Nirodha and Nibbana

Nirodha

• 'The cessation of suffering'
• Literally means 'quenching' or 'blowing out'
• The causes of suffering lie in the 5 skandha, tanha and ignorance
• The arising of suffering is outlined in the Paticca Samupadda, the chain of dependent origination
• Dukkha is the outcome of a process which starts with ignorance and concludes with death and rebirth
• When a person frees themselves from ignorance and sees into the causes of dukkha, the whole cycle of dependent origination goes into reverse with wisdom, joy and peace of mind as a result
• A person who has attained this stage is awakened to the truth or enlightened ie free from dukkha
• Nirodha literally means cessation and refers to the stopping of tanha
• It is the relinquishing of desires and refers to someone who is free from dukkha and the three mental poisons.  It is like blowing out a candle

Nibbana

• It is a state beyond ordinary human experience and is ineffable (indescribable)
• Buddhists do try to say something about nibbana, as even though language is deceptive, we cannot do without it
• Buddhists avoid saying anything positive about it as when we do this a person forms a mental image of it, they have limited what cannot be…