Nibbāna and the Path to Nibbāna

"Monks, I will teach you Nibbāna and the path leading to Nibbāna." Thus spoke the Blessed One. This means: "I, the Buddha, will expound Nibbāna and the path leading to Nibbāna." "And what, monks, is Nibbāna? The destruction of greed (rāga), the destruction of hatred (dosa), the destruction of delusion (moha) – this, monks, is called Nibbāna." "When greed, hatred, and delusion cease, that is Nibbāna." Rāga is attachment (liking). Dosa is aversion (ill-will, harming). Moha is ignorance (delusion, not knowing). Remember: Attachment arising from encountering pleasant objects is rāga. Aversion arising from encountering unpleasant objects, the mind's inability to bear it, is dosa. Ignorance is not knowing, upon encountering objects, the truths of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), non-self (anatta), and the Noble Truth of Suffering (Dukkha Sacca). The cessation of these three is Nibbāna. "And what, monks, is the path leading to Nibbāna?" The path leading to Nibbāna is Right View (Sammā Ditthi). If one sees correctly, that is the path to Nibbāna. Seeing the truths of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), non-self (anatta), and the Noble Truth of Suffering (Dukkha Sacca) correctly is the path to Nibbāna. When, through correct seeing, greed (rāga), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha) cease upon the seen object, that is Nibbāna. Therefore, the cessation of rāga, dosa, and moha is Nibbāna, and the practice leading to Nibbāna is Right View (Sammā Ditthi). The teaching on Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppāda) has two aspects: 1. Arising due to conditionality (Paticca Samuppāda of Origin): When causes and effects are connected, it is the Dependent Origination of arising. As long as causes and effects are linked, there is the Dependent Origination of the arising of aggregates (khandhas) – the cycle of suffering (vațța). 2. Cessation due to conditionality (Paticca Samuppāda of Cessation): When causes and effects are severed, it is the Dependent Origination of cessation. This is the Dependent Origination of the cessation of aggregates (khandhas) – liberation from the cycle (vivațța). Remember: Right View (Sammā Ditthi), which sees correctly to eradicate rāga, dosa, and moha, is the path to Nibbāna. If Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppāda) remains connected, it is the path to suffering (dukkha). Therefore, if Dependent Origination is severed, that is the path to Nibbāna. The person who can sever Dependent Origination attains Nibbāna. Thus, if one does not understand Dependent Origination, one will not understand the path to Nibbāna, nor the path to suffering. Looking at the cycle: Section (1) - Origin of Suffering (Samudaya Sacca): Because of the Truth of the Origin of Suffering, Section (2) - Suffering (Dukkha Sacca) arises. Ignorance (avijjā), volitional formations (sankhāra), craving (tanhā), clinging (upādāna), kammic becoming (kamma bhava) – these factors in Section (1) are the Truth of the Origin of Suffering (Samudaya Sacca), the causes of suffering. These factors did not arise now; they arose in past lives. Therefore, they are shown as the five past causes. The mistakes made in past lives were simply these five. How were they mistaken? By creating Samudaya Sacca, by creating the causes of suffering. Past life avijjā: Not knowing the Four Noble Truths. Acting as one wishes: sankhāra. Praying to become a human, deva, or brahma and performing meritorious deeds is Puññābbhi Sankhāra (meritorious formations). Performing unwholesome deeds for the sake of children, wealth, or business is Apuññābbhi Sankhāra (demeritorious formations). They did this out of ignorance. Not knowing is avijjā. Acting is sankhāra. It wasn't just acting; at the moment of acting, craving (tanhā), which delights in the work itself, was also present. Clinging (upādāna), which is attachment to one's own actions, was also present. They also acted through bodily and verbal deeds (kāya kamma, vacī kamma). These five factors done in the past are the Truth of the Origin of Suffering (Samudaya Sacca). They are shown as one layer of past causes, the five past causal factors. Because they exerted effort in Samudaya Sacca, upon death and rebirth in the second existence (Section 2), the five aggregates (khandhas) arise: consciousness (viññāna), mind and matter (nāma-rūpa), the six sense bases (salāyatana), contact (phassa), feeling (vedanā). This is the Truth of Suffering (Dukkha Sacca). These five aggregates are inevitably experienced. Why? Because one is subject to the results of past folly. The folly committed is Samudaya Sacca; the suffering resulting from folly is Dukkha Sacca. This is present suffering (Paccuppanna Dukkha Sacca). Therefore, it is one layer of present results, shown as the five present resultant factors. It is solely Dukkha Sacca. The rebirth-consciousness (patisandhi viññāna) arising with birth is Dukkha Sacca. Aging and death (jarā maraņa) are Dukkha Sacca. Upon obtaining the five aggregates, the states of rebirth, aging, sickness, and death are already fully included. Is this Dukkha Sacca obtained through bad luck or unfavorable circumstances? No. It is the result of folly committed in past lives. With what must we live now? We must live together with Dukkha Sacca, the five aggregates. Now, we live possessed by Dukkha Sacca as our own condition. We cannot abandon this Dukkha Sacca. We cannot abandon aging, sickness, and death. Though we do not wish to live with it, we must live subject to the results of the folly we committed. Dr. Ashin Parami