The beater and the beaten:
Mere players of a game
Ephemeral as a dream.
When the boat reached shore,
And Muso and his disciple alighted,
The samurai ran up
And prostrated himself at the master's
feet.
Then and there he became a disciple.
SEEKING for something, desiring for
something, is the basic disease of the
mind. Not seeking, not desiring, is the
basic health of your being.
It is very easy to go on changing the
objects of desire, but that is not the way
of transformation. You can desire money,
you can desire power... you can change
the objects of desire - you can start
desiring god - but you remain the same
because you go on desiring.
The basic change is to be brought not in
the objects of desire, but in your
subjectivity.
If desiring stops - and remember, I am
not saying that it has to be stopped - if
desiring stops, then you are for the first
time at home, peaceful, patient, blissful,
and for the first time life is available to
you and you are available to life. In fact,
the very division between you and life
disappears, and this state of non-division
is the state of god.
People come to me from all over the
world; they travel thousands of miles.

When they come to me and I ask, Why

have you come? somebody says, I am a
seeker of god. Somebody says, I am a
seeker of truth.
They are not aware what they are asking.
They are asking the impossible. God is not
a thing. God is not an object. You cannot
seek him. God is this whole. How can you
seek the whole? You can dissolve in it, you
can merge in it, but you cannot seek it.
The seeking simply shows that you go on
believing yourself separate from the whole
- you the seeker and the whole -the
sought.
Sometimes you seek a woman, sometimes
you seek a man. Othertimes, frustrated
from the world, you start seeking the
other world - but you are not yet
frustrated with seeking itself.
A seeker is in trouble. A seeker is
confused. He has not understood the basic
problem itself. It is not that you have to
seek god, then everything will be solved.
Just the opposite - if everything is solved,
suddenly there is god.
And if you stop seeking nirvana, you will
find nirvana hidden in life itself. If you
stop seeking god, you will find god
everywhere... in each particle, in each
moment of life. God is another name of
life. Nirvana is another name of life lived.
You have just heard the word life; it is
not a lived experience.
Drop all beliefs, they are hindrances. Dont
be a Christian, dont be a Hindu, and dont
be a Mohammedan. Just be alive. Let that
be your only religion.
Life - the only religion. Life - the only
temple. Life - the only prayer.
I have heard, a disciple came to a Zen
master, bowed down, touched his feet and
said, How long do I have to wait for my
enlightenment?

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The master looked at him long, long

enough. The disciple started getting
restless. He repeated his question and he
said, Why are you looking at me so long?
Why don't you answer me?
And the master answered a really Zen
answer. He said, Kill me.
The disciple could not believe that this is
the answer for his enlightenment. He went
to ask the chief disciple. The chief disciple
laughed and he said, The same he did to
me also. And he is right. He is saying,
Why do you go on asking me? Drop this
master. Drop this asking. Kill me. Drop all
ideology. Who am l? I am not preventing
you. Life is available. Why dont you start
living? Why do you go on preparing, when
and how?
This seems to be the most difficult thing
for the human mind - just to live, naked;
just to live without any arrangements;
just to live the raw and the wild life; just
to live the moment.
And this is the whole teaching of all the
great teachers, but you go on making

philosophies out of them. Then you create

a doctrine, and then you start believing in
the doctrine.
There are many Zen people who believe in
Zen - and Zen teaches trust, not belief.
There are many people around me who
believe in me - and I teach you trust, not
belief. If you trust your life, you have
trusted me. No intellectual belief is
needed.
Let this truth go as deep in you as
possible: that life is already here, arrived.
You are standing on the goal. Don't ask
about the path.
Nirvana
means
the
ultimate
enlightenment, the state when the ego
disappears, when man is no more
separate from existence not even a thin
curtain separates him, not even a
transparent glass separates him when
all separation disappears. That meeting
with the total, that merger with the whole,
that melting into the absolute, is called
nirvana. - Osho
Ref: Nirvana the Last Nightmare

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The first real Samadhi, which takes place on the inner journey from the fourth to
the fifth body, is very difficult. And the third, from the sixth to the seventh body, is
the most difficult of all. The name chosen for the third Samadhi is vajrabhed
piercing of the thunderbolt. It is the most difficult one because it is a transition
from being into nonbeing. It is a jump from life into death. It is a plunge from
existence into nonexistence.

