We are beings that have come from NIRVANA – a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of KARMA – the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences and SAMSARA – the cycle of death and rebirth and will return to NIRVANA. In other words, it is the ability to remove our attachment to our lives is called, “Non-self”.
By Sanjoo Thangjam
Everything in this world changes. Yet, we always believe that we will not change. What we believe will not change and what we do not believe will change and this is the cause of our suffering.
In our minds, we always view ourselves as young, not old and that we will never die. But in reality, we really do not know if there will be a tomorrow. We also believe, in our minds that there is no death for us and we will not grow old, but our bodies age day by day and every time we celebrate a birthday, we are one step closer to our deaths. If we are able to recognize the reality as it is and view aging as a natural process, we will, on the contrary, feel calm and peaceful.
In other words, if we are able to accept reality as it is and remove our delusions of ourselves, we can readily accept old age, illnesses and death. This is realizing the impermanence of life. We need to see non-attachment as attachment. By holding onto our delusions, this will be a source of our suffering. It is a fundamental condition for human existence to recognize the uncertainty of reality.
Human beings live in the world of change and uncertainty or continuous life. When we live in a new world, this world can be viewed as our suffering. This deep attachment is called the “self”.
We are “drifters”, minds or selves, which we have a deep attachment of. This is how the world of suffering is created. There is nothing we can think of as non-self, and everything occurs in relation to each other and everything is affected by the conditions such as chance, turning points (of life and death) – everything functions in cause and effect. Therefore, if we realize one’s true self, then we are able to understand the reason for human existence. On the other hand, when we cannot see this, this is called ignorance.
Therefore, if we make our lives as our possession, then it becomes the source of our suffering, the same as our birth begins outside of our realm of self and in this way, death will also occur outside the realm of our self.
Birth and death are not emotion. We think that we can do something or in other words, control our lives. The gap between our delusion and reality is the source of our suffering. We can calmly accept our lives when we understand that our lives are not ours but something that has been given to us.
We are beings that have come from NIRVANA – a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of KARMA – the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences and SAMSARA – the cycle of death and rebirth and will return to NIRVANA. In other words, it is the ability to remove our attachment to our lives is called, “Non-self”.
By understanding the impermanence and the non-self, nirvana can be attained and thus, we can enter its world – the world of Nirvana. In other words, we are released from our little world and come into the world of Nirvana where we are able to rather can self-reflect ourselves.
This is how, from the perspective of Nirvana, the philosophy has, in any time period, been able to function in any society.
(The writer is a columnist based in Imphal)