Nirvana: On a Roller Coaster

This girl I was seeing. We had conflicting attitudes. I really wasn't into meditating and she wasn't really into being alive. - Stephen Wright

Nirvana: Siddhartha Gautama

According to a Buddhist text, immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach others. He wondered if humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed, and hatred they could never recognize the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. 

According to the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. So Buddha relented and agreed to teach.

There were lots of Brahmas in Hindu religion, just like there are arch-angels in Christianity. Think of Brahmā Sahampati like the Angel Gabriel. His main job is to tell Siddhartha Gautama -  who had just become a Buddha and doesn't want to teach - to do it anyway.

This is, of course, religious fiction; myth to explain a reality. I believe the Buddha hesitated, but for a different reason.

The Buddha didn't go to teach 'reprobates and sinners.' There were, all over India at that time, 'Seekers;' men who gave up everything to reach Nirvana. It was these men he taught. The Buddha spent his life training and sending out teachers; not saving 'evil men.'

Nirvana: Buddhist Awakening

Nirvana is the earliest and most common term used to describe the goal of the Buddhist path. The literal meaning is 'blowing out' or 'quenching.'  Wikipedia 

Hindu religion believed in an indefinite series of reincarnations. But no matter how one was reincarnated, life was still full of disappointments. The good times faded; the bad times careened into your life out of nowhere. It sucked. 

The way to escape this never-ending cycle of rebirth was to 'extinguish the self;' that part of us that craves, desires, wishes, hopes, builds a future on past memories - cleaned up for the screen - projected onto our minds.

When 'Nirvana happens,' our flame 'blows out.' We disappear. No more suffering because there is no 'Me' left to suffer. 

But the recently awakened Buddha knew something. The minute he opened his mouth to speak about it, the words the Buddha formed lessened the initial experience. It brought him into a 'dual state of mind.' It lost something in the retelling. His quality of 'pure bliss' could not be the same in the market place.

Mini-Nirvana: Peak Experiences

A peak experience is a moment accompanied by a euphoric mental state often achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by Abraham Maslow in 1964, who describes peak experiences as 'rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter.'  Wikipedia

Every person - except the severely impaired - has peak experiences. Unfortunately, they are too rare. Think of a music concert, theatre performance, art display, dance recital, classic literature or a sunset, a perfect evening, whatever. You were so caught up in the wonder of It you forgot to crave and identify with it and tell yourself any stories. You were lost in the spectacle.

You will know you had such an experience if - when recalling it - you shake your head and say, 'You had to be there.' Because you know words will never do It justice. If you could, and you were honest, there's only one way to share It. Grab them by the arm, jump into a time machine, and take them to the exact moment and the place you Became It.

To talk about it, you have to step Outside of It. Your mode of Being shifts from Part of It (Unity model) to Analyzing it (Dualistic model).

Nirvana: On a Roller Coaster

You can't blame Siddhartha Gautama - after starving himself and enduring a grueling ascetic life for years to become a Buddha and find perfect peace -  for wanting to keep It. But most of us enjoy life. The skill we need to learn is Nirvana while riding a roller coaster.

White Cyclone Wooden
Roller Coaster in Japan