Buddhism 1:1 - “Nirvana”
What It Is
According to Buddhism, Nirvana is the ultimate state of liberation and freedom from suffering. In contrast to the pervasive suffering (dukkha) that characterizes ordinary existence, Nirvana is a state of profound peace and release. Suffering in Buddhism arises from craving, attachment, and ignorance—our tendency to cling to impermanent things and seek fulfillment in desires that cannot bring lasting happiness. This leads to a cycle of discontent, dissatisfaction, and repeated suffering. Nirvana, however, is the extinguishing of these very causes of suffering. It is not simply the absence of pain but the complete eradication of the mental defilements—craving, aversion, and delusion—that keep individuals trapped in a cycle of suffering.
In Nirvana, one transcends these limitations, experiencing a state of unconditioned bliss and clarity where the illusions of the self and permanence are fully understood. It is freedom from all forms of attachment and the mental disturbances that accompany them. While suffering is characterized by grasping at fleeting pleasures and fearing loss, Nirvana offers a state beyond such dualities, where the mind is liberated from all clinging and the deep sense of unease that comes with it. Thus, Nirvana is often described as "the highest happiness" in Buddhism, not because it is a form of pleasure, but because it is the state of being free from the very conditions that give rise to suffering in the first place.
In reaching Nirvana, one achieves not just an end to suffering but a transformation of consciousness. The mind becomes free from the delusions that bind it to samsara, such as the false belief in a permanent self and the constant craving for external satisfaction. Suffering, as it is experienced in the everyday world, is fueled by this clinging to impermanent phenomena—whether it be people, possessions, or even our own identities. These attachments create a cycle of longing and disappointment, as all things are subject to change and decay. In contrast, Nirvana is often referred to as "the unconditioned" or "the deathless," a state where the individual is no longer subject to the laws of impermanence and is free from the endless process of becoming.
This liberation from suffering does not mean that the individual withdraws from life or becomes indifferent to the world; rather, it signifies a radical shift in how one relates to it. The person who attains Nirvana still sees the impermanent nature of things but no longer clings to them or reacts with fear, desire, or aversion. The Buddha described Nirvana as the "cooling of the fires" of passion, hatred, and delusion—the mental forces that drive suffering. Once these fires are extinguished, what remains is a state of equanimity, where one is fully present but unattached, experiencing life without the distortions of craving or fear.
In this way, Nirvana contrasts suffering not only as the end of pain but as the realization of a fundamentally different way of being. While suffering is rooted in ignorance and the endless pursuit of transient desires, Nirvana is grounded in wisdom, seeing things as they truly are—impermanent, interconnected, and devoid of any fixed self. This profound understanding dissolves the very conditions that give rise to suffering. Thus, Nirvana is not merely an escape from suffering but the attainment of a higher truth, a state of peace and freedom that transcends the limitations of ordinary human experience. In this liberated state, one is no longer compelled by desires or fears, and the endless cycle of samsara comes to an end.
When It Started
Buddhism, founded in the 6th century BCE by Siddhartha Gautama, emerged in a period of intense philosophical activity in northern India. Gautama, later known as the Buddha (the Enlightened One), was born into a royal family but became disillusioned with the material wealth and comforts of his life. After encountering the harsh realities of human suffering—old age, sickness, and death—he left his palace in search of a deeper understanding of existence. This quest led him to explore various ascetic practices and philosophical teachings, none of which provided him with the answers he sought. Eventually, through deep meditation under the Bodhi tree, Gautama attained enlightenment, realizing the true nature of suffering and the path to liberation.
The Buddha’s teachings focus on the central theme of overcoming suffering, known as dukkha in Pali, which he explained in his first sermon, often referred to as the "Turning of the Wheel of Dharma." Here, he outlined the Four Noble Truths, the core of Buddhist philosophy. The First Noble Truth recognizes the universality of suffering: “Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering,” he declared, referring to the inescapable pains of life. The Second Noble Truth identifies the cause of suffering, which lies in craving and attachment. Buddha said, “It is craving which leads to renewed existence… accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there.” The Third Noble Truth offers hope, stating that suffering can cease through the eradication of craving: “The remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving… is the cessation of suffering.” The Fourth Noble Truth provides the method to end suffering: the Noble Eightfold Path, a guide to ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom.
Buddhism spread rapidly across Asia, evolving into different schools as it interacted with diverse cultures. Theravada Buddhism, which adheres closely to the Buddha’s original teachings, emphasizes personal effort in attaining Nirvana through meditation and ethical conduct. Mahayana Buddhism, which developed later, focuses on the idea of the bodhisattva, an enlightened being who delays Nirvana to help others reach liberation. The Mahayana tradition is particularly concerned with compassion and the altruistic intention of liberating all beings from suffering.
