Nirvana is not Heaven. Nirvana is a state of mind. It means the destruction of greed, hatred and delusion in oneself. That also means the perfection of virtue, equanimity and wisdom; which will bring a more superior form of happiness to oneself; one cannot feel that kind of happiness if he/she only knows the theory but not really practicing abandonment of greed, hatred and delusion. One can reach the state of Nirvana in this very life by walking the Noble Eightfold Path; it is not an afterlife thing. One who has reached Nirvana is called an Arahant, the highest level Arya-hood. He/she will never be reborn again after this lifetime. The best existence is non-existence in terms of having eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind to take care of. After the breaking up of the body, an Arahant will not be reborn in either Heaven, human realm, ghost realm, animal realm, or Hell. The spokes of the wheel of rebirth are broken and the Arahant escapes the cycle of Samsara once and for all.
Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to Why is Nirvana in Buddhism a good thing?
The best vehicle which one can use to achieve Nirvana is the pre-sectarian Buddhism. It is the original Buddhism to have existed before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. The contents and teachings of this pre-sectarian Buddhism must be deduced or re-constructed from the earliest Buddhist texts (EBT). The most widely studied EBT material are the first four Pali Nikayas, namely Digha Nikaya, Majjhima Nikāya, Samyutta Nikāya, and Aṅguttara Nikāya.
Various scholars of Buddhist studies such as Richard Gombrich, Akira Hirakawa, Alexander Wynne and A. K. Warder hold that Early Buddhist texts contain material that could possibly be traced to the historical Buddha himself or at least to the early years of pre-sectarian Buddhism. According to the Japanese scholar Akira Hirakawa, “any attempt to ascertain the original teachings of the historical Buddha must be based on this literature.”
Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to Which type of Buddhism is closest to what the Buddha actually taught?
Pre-sectarian Buddhism – Wikipedia.
Early Buddhist texts – Wikipedia
Boon Kuan Chung’s answer to What Buddhist philosophical text do you recommend?
Theravada (“School of the Elders”) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism’s oldest existing school. The school’s adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of Gautama Buddha’s teaching or Dhamma in the Pāli Canon. Theravada monks are expected to train diligently and ardently so that they achieve Nirvana in this lifetime as much as possible. If the egg doesn’t hatch in this lifetime, they believe the training and self-cultivation may be continued in the next life. They are taught to have no clinging to sensual pleasure, existence, as well as non-existence. They will strive hard but at the same time be patient in walking the Noble Eightfold path at a suitable pace. Theravada monks also teach the Dhamma to young monks and lay followers for self-liberation from suffering. Theravada monks are not selfish but praiseworthy to be concerned about their own welfare (in achieving Nirvana) as well as the welfare of others.
Mahayana generally believe it is more important to remain in Saṃsara and help others. Therefore, it teaches monks to postpone their awakening. In other words, Mahayana monks will not achieve Nirvana or cessation of greed, hatred and delusion. The slow progress to achieve Nirvana could take aeons and in the meantime they will be helping countless beings.
‘Those who teach a doctrine other than this are lacking in purity, imperfect.’ That’s what the many sectarians say, for