Bhāvanā (Meditation) > Meditation – Deeper Aspects > Attaining Nibbāna Requires Understanding Buddha’s Worldview

October 12, 2024

Nibbāna cannot be reached by following a set of rituals. It requires understanding how the Buddha described the world that we live in. That worldview vastly differs from all the worldviews known to humans. Attaining Nibbāna requires a mindset (or paradigm) change.

Too Many Myths/Misconceptions About Nibbāna

1. Many versions of Buddhism or Buddha Dhamma are being practiced today.

▪One common misconception is that if one can follow the five (or eight) precepts and engage in “meditation,” one can attain Nibbāna. Some equate meditation to chanting and many consider “meditation” to refer explicitly to “breath meditation.”

▪A good example is the “Vipassanā meditation” method by the late S.N. Goenka. We have had many discussions on the forum regarding this program. See, for example, “WebLink: Pure Dhamma Forums: About Vipassanā-insight technique taught by teacher S.N. Goenka” and “WebLink: Pure Dhamma Forums: Goenka’s Vipassanā.”The first one is enough to get the idea.

▪Here, I will describe the framework of the path to Nibbāna according to the Tipiṭaka, the Pāli Scriptures written down by a group of Arahants at the Fourth Buddhist Council two thousand years ago. See “Historical Background.”

Rāga, Dosa, Moha – Root Causes of a Stressed Mind

2. Many people become faithful believers in “breath meditation” because it helps calm the mind; chanting could do the same. For those who have experienced that calming effect, it provides solid evidence that one can control one’s mind and make it calm.

▪However, the negative aspect of that experience is that people get addicted to it and do not realize that it is only a temporary solution to a long-term problem.

▪To investigate this issue further, let’s examine the root causes of a stressed mind.

3. Think about the state of our minds while going through life. When we are attracted to something, our minds become agitated because there is a nagging feeling of the need to fulfill that desire. In other words, greedy thoughts make a mind agitated. The root cause is “rāga” or “craving for worldly things.”

▪If one gets angry, his mind gets heated, and the anger shows in the face, too. The result is an uncomfortable, heated mind. Usually, the origin of that anger is craving something and not getting it. For example, people argue over the ownership of a piece of land (or any other item); some lead to violence. Here, the root cause for an unsettled mind is dosa or anger/hate.

▪Then, there are situations where a mind becomes dull, lazy, and depressed. The root cause here is moha or avijjā, which we will clarify below.

Rāga, Dosa, Moha Lead to Suffering in Future Lives Too

4. Thus, we can see how the three root causes of rāga, dosa, and moha are responsible for suffering in this life. The Buddha pointed out that in addition—and even more importantly — our actions based on rāga, dosa, and moha also dictate suffering in future lives.

▪To attain Nibbāna is to become free of both types of suffering (you may want to read the “Nibbāna” section for details).

▪Both aspects can be explained via the laws of kamma (or Paṭicca Samuppāda.) Our actions with rāga, dosa, and moha in mind lead to immoral deeds (called apuñña or pāpa kamma) that can bring adverse results (kamma vipāka) in this life or future lives.

5. But how can we stop such thoughts with rāga, dosa, and moha rising in our minds?

▪That requires a lengthy explanation. However, the first stage is to understand that the problem of suffering is not restricted to this life. We must understand how and why suffering does not end at death and continues into future lives via a rebirth process.

▪This website provides evidence of the rebirth process and other details. This post summarizes the framework of the “big picture” necessary to get a preliminary idea of Buddha’s teachings.

▪The ” Search ” box at the top right will return more posts related to any word or concept, for example, “rebirth.”

An Analogy of a Glass of Water

6. The Buddha used various analogies to describe how a mind becomes agitated, heated, or lethargic under different conditions.

▪A “stress-free mind” is like a tall glass of pure water. Such a suffering-free mind is called a “pabhassara mind.” Thoughts arising in a pabhassara mind are like clear water poured from that glass of pure water. They are not immoral or moral, just neutral.

▪The mind of a puthujjana (average human) is like a tall glass of water with fine mud particles. If left undisturbed, all the mud will settle at the bottom of the glass, and the water on top will look clean. If we gently pour some water, it will look like pure water. In the same way, when in a calm situation (e.g., while in breath meditation), our thoughts appear to be “neutral” without causing stress.

7. However, that water can be disturbed by stirring it with a straw, and then some mud at the bottom comes up, making the water muddy. Pouring some muddy water out is analogous to generating “defiled thoughts” in a mind agitated by sensory inputs.

▪In the same way, a mind can be agitated by sensory inputs.

▪The easiest two ways are via attractive or repulsive sensory inputs; the first leads to greedy thoughts, and the latter to angry thoughts.

▪In that analogy, layers of mud accumulated at the bottom of the glass are analogous to defiled gati or “saṁsāric bonds” (“saṁyojana”) in Buddha’s teachings.

Saṁyojana and Gati – Root Causes Triggering Rāga, Dosa, Moha

8. The Buddha taught that all living beings have a suffering-free (“pabhassara“) mind. However, it is hidden by ten layers of “saṁsāric bonds” called saṁyojana (the reason for calling them “saṁsāric bonds” will become clear later.) They are analogous to the mud sitting at the bottom of a water glass in #6, #7 above. While the mind can be agitated by a straw (#7), saṁyojanās can be triggered by enticing sensory inputs (called ārammaṇa in Pāli).

▪Three of the ten layers lead to wrong views (diṭṭhi, part of moha/avijjā), five to rāga, and three solely to moha/avijjā. We attach to “worldly things” with taṇhā based on the diṭṭhi and rāga.