A central component of the Buddha’s teaching on overcoming suffering is the realization of the impermanent (anicca) and selfless (anatta) nature of reality. The Buddha taught that clinging to the illusion of a permanent, unchanging self is the root cause of suffering. In the Dhammapada, a collection of his sayings, the Buddha stated, "All conditioned things are impermanent—when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering." By realizing the transient nature of life, practitioners can begin to release their attachments to worldly things, thereby weakening the cravings that fuel suffering.
Meditation plays a crucial role in overcoming suffering and attaining liberation. The mindfulness and concentration cultivated through meditation allow practitioners to observe the rise and fall of thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences without attachment. This practice helps individuals develop insight into the true nature of existence, leading to the ultimate goal of nirvana, which the Buddha described as “the unconditioned, the deathless, the cessation of suffering.” Nirvana is not a place but a state of being where all defilements—such as greed, hatred, and delusion—are extinguished, leading to profound inner peace and freedom from the cycle of rebirth (samsara).
Buddhism teaches that this path to liberation is open to all who are willing to undertake the discipline of the Noble Eightfold Path, regardless of social standing or background. The Buddha famously declared, “Just as the great ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt, so too does my teaching have but one taste, the taste of liberation.” This underscores the universality of his teachings on suffering and liberation.
The history of Buddhism is one of continuous adaptation and growth as it spread from its Indian roots to countries such as Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Tibet, and beyond. Yet, at its core, the teachings on overcoming suffering and reaching liberation remain unchanged. Through mindfulness, ethical living, and meditation, Buddhists across the world continue to walk the path laid down by the Buddha over 2,500 years ago. As the Buddha said, “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
Where We Relate
According to what is revealed through Undefinable and Expansive, we also recognize the physical world as a series of pains, inherently involving suffering. As a division of ourselves, it naturally comes with pain and must, just as naturally, be constantly changing and impermanent. Only the totality of what we call “God” can be permanent, which also means it is imperceivable. Perception requires divisions of separation and is therefore accompanied by suffering. We agree that everything, regardless of whether it is pleasurable, is a degree of pain, and it continues as long as it is reacted to, all being a derivative of “forgetting” our reality. Agreeing that the actuality of what we have called “joy” is like unto “Nirvana,” as a perspective no longer divided between oppositions being a sensation unified and therefore not considered painful, nor of this “world”.
We agree that there is a mental state no longer affected by worldly concerns, including an extent which transcends the perception of a world entirely. We also find that the directive of our journey is a mental state which can be transformed, enabling us to experience a much different world. We concur that the world we experience is a reflection of what we give attention to within our minds. We agree that all suffering, addiction, and dramas stem from our own cravings and aversions, admitting that we are designed to find a middle way in order to master the challenges presented us. We acknowledge that we are in a world of suffering so that we can learn to overcome it, achieving liberation and transcendence. Establishing the only real purpose of the world and the only way to avoid repeating its lessons.
We concur that the only way to master and overcome the world is by learning to observe internal responses and choosing to react in a way that avoids extremes, ideally not reacting at all. Choosing one extreme will manifest more experiences to evoke the same reaction, but by choosing the middle path, one can cease such manifestations, including the existence of a world of suffering as we perceive it. It is by our reaction that we choose what seems real. While most effective in isolated and focused meditation, this practice must eventually extend to all activities at all times. We agree that only through insistence on the “middle way” can anyone become aware of the true nature of this “world”. Emphasizing that no one can see reality as it actually is, until they experience beyond the world which manifests from their reactions.
We are in absolute agreement that anyone determined enough to “forgive” everything and respond to each thought as if it were nothing, will transcend all that has manifested as suffering. We also insist that everyone must eventually claim this authority to save themselves, for no one else can choose not to react on their behalf. This is the only way for anyone to recognize who they truly are beyond their body, beyond the individual person, and therefore the only way to “ascend into the heavens” without returning to manifest a world as another person. We reiterate that all reactions are “sins,” judgments we impose on ourselves, condemning ourselves to relive the experiences evoking them, until we no longer feel affected by them and then no longer react. Whether it is the same world in a new body or a soul in hell, our reactions are what make the experiences sufferable, and only by promoting our own non-reaction, through recognizing their falsity, can we truly be set free.