Question: In which body is that

obtained which you refer to as
Samadhi?
Osho: Actually there are many types of
Samadhi.
One Samadhi will take place between the
fourth and the fifth body.

Remember, Samadhi is not a happening of

one plane; it always happens between two
planes, it is the twilight period. One may
just as well ask whether twilight belongs
to the day or the night. Twilight belongs
neither to the day nor the night; it is a
happening between day and night. So is
Samadhi.

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The first Samadhi occurs between the

fourth and the fifth planes. This
Samadhi leads to Self-Realization, Atma
- Gyan.
Another Samadhi occurs between the
fifth and the sixth planes; this in turn
leads to Brahma Gyan Cosmic
Knowing.
The Samadhi that occurs between the
sixth and the seventh planes is the
Samadhi that leads to nirvana. So
generally speaking there are these three
Samadhis that occur between the last
three shariras, the last three bodies.
There is one false Samadhi that has to be
recognized also. It occurs in the fourth
body, but is not Samadhi though it seems
like it. In Japan the Zen Buddhist term for
it is satori. It is false Samadhi. It is that
state which a painter or a sculptor or a
musician reaches when he is completely
immersed in his art; he experiences a
great bliss.
This is a happening on the fourth the
psychic plane. If when looking at the
morning sun or listening to a melody or
looking at a dance or looking at the
opening of a flower the mind is completely
drowned in the happening, a false
Samadhi takes place. Such a false
Samadhi can be brought about by
hypnosis or false shaktipat. Such a false
Samadhi can be brought about by alcohol
and drugs like marijuana, lsd, mescaline,
hashish.
So there are four types of Samadhi.
Actually
there
are
three
authentic
Samadhis and they happen in a sequence.
The fourth is an absolutely false
experience that appears like Samadhi. In
this there is no actual experience only a
feeling of Samadhi that is misleading.
Many people are misled by satori.

This false Samadhi occurs in the fourth

the psychic plane. It is not the transitional
process between the fourth and the fifth
plane; it happens well within the fourth
body. The three authentic Samadhis occur
outside the bodies in a transitional period
when we pass on from one plane to
another. One Samadhi is a door, a
passage.
Between the fourth and the fifth bodies
happens the first authentic Samadhi. One
attains self-relaxation. We can get stuck
here. Usually people stop at the false
Samadhi in the fourth body because it is
so easy. We have to spend very little
energy, making no effort at all, and it is
obtained just like that. The majority of
meditators, therefore, stagnate here.
The first real Samadhi, which takes place
on the journey from the fourth to the fifth
body, is very difficult; and the third, from
the sixth to the seventh, is the most
difficult of all. The name chosen for the
third Samadhi is vajrabhed piercing of
the thunderbolt. It is the most difficult one
because it is a transition from being into
nonbeing; it is a jump from life into death;
it is a plunge from existence into
nonexistence.
So there are actually three samadhis. The
first you may call atma samadhi, the
second brahma samadhi, and the last
nirvana samadhi. The very first and false
samadhi you may call satori. This is the
one you should guard against, because it
is very easily attainable.
Another method to test the validity of the
samadhi is that if it takes place within the
plane it is false; it must take place
between the planes. It is the door; it has
no business to be inside the room. It must
be outside the room, adjoining the next
room.

