Appreciation of Nibbāna

revised on 2019-08-12

---

Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw; 18th and 19th August 1961

A lot of people are talking and wanting Nibbāna. In reality not many appreciate it. They like it by hearing from others. Not appreciation of Nibbāna becomes view of annihilation (uccheda diṭṭhi). The reason is talking as nothing exists.

After death nothing is happening and so people do not like it. Some know that it is happiness. But they do not know what happiness is like. Therefore their appreciation is speculation and without reason and not reach toward the point. Saying with nothing happening, then there is no connection of cause and effect. I am solving the problem for you.

People do not know about it is ignorance. After death nothing happen is uccheda. You will not want it if you do not know about it. You do not want to do it if nothing happening. You will see Nibbāna after uncovering wrong view and ignorance. Diṭṭhi niradho nibbānaṁ-vijjā udapati — cessation of wrong view is Nibbāna-Knowledge arises.

The five khandha are like fuels and the ten defilements are like fire. These are together with the worldlings. Our processes are becoming clear. Dukkha and Samudaya are going together. We are taking the fuels and fire together as the good results for our human life. Some mentioned American millionaires and wanted to be like them. (Here Sayadaw mentioned American millionaire Rockefeller of his time).

It is burning with cold fire to get fortunes and become happy with it. (Sayadaw compared the two fire elements, cold and hot, to the two opposite hells, i.e., cold hell — lokantarika and hot hell — lohakumbhī. Both of them have the tormented results). Getting the life of a devata is the corpse of a devata (asubha).

So do not think it as good. Their forms are like smokes and easy to burn down. (So devata dies and instantly disappears.)

With a good demonstration about them and people become no desire for it. The Buddha and Ven. Sāriputta talked with examples and similes. The khandha is always burning with fire. So Nibbāna is khandha fuels finished and kilesa fire extinguished. Therefore Nibbāna is pure happiness.

All 31 realms of existence are fuels and fire going together. Nibbāna exits, it is true that fuels and fire are extinct there. You appreciate Nibbāna because you know the khandha as dukkha. If not you’ll not like Nibbāna. People take kilesa as sukha. Take the fire as happiness. It’s like the insects taking the fire as gold and approaching it. People are truly like the crazy worldlings.

Some burning with the sorrow of fire and become without any clothes (e.g., see the story of Theri Patācārā, DhA. ii. 260ff). The heart is too hot and has to drink water. Some commit suicide. You can’t live without any heat. So you have it. For example, you take out a worm from the toilet with a stick and clean it with water. It wants to go back into the toilet. You all are also the same. Without them and it’s boring for you. It is the fire of dosa (displeasure). By knowing the extinction of fuels and fire, ignorance ceases. Uccheda falls away by knowing Nibbāna exists . You have to practice after with the intellectual knowing.

Wrong view is the most fearful dhamma. Before you perform and practice dāna and sīla, first have to clear away your mind of the three wrong views (i.e., sakkāya, sassata and uccheda views). As a Buddhist you have wrong view but thinking yourself as you don’t have it. And this is very bad indeed. You go and ask practitioners, “What is Nibbāna?” If they answer we don’t know. Then ignorance is influencing on them.

Even people have general knowledge about it and answer you that after the mind/body cease and nothing exists. This is answering with uccheda view. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know normally about it. But knowing with uccheda view is terrible. Most of you came from hells (Don’t forget what the Buddha said that our permanent homes were the four planes of misery).

When you were suffering in hells, made the resolution of after freeing from the hells and came to human world must do the works of ending dukkha. And after arriving here, you are deceiving by the surroundings and doing a lot of harm to yourselves. Nibbāna has the characteristic of peacefulness.

The khandhas fuels and kilesa fire are extinct from it. In talking about Nibbāna, we can only appreciate it by thoroughly understanding the truth of dukkha. It is not appreciation of dukkha that without any appreciation of Nibbāna.

(Sayadaw continued to explain the vipassanā process) At the time of discerning anicca yogi knows that fuels and fires are going together. It’s going on until the knowledge of disenchantment. After the ending of anicca dukkha sacca and experiences the peaceful place.

Nibbāna really exists that yogis are knowing the existence of peacefulness. This is the extinction of khandhas fuels and kilesa fire. That khandhas continued arising is the continuous arising of vipāka vaṭṭa khandhas. (Khandhas are the result of kamma for the round of existence.

Fuels (khandhas) and fire (kilesa) are burning and disappearing, burning and disappearing etc. These are anicca khandhas continuously arising and vanishing phenomena. By knowing these dhammas the doors to the planes of misery are closed for next life. (This is discerning anicca only).

---

revised on 2019-08-12; cited from https://oba.org.tw/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4084&p=35750#p35750 (posted on 2019-01-14)

---

• Content of Part 6 on "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

---

• Content of "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

---

• Content of Publications of Ven. Uttamo

---

According to the translator— Ven. Uttamo's words, this is strictly for free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma—Dhamma Dāna. You may re-format, reprint, translate, and redistribute this work in any medium.