About
What is Nibbana (Nirvana)?
The purpose of this site is to promote the interest in Buddhist philosophy in the Russian-speaking world. Here, the focus is on the study and analysis of Nibbāna (Skr. Nirvāna), the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice, as it is discussed in the Pali Canon, the oldest collection of Gotama Buddha’s teachings. The theme of Nibbāna has often been undeservingly neglected because of its deep and ineffable nature. Most people believe that the only way to understand Nirvana is to realize it, therefore, until then all talks about Nibbāna are fruitless. This stance brought up many confused theories about what Nibbāna is and it is not.
Douglas M. Burns in the introduction to his book “Nirvana, Nihilism, and Satori” presented the above problem thus: “It has been said and probably correct, that Buddhism is the least understood and most misunderstood of all major religions. To whatever extent this is true of Buddhist doctrine in general, it is doubtly true of the goal towards which that doctrine is described, Nirvana.”
“Nirvāna has been variously explained as Oneness with God, Cosmic Consciousness, deep trance, self-annihilation, Pure Being, nonexistence, regression to intrauterine life, and a psychedelic ecstasy. Yet none of these explanations agree with the accounts given by Buddha and the others who have realized it. Not only are we confronted with the problem of what Nirvāna, but arising from this consideration are a number of other important questions such as, “Is Nirvana really attainable, and if so, is it worth the effort? Just how is it attained, and has anyone in recent history done so? Must we have faith to realize what is yet unknown to us? Is it a selfish goal or an escapist one?”
We hope that the materials presented here will provide answers to these questions.
With Nibbāna as its primary interest the site’s materials also cover other aspects of Buddhism: philosophy, meditation, symbolism, countries, even criticism of Buddhism.
We appreciate the work of everybody who wrote, translated, and published the materials presented here. Most of the articles are translations from English into Russian; the originals are available from the following Buddhist sources:
www.accesstoinsight.com
www.beyondthenet.net
www.dhammadana.org
May these materials richly benefit their readers!
Sukkhi hotu,
Be happy and well!
Cosmique
