what is the Nirvana in zen

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Arabic Buddhist
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what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by Arabic Buddhist »

hello Dharma friends

What is the Nirvana in zen ?
And when we Attain Nirvana where we go ?
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Koji
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by Koji »

In the Pali canon liberation of mind is nirvana. Zen is about realizing the essence mind which is liberated.
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kirtu
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by kirtu »

Arabic Buddhist wrote:hello Dharma friends

What is the Nirvana in zen ?
And when we Attain Nirvana where we go ?
We don't go anywhere. We just attain a degree of enlightenment. Nirvana means extinction. Extinction of what? Ultimately having to take uncontrolled rebirth because of karma. But in our life, we can attain the extinction of negative mindstates and the extinction of karma. The general Zen view of this is that practice itself is enlightenment and we can attain a form of nirvana directly during zazen (or practice in general). And this is true, btw. However Zen also trains us to take the degree of realization that we have back into our interactions in the world.



Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
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Arabic Buddhist
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by Arabic Buddhist »

Thank you for replies dear friends
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seeker242
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by seeker242 »

Bodhidharma talks about this. :)
"To search for enlightenment or nirvana beyond this mind is impossible. The reality of your own self-nature the absence of cause and effect, is what’s meant by mind. Your mind is nirvana."

"Not suffering another existence is reaching the Way. Not creating delusions is enlightenment. Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom. No affliction is nirvana."

"The impartial Dharma is only practiced by great bodhisattvas and Buddhas. To look on life as different from death or on motion as different from stillness is to be partial. To be impartial means to look on suffering as no different from nirvana,, because the nature of both is emptiness. By imagining they’re putting an end to Suffering and entering nirvana Arhats end up trapped by nirvana. But bodhisattvas know that suffering is essentially empty. And by remaining in emptiness they remain in nirvana. Nirvana means no birth and no death. It’s beyond birth and death and beyond nirvana. When the mind stops moving, it enters nirvana. Nirvana is an empty mind."
So it appears that you don't go anywhere, you just stop making delusions.

:anjali:
One should not kill any living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should one incite any other to kill. Do never injure any being, whether strong or weak, in this entire universe!
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Arabic Buddhist
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by Arabic Buddhist »

seeker242 wrote:Bodhidharma talks about this. :)
"To search for enlightenment or nirvana beyond this mind is impossible. The reality of your own self-nature the absence of cause and effect, is what’s meant by mind. Your mind is nirvana."

"Not suffering another existence is reaching the Way. Not creating delusions is enlightenment. Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom. No affliction is nirvana."

"The impartial Dharma is only practiced by great bodhisattvas and Buddhas. To look on life as different from death or on motion as different from stillness is to be partial. To be impartial means to look on suffering as no different from nirvana,, because the nature of both is emptiness. By imagining they’re putting an end to Suffering and entering nirvana Arhats end up trapped by nirvana. But bodhisattvas know that suffering is essentially empty. And by remaining in emptiness they remain in nirvana. Nirvana means no birth and no death. It’s beyond birth and death and beyond nirvana. When the mind stops moving, it enters nirvana. Nirvana is an empty mind."
So it appears that you don't go anywhere, you just stop making delusions.

:anjali:
thank you

what I understand it . In Zen . Even if I Attain Nirvana I still born again in this life ?
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Astus
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

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Please see this thread about the Mahayana understanding of nirvana (including Zen) : Apratishtita Nirvana. That's how non-abidance is the essential path and goal of Zen, both sudden enlightenment and the path of the bodhisattva.
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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oushi
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by oushi »

Arabic Buddhist wrote:What is the Nirvana in zen ?
As I myself have no idea, I will just add a short quote from Rinzai:
"Awakening and Nirvana are like tethering posts for donkeys."
Say what you think about me here.
Matylda
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

Post by Matylda »

In fact in zen sansara and nirvana are inseperable...
As Dogen said:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/scbs/sztp ... shogi.html
Simply understand that birth and death are in themselves nirvana; there is no birth and death to be hated nor nirvana to be desired. Then, for the first time, we will be freed from birth and death. To master this problem is of supreme importance.
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Re: what is the Nirvana in zen

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