Is nirvana a state or a place?
More specifically, is it a state that can be reached in this lifetime or a place you can go after you die?
state of mental existence and detachment
>>40543998 (OP)I think there could be a place that makes you feel perfect, perhaps through chemicals in the air or a place that is perfectly designed to make you happy
Nirvana is samsara. Samsara is nirvana. Nirvana is the deathless, where there is no death. It is neither this nor that, it cannot be described by words. Words are empty of self-nature and inherent existence.
>>40543998 (OP)its a state before a place.
it is death
>>40543998 (OP)Nirvana is Eternal but you can leave it to help beings
>>40543998 (OP)Since it is unchanging, it can be known at any time. Since it is beyond time, you don't approach it through time. Shrimply turn attention from that which changes/moves to that in which all change arises.
>>40543998 (OP)Nirvana is non-local. It's what happens when you stop samsara-ing.
>>40543998 (OP)Nirvana cannot be either, as it has no trait nor being.
>>40543998 (OP)It's a state, or rather it's the only true, timeless state. All other states are illusions.
>>40547145That's correct only on a conventional manner. Nirvana is the truth of non-arising and non-ceasing.
The actual word sakya buddha would have used is nibbana. nirvana is the sanskrit corruption. ni- is indoeuropean root meaning not and bana is indoeuro root meaning beneath/below/blow. therefore the most faithful english translation would be to blow out, as in a candle. This has to do with the metaphor as greed, hatred, and delusion being like a fire, and abandoning such qualities like putting the fire out. simple and beautiful. I love buddhism
>>40543998 (OP)I don't know what it's like after you die, but it is accessible in this lifetime for brief periods. It basically exists outside the dimension of time, so a cessation during meditation will not last any amount of time and basically only be perceivable as a discontinuity in normal experience, but whatever happens on the other side leaves you in a permanently improved mental state.
>>40545302OP, an answer in this thread has been given to you.
Truth reigns supreme and the concept of truth is the answer your question.