▪Thus, our defiled thoughts arise due to taṇhā and avijjā, as explained in some suttās.

9. These ten saṁyojanās stay hidden until a tempting (e.g., attractive or repulsive) sensory input is encountered. Depending on the sensory input, all or some of the ten saṁyojana can be “triggered” by that sensory input. For example, seeing a beautiful woman can trigger kāma rāga saṁyojana in a man. The sight of an enemy can trigger the paṭigha saṁyojana and generate anger.

▪Instead of using the ten saṁyojanās, we could also say the same using five “defiled gati” (pronounced “gathi.”) The closest translation of “gati” is “character/habits.” One attains Nibbāna by removing all five gati. But those five gati can be split into various types. The main point here is that one’s habits (based on character) determine one’s actions, i.e., kamma generation.

▪For example, an “animal gati of anger” (which is in all puthujjana) can be triggered by seeing a person disliked; greedy “peta gati” can be triggered by seeing delicious food.

▪Many Dhamma teachers today do not understand the critical concept of “gati.” See “The Law of Attraction, Habits, Character (Gati), and Cravings (Asavas)” and “Habits, Goals, and Character (Gati).” Ten saṁyojanās are discussed in “Dasa Saṁyojana – Bonds in Rebirth Process.”

Temporary Calm Versus Permanent Calm (Nibbāna)

10. Thus, a mind can get to “samādhi,” or a “peaceful state of mind,” if it is prevented from being exposed to sensory experiences of daily life.

▪The longer one can stay in such an “isolated environment” (like a meditation retreat), the longer the experience can last. This is why ancient yogis went into deep jungles to be away from sensory inputs that can trigger “saṁyojana” or “gati” and trigger rāga, dosa, and moha defilements to come to the surface.

▪It is only by understanding the reasons for those “saṁyojana” or “gati” to exist that we can start breaking the “saṁsāric bonds” or “saṁyojana” (equivalently to get rid of various “defiled gati“).

11. When one starts grasping Buddha’s worldview (and understanding how suffering arises), the first three saṁyojanās are permanently removed at the Sotāpanna stage. This involves the removal of sakkāya diṭṭhi and two other diṭṭhi saṁyojana.

▪At the subsequent two stages of Sakadāgāmi and Anāgāmi, one would comprehend how kāma rāga (and paṭigha or dosa) arises due to “distorted/false saññā” (associated with existences in kāma loka) that we discuss briefly below.

▪Two more types of rāga (rūpa rāga and arūpa rāga) are removed by an Anāgāmi by contemplating the “distorted/false saññā” associated with the Brahma realms. Avijjā and two other saṁyojanās associated with avijjā are also removed at the Arahant stage.

▪The removal of the ten saṁyojanās is equivalent to the removal of five gati types, as discussed in #9.

Analogy of a Glass of Pure Water

12. Once all ten saṁyojanās are broken (and the five major defiled gati removed), that is like permanently removing the mud at the bottom of a glass in the analogy of #6 above.

▪As we saw in #11 above, removing the ten saṁyojanās at various stages of Nibbāna is analogous to removing layers of mud at the bottom of the glass.

▪Once all the mud in the glass is removed, the water will remain pure no matter how much one tries to stir it with a straw.

13. In the same way, the mind of an Arahant cannot be agitated by any sensory input. He can live among the most beautiful women, and no sensual thoughts will arise. That is also true for an Anāgāmi who has removed kāma rāga and paṭigha saṁyojana.

▪A Sotāpanna has only understood the basic framework and would still attach to the “distorted/false saññā” associated with sensual sensory inputs in kāma loka, i.e., they still have kāma rāga.

▪However, since they have removed the three diṭṭhis (especially sakkāya diṭṭhi), their minds cannot be disturbed to the extent of committing “apāyāgāmi kamma,” which can lead to rebirths in the apāyās. Thus, they are permanently free of rebirths in the four lowest realms (apāyās.)

14. When using analogies, we must be careful not to take them literally. Analogies are given to clarify a central aspect; there can be differences in other aspects.

▪The removal of mud from a glass of water is a physical process.

▪On the other hand, removing the ten saṁyojanās is a mental process.

▪The saṁyojanās (or “defiled gati”) can be removed only by cultivating paññā or wisdom, which means understanding the Buddha’s new worldview.

Saṁsāric Bonds (Saṁyojana) Can be Removed Only with Wisdom (Paññā)

15. The Buddha taught that all those root causes can be traced back to avijjā (or moha), generally translated as “ignorance.” The “ignorance” is not to realize the world’s true nature.

▪Average humans (puthujjana) believe that external things can bring happiness. That wrong view (“sakkāya diṭṭhi“) is rooted in our wrong/false perceptions (Buddha used the Pāli word “saññā“) about the world. We will discuss that basic framework in the next post.

▪This is critical because attaining Nibbāna (or becoming free of suffering) requires comprehending Buddha’s worldview (how suffering arises) and dispelling avijjā.

16. Thus, attaining Nibbāna critically depends on cultivating wisdom (paññā) by understanding the root causes of avijjā. Even though living a moral life is necessary, Nibbāna cannot be reached just by following a set of rituals.

▪In the analogy of the glass of water, the mud can be removed by a physical process (by scooping it out or filtering using a filter).

▪However, the defilements in mind (saṁyojana/gati) can be removed only by wisdom (paññā.)

▪That requires understanding how our minds are tempted/defiled by sensory inputs (ārammaṇa.) The concept of “distorted/false saññā” plays a critical role here; we have an innate (built-in) tendency to attach to that saññā. We will discuss that in the next post.