Buddha · බුද්ධ
The Parinirvana Sutta
Why Nirvana, as an absolute truth, cannot be resolved through ordinary reasoning and must instead be experienced within parinirvana itself
4 min read
Buddha · බුද්ධ
Why Nirvana, as an absolute truth, cannot be resolved through ordinary reasoning and must instead be experienced within parinirvana itself
4 min read
Because Nirvana is an unconditioned, absolute Dhamma, it cannot be resolved through relative matters — it is something experienced within parinirvana itself. Experiencing parinirvana prior to the parinirvana of the aggregates, realising Nirvana, and teaching it, is an extraordinary occurrence experienced only by a Buddha. Reading this discourse and attempting to grasp it entirely through the ordinary mind is not something that can be accomplished. In attempting to do so, a person may become lost within the imaginings that the mind itself constructs.
When certain profound matters belonging to the domain of Buddhahood cannot be understood by others, a fully self-enlightened Buddha will conjure another Buddha, and build up the Dhamma-teaching by speaking together with that conjured Buddha. This is a distinctive feature that appears within the domain of Buddhahood.
Within the path, there is something called convention (sammuti), and there is also something called conventional truth (sammuti satya) within convention. That is, there are matters that society accepts and agrees upon as truths. Beyond this lies what is called the absolute, or ultimate purpose (paramartha), and within it, what is called absolute truth (paramartha satya). When we discuss Dhamma, we are not discussing convention and conventional truth — we are discussing the absolute and absolute truth.
Within the path, we speak of the path and fruit of stream-entry, of once-returning, of non-returning, and of arahantship — this is spoken of as the samsaric path and the samsaric fruit. Alongside this wholesome path, there exist, within the vision of the path, a number of further approaches: fulfilling cause, fulfilling merit, and, in accordance with the Dhamma-principles of cause and effect, exhausting karma and arriving directly at the fruit in a single leap, among others.
Within Theravada, the method of building up wholesome qualities — cultivating faith, energy, concentration, and wisdom — is the method by which samsaric path and samsaric fruit are gained. The fruits of stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arahantship belong to the absolute. The nine supramundane, noble Dhammas that are the cause for attaining these paths and fruits belong to absolute truth. What is realised at the moment of attaining a path and fruit is called absolute truth.
Nirvana lies beyond even these absolute states and absolute fruits. The Buddha did not appear in the world in order to give beings path and fruit. He appeared in order to release beings from suffering — to bring them to Nirvana.
Here, a division arises: between the supramundane wisdom (lokottara buddhi) — that is, 'Buddha' — present at the moment of realising truth, and 'Buddha' as present within Nirvana itself.
What beings actually want is a Dhamma that settles their own hearts and minds — that is what they seek. That Dhamma is only a conventional truth. It does not belong to the absolute, nor to absolute truth.
Consider an example: suppose you have a problem right now. Is that problem conventional, or absolute? It belongs to convention. Could you ask an absolute question? There is no way such a question could even exist. The suffering a being experiences today is a conventional truth. Yet a being can come to realise something as an absolute truth of suffering. In doing so, the way existence was built up, birth after birth and death after death, across samsara, becomes realised. And then it becomes evident that suffering, as a truth, is real.
If suffering, at the level of the absolute, is indeed a truth, can it be eliminated?
One sees the cause of suffering. One sees how suffering was built existence by existence. That, too, is a truth. A truth cannot be eliminated. Cessation, too, is a truth. Cessation does not mean that suffering, or the cause of suffering, is eliminated — cessation is a Dhamma-principle in its own right. It is a transformation of energy, not an elimination of anything. There exists a noble truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering (dukkha-nirodha-gamini-patipada). That is, there exists a mechanism, a sutra, a path by which this transformation can occur. That this mechanism itself is a truth is, in turn, itself a truth. That truth belongs to the absolute...
Adapted from “පරිනිර්වාණ සූත්රය” — read the original Sinhala article.
Want to explore this further?
This article is a starting point. The full teaching is explored directly, with room for real questions, at the Mahaguru Centre’s Dhamma Clarity Sessions and Weekly Q&A.
Visit the Mahaguru CentreBuddha
A look at how a fully enlightened Buddha comes into being out of the universe's basic elements, and why today's seekers approach the path so differently from practitioners in the Buddha's own era.
Buddha
An explanation of how a Buddha's dispensation (sasana) is set up differently in different eras, and what it takes for someone to reach arahantship in each of them.
Buddha
Craving (tanha) is not something the mind can simply grasp and resist — this teaching traces it as a mechanism, from a single spark at the root of perception to the karmic paths it creates, and how a Buddha's four powers dissolve it.