Imagine a man holding onto a chain attached to a stake in the ground. He has been circling around that stake for years, walking thousands of miles without going anywhere. There is an end to his imprisonment, which will enable him to live a better life: he...
The five higher fetters can actually be surprisingly subtle when operating at the level of someone getting close to full enlightenment. One story that illustrates this involves the last obstacles to full enlightenment for Anuruddha, one of the Buddha’s ten main...
The prospect of working towards full enlightenment can be very daunting. Fortunately, there is good news, and there is even better news. The good news is that the path towards full enlightenment can be broken down into four stages, and reaching stage one...
But wait, is there more to nirvana? Is nirvana simply extinguishing (of greed, hatred, delusion and all things uncool), or is nirvana also some reality? The ancient texts strongly suggest the latter. As the wave analogy in the last post suggests, the...
“I’m trying to extinguish his greed, hatred, and delusion.” First, it’s useful to know the literal meaning of the word nirvana. Nirvana literally means “going out”,[1] as in the extinguishing of a flame, so in that sense, nirvana means...
