Explain the Buddhist concept of nirvana. What is its connection to Anatman - Assignment Example

of the Religion and Theology of the Concerned 28 March Explain the Buddhist concept of nirvana. What is its connection to Anatman? Buddha enunciated Four Noble Truths in his first sermon after achieving enlightenment. The Four Nobel Truths constitute the crux of all Buddhism. In that context the third Noble Truth talked about the cessation of suffering or what the Buddhists call nirodha. Nirvana as it is understood is this stage when all the suffering ceases and also ceases the causes of suffering.

Hawkins defines Nirvana as “The opposite of Samsara, the world which we inhabit at present. The Goal of Buddhist practice (Hawkins 117).” Yet the thing is that in the Western consciousness, Nirvana is a highly misunderstood term which pertains to a blissful or elated state of mind. That is why many Western theologians criticized Buddhism for being a pessimistic and nihilistic religion. Though the notion or concept of Nirvana exists in multiple Eastern traditions, yet the Sanskrit term Nirvana is intimately associated with Buddhism.

In Pali it is known as Nibbana (Hawkins 117). Nirvana is the eventual goal of pursuing the Buddhist way of life in most of the Buddhist traditions. Since it is a Sanskrit word, in a literal sense Nirvana means extinguishing or getting extinguished. In a thematic context it means the way to the cessation of suffering owing to the extinguishing of the three poisons of ignorance, hatred and desire, which eventually leads to the cessation of rebirth and suffering. Nirvana as per Buddhism leads to the final settlement of all karmic debts of an individual.

The thing that needs to be understood is that as per Buddhism, Nirvana no way means a final annihilation or merging with some higher Brahman. Rather it means passing into a superior state of consciousness, of which there is no parallel that could be mentioned. His holiness the Dalai Lama defines Nirvana as “a state of freedom from a cyclical existence or Samsara (Lama 84).” It is an eventual unhinging of the state of mind from an array of defilements pervading the Samsara. It frees an individual from the effects and counter-effects of Karma and eventually liberates an individual from the never ending cycle of life and death.

The concept of Nirvana is intimately related to the Buddhist notion of Anatman. As per Buddhism there are five Skandhas or states of existence that are forms, sensations, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness (Hawkins 118). Thereby, according to Buddhism individuals are devoid of any self possessing self and this doctrine of no-self is referred to as anatta or Anatman (Hawkins 42). The individual self or what is known as ego is a side effect of the five Skandhas. This Anatman is a delusion pertaining to individual self and once this delusion gets eliminated, only then can the individual cherish the blissful and supreme state of Nirvana (Hawkins 42).

Anatman means that an individual’s ego is an impediment to the attainment of Nirvana. Hereby, according to Buddhism, Nirvana is a state of mind and consciousness that is severed from the three poisons of ignorance, desire and anger and that frees one from the delusion of self that is a byproduct of the five states of existence. Works CitedHawkins, Bradley K. Buddhism. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print. Lama, Dalai. An Open Heart. New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 2002. Print.