Why It Seems
The way the world has come about can seem rather complex when you focus on the details and the many layers of decisions required to bring about such observations. However, when perceived plainly, there are only a few layers that appear as many. For those who perceive a reality beyond all reactions, they recognize the source of all existence within themselves, as they perceive all of its manifestations in and around them.
The source itself is Undefinable and without attributes, but with perception, it looks upon itself with all attributes. Those who are aware beyond their attributes recognize the association of their perceptions, which have intrigued and evoked the manifestation of attributes. While we call it “God,” it remains the source of all existence, and its perceiver, whom we call “Christ,” experiences the aspect of “God” that becomes all attributes as the Wholly Spiritual Universe. As the same unified essence, its three distinct functions bring about everything we know as “reality.” The perceiver is the only entity that can judge, discern, and assess differences. While the Wholly Spiritual Universe is completely neutral on every subject except one, it naturally inspires and motivates the recollection of the unified source.
Being completely whole and total, it was this source's decision to perceive, which required a seeming division of itself to make it possible. It cannot perceive itself if it does not look upon something that it believes to be separate from itself. It was through this decision that a world of suffering came about. Many decisions developed new layers, and the development of free will required forgetting who we truly are. However, it is only through this that we can experience individuated perspectives within individuated worlds.
For anything to cut itself into pieces would be painful, especially if it must be maintained. This physical world has manifested through several divisions. Each time, it has been flipped upside down and backward in various ways, making the truth nearly unrecognizable. Every decision manifests through the assessment of our reactions, for they are how we choose what we want to be real. The Wholly Spiritual Universe, without judgment, manifests accordingly. There is no suffering in its manifestation alone, but the assessment and judgment of the perceiver distort it into something sufferable.
The world, as perceived, is shrouded in the distortions of assessments. Everything must be defined to be perceived, and definitions require that something be what other things are not, naturally separating each thing from every other thing. A shoe does not have the same definition as a horse; they are obviously separate things. Similarly, eyes require the separation of everything they look upon, as do the sensations your body experiences. These are all constructs, transforming the reality of the source into attributes of separate things.
While the truth of all existence remains the same essence, it appears to become all separate things through its willingness to adapt to perceptions. However, through this decision to have these experiences, it has also surrendered its own recollection. All suffering derives from a sort of forgetting of its reality. This is not only due to cravings and aversions to different experiences but also to the interpretation and judgment of these experiences as different, and of course, defining ourselves as separate from them.
The middle path is not merely a matter of actions or the perception of attributes but involves recognizing what actions and attributes are beyond their physical appearances. The impermanence of physicality arises from the lack of recognition of life within it, even holding the belief that "life" requires a beginning and an end. The things that appear to last the longest are often deemed to have no life in them at all. This is because the definition of "life" used in physicality is based on something appearing to have independent free will, and this independence has been mistaken as a life separate from the actual source of life.
Of course, everything has been deemed separate to serve a particular purpose, previously decided as necessary. However, it was only due to previous decisions that additional needs arose. As layers begat more layers, it appears to be completely converted into physical form, though it has never truly been. When one embarks on the journey to discover the source of all existence, beyond reactions, cravings, and aversions, they must naturally move through these layers, each presenting unique challenges to surpass. The first layer after the interpretations of the physical would be the essence that makes up physicality.
The Wholly Spiritual Universe is a holographic energetic system—it is the "light" and "sound" that constitute the atoms and molecules of the physical world. As one's focus sharpens, they start to recognize the sensations of their body, are all produced by the presence and movement of these elements. In other words, everything perceived as "earth," "water," "fire," and "air" possesses attributes defined by the illumination and movement of atoms. We know of these things through our sensory perceptions, but they are actually a series of distortions provided by consciousness, and our individual person’s brain is a representation of this same distortion.
This means that your consciousness has chosen how to define what sensory perceptions are, and your brain is programmed to reuse them. Regardless of genetic properties, your brain has used what it was designed with to feel your skin, see colors, hear sounds, and so on. Your consciousness decided what it was to feel, and then it proceeded to do so. As it also decided what to see and hear, it then does so. Therefore, if it is not willing to perceive beyond its decisions in interpreting these sensory perceptions, it cannot recognize what it has made into feelings, sights, and sounds.
It is not only through cravings and aversions but also through discernment of definitions of what could be craved or averted. You crave something not only because it is delightful but because it offers a series of sensations you refer to as delight. You do not actually feel anything physical at all; you have only ever felt energy, distorted into physical definitions. You don’t actually have a body, you interpret energy into a body. If you can say it is anything at all, everything perceived would a “cloud” of energy frequencies and make it feel, appear, and hear like a world of people and circumstances.
With An Open-mind
The reality of this world, this body, and this personality is all an illusion and does not exist in the way it appears. On the surface, it seems as if it truly is physical and has consistency, but anyone who has remotely attempted to observe it as it is can recognize, like an ice cube, that there are collections and clusters due to its conditions, which appear to be something they are not. It is only through these layers that it is possible for perspective to recognize that the deeper you go, the less you exist. While mostly due to the spaciousness in contrast to its currently perceived density, each layer reveals how it’s been produced and sourced by concepts in the pursuit of a seemingly permanent and willful experience as individuals.
The concept referred to as “suffering” is perceived very differently on every layer, as well as the association with a “self.” While the source of what we know as existence could be said to have a “will” to be, even such associations with “free will“ are much different when compared to a neutral essence exceeding definitions. While we use Christian terminology and refer to this essence as “God,” it is not related to the world’s definitions of a sentient being. Easily anthropomorphized in order to relate from our perspective, our source is the complete, unchanging, eternal essence of all existence.
While it does have perception and some sort of ”will,” in each layer reality is there, revealing fewer definitions and constructs, which make it into such formations. You do perceive, but this does not mean that you are what you perceive. While the total essence of what you are is everything, what you have made it appear as is not your definition, but rather they are your definitions.
Within the first layer of existence, the first “clustering” was an arising of “awareness” or “perception,” which required something to perceive. The next layer arose as a development of “will,” which has brought about associations to develop definitions. It was after that, that many layers were developed in order to make it appear to become a sentient being, which furthermore aroused additional layers producing physical states, conscious selves, and personalities, including many layers of which we are unaware.
While everything is an arising and falling of constructs, seeming real only to dissolve away, there is a reality that makes this possible. While far beyond any definition it brings into fruition, there is something real beyond all the unreal formations. We often refer to this development as the “image of God,” which is a phenomenon that appears to give structure to what cannot have structure. Everything that seems to be appears that way because of the definitions within the consciousness and will of the perceiver. Of course, remember the conscious self is also an illusionary construct that it desired to appear as. The reality of “Consciousness” is a combination of this “awareness” and a rudimentary form of “will,” not free and apart from the universe, but the will of the universe.
It is this “will” that manifests as every additional layer. We often refer to a large amount of these, which together distort reality far enough to appear as new places and aspects, as “dimensions.” Much like this conscious self/personality is an additional dimension to the physical/sentient body, so too is that body an additional dimension to the energetic forces that construct it. It is all impermanent as these layers are, but the essence from which it all arises is not. This essence has been called by many names and goes by every name. It is not something that can be understood, for in its true essence it cannot be defined, or else it appears to be these additional layers, which it is not. It can only be experienced, a recollection of where all has transpired from and dissolved back into. Only it can be said to be our true reality.
How We Unite
Siddhartha understood that our true reality could not be taught, but could only be experienced. It is not by our conscious self that it is experienced, but by eliminating or perceiving beneath each layer that seems to be starting with this self. Being familiar with the experience, I assure you it is the only place where we are all the same. Like the trunk of a tree before it branches out, we all derive from this source essence. Regardless of who one is, whether creature, human, or deity, we all manifest from the same source.
If we are to experience this essence, we are to experience all existence's source. To recall its truth is to remember all of existence's experiences, a collapsing of time and space within the essence. Regardless of what the truth might be, it currently decides to appear as you. It currently reveals itself in whatever formation you believe yourself to be, giving you purpose and meaning. Regardless of whether you have defined the meaning, it is who you are that defines what is meaningful which is important.
How It’s True
“Nirvana“ is the natural state of our essence. It can fill every layer of your being with “joy” when that layer is perceived without definitions. It can be said that it is the intention of the original “will” of this essence. What could be defined as “love” and “bliss” and every wonderful sensation. Merely approaching it obliterates any concept of individuality. It feels as if you are being ripped apart and dissolved away by the pure essence of absolute “joy,” where everything comes together and everything is complete. It is the only experience that answers all questions and reveals all truths. It is the only reason we read and search for truth at all. It is the motivating factor of everything we do. A deep part of everyone remembers and craves to return to it, yet our many distortions and layers have confused our awareness on how to find it. I assure you, for the dedicated and determined to look within, it is found, for I confirm with you, it is there.
“Why They Are Right” (book series)
By Rev. Devan Jesse Byrne
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The author of The Statutes Of The Divinely Realized the essence of Undefinable and Expansive, here to coach spiritual people to discover their multidimensional reality beyond the veil.
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