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Nirvana - the experience of totality

You may not be able to express it sometimes, or maybe your expression is

not adequate, because the expression belongs to the periphery and the
experience belongs to the center. When you are at the center you
experience something.
It is possible. Indeed it is possible. We are
all connected very deeply with one
another.
The
Hindu
scripture
Isa
Upanishad asserts:
vsyam idam sarvam
yat kicha jagatym jagat
tena tyaktena bhujth
ma gridhah kasya svid dhanam
The entire cosmos is created by a solitary
energy. Blossoming of the flower, chirping
of birds, the life and everything else
permeates the cosmic energy. The visible
form of this energy is known as sun
energy. We are only separate on the
surface. However at the center we are
one. On the periphery we are individuals,
at the center we are universal or cosmic.
Sometimes when you are at the center of
your being, you can have all those
glimpses which happen to anybody who is
at the center. It always happens that
some
time
one
moves
from
the
circumference towards the center in spite
of all mental resistances. 0oneself
sometimes one reaches. It can happen
accidentally also: something triggers a
process, one is flowing very high.

You may not be able to express it

sometimes, or maybe your expression is
not adequate, because the expression
belongs to the periphery and the
experience belongs to the center. When
you are at the center you experience
something.
When you come back to the periphery you
may not be able to express it or may be
able only to express it inadequately.
Somebody else may be able to express in
a better way. Listening to him, suddenly
you will see, But this is what I was going
to say, this is what I have been feeling.
It has always been happening in the
world. Now they call it synchronicity;
parallel processes are going on. Scientists
also think that if a certain discovery is
made, for example, the theory of
relativity.
Now they say that if Einstein had not
discovered
it,
then
within
months
somebody else would have discovered it
because many people around the earth
were feeling the same. Einstein was just
the first to express it. When he expressed
it, many people felt that this is what they
had been vaguely feeling. It was
ambiguous, not very clear and loud, but it
was there. In some mysterious way it was
felt by many people.

Meditation Times

Sometimes it has happened that a patent

has been registered in America on a
certain day, another patent for the same
thing has been registered in England on
the same day and another in Japan. All
the three persons have come to discover
the same thing almost at the same time.
It
becomes
difficult:
who
is
the
discoverer? Einstein himself said later on
that if he had not discovered the theory
somebody else would have; the time for
the idea had come.
So you will feel this many times. And
when you are in a kind of depth or height

call it height or depth when you are

not feeling ordinary, when you are feeling
something extraordinary, then you will
have glimpses. And others may have
those glimpses in that state too. Those
who permanently abide in that state can
always feel whatsoever is being felt
around the world.
It happens. Life is more mysterious than
we think it is, it is far more mysterious
than fictions. It will happen again and
again watch! Good!

NIRVANA

The literal meaning of the word is beautiful, one of the most beautiful words.
Literally it means blowing out a candle. When you blow out a candle, the light
disappears and you cannot say where it has gone. You cannot show any direction
to the east, to the west, to the north, to the south; it has simply disappeared. It
has not gone anywhere, it has not moved into some other place. It has gone out
of existence. It has moved into nothingness. It is no more.
Exactly like that flame of the candle, the ego disappears. You cannot say where it
has gone it has not gone anywhere Instead it is no more. When the ego
disappears, all is silence, because all turmoil, all noise, is of the ego. And when the
ego disappears there is no longer any possibility of any anguish, anxiety. There is
nobody to be anxious in the first place. One feels oneself as pure emptiness, and
that pure emptiness has a fragrance to it

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Taoshobuddha in India

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With Hemant Moghe back right, Anil Sohoni (L) and Mrs Sohoni (R)

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At the Shrine of Hazrath Mohammed Baqi Billah (q)

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At the Shrine of Naqshbandi Hazrath Noor Mohammed Badayuni, (q) New Delhi, India

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At the Shrine of Naqshbandi Hazrath Mohammed Baqi Billah (q), New Delhi, India

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At the Shrine of Naqshbandi Hazrath Mazhar Mir Jane Jana, (q) New Delhi, India

Meditation Times