Is it a state of extinction when your soul no longer exists or disappears, because you do not need to suffer or reincarnate anymore?
I was learning about Nirvana in world history and my teacher said that in Buddhism every soul was a grain of salt and during Nirvana the salt would dissolve in water. There would be no more salt, but you could taste it in the water.
Can you explain it to me in PLAIN English please! I'm only a high school student so DUMB it down to my level. Lil
Yes, it is a sort of psychological-emotional extinction (extinction of the mind of emotion, the mind of the past).
In other words, past memory is no longer influencing the present, except in the most shallow and conceptual way... one is dwelling in the here and now, one pointedly, entirely concentrated in the present. There is no emotional "self" in simply sensing/perceiving and being.
The end result of all this is a feeling as though nothing is apart or separate, as though everything is oneself -- there's no feeling as though ones body is apart or separate from its surroundings.
Yes, like the separate "salt figurine" has dissolved in the water, and everything is that water.
I think your teacher is trying to provide the concept of you as a sentient being with its worldly imperfections of greed, hatred, delusion, and thus resulting in the continuous cycle of sufferings due to not seeing the light of the ultimate truth.
Upon fully understanding the Ultimate truth, thus being enlightened, you no longer be chained by greed, hatred, delusions, your true nature/ true self/soul is thus freed and reaches it origin and away from mortal sufferings, thus merging with the truth. Upon merging with truth, the concept of cognition of 'self' is no longer relevant, as you are part of the whole, part of the all encompassing ultimate truth.
You can try the English explanation in wiped:IAhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana
Whoops! Your teacher doesn't understand Buddhism very well.
For starters, the concept of the salt doll walking into the ocean and dissolving into it ... this is a commonly-used metaphor when teaching yoga philosophy. Unfortunately, yoga and Buddhism are worlds apart. Oh, superficially, one can think they are just about the same. But they aren't. I spent years practicing yoga with teachers ... and now years practicing Buddhism the same way. And the two are very, very different even though they look the same.
In yoga philosophy, ones soul is regarded as a spark of God. And when you attain enlightenment, you merge into the bliss of God, just as the salt doll dissolves into the ocean.
In Buddhism, you do not disappear. Your likes and dislikes do not disappear either. What changes when you reach Nirvana is that you "wake up". And when you wake up, you relate to the world in a totally different way. Just stop and think of a favorite toy from your childhood that you no longer care anything about ... it just doesn't "move" you anymore, does it? Well, Nirvana is a state in which you are open to everything, experiencing life in all its richness and fullness whether what is happening is "good" or "bad" ... but your likes and dislikes don't move you anymore. If your body is shivering from the cold, you have no aversion for that. If someone insults you, you are not upset. If you see a piece of cake and you see the desire for it, you are genuinely amused at the appearance of this craving and then you release it.
Unfortunately, you are going to have to "parrot" back to your teacher what SHE has taught you, even if she IS wrong.
I am not in a position to explain this. Therefore, with all the respect, I quote following explanation by Ven Ajhan Cha, one of the Enlightened monk of our time.
?We people don't want suffering, we want happiness. But in fact happiness is just a refined form of suffering. Suffering itself is the coarse form. You can compare them to a snake. The head of the snake is unhappiness, the tail of the snake is happiness. The head of the snake is really dangerous, it has the poisonous fangs. If you touch it, the snake will bite straight away. But never mind the head, even if you go and hold onto the tail, it will turn around and bite you just the same, because both the head and the tail belong to the one snake.
In the same way, both happiness and unhappiness, or pleasure and sadness, arise from the same parent ? wanting. So when you're happy the mind isn't peaceful. It really isn't! For instance, when we get the things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praise or happiness, we become pleased as a result. But the mind still harbors some uneasiness because we're afraid of losing it.
That very fear isn't a peaceful state. Later on we may actually lose that thing and then we really suffer. Thus, if you aren't aware, even if you're happy, suffering is imminent. It's just the same as grabbing the snake's tail ? if you don't let go it will bite. So whether it's the snake's tail or its head, that is, wholesome or unwholesome conditions, they're all just characteristics of the Wheel of Existence, of endless change.
When happiness arises all that happens is that this mind is getting lost in a mental impression, there is movement. When the mind moves like this, clinging and attachment to those things come into being.
The true "original mind" has nothing to measure it by, there's nothing you can know it by. In its natural state it is unshaken, unmoving.?
Therefore, I understand it as follows.
When the attachment is permanently shed, the mind returns to its original form. That is called the enlightenment. It is beyond both suffering and happiness.
What exactly is Nirvana in Buddhism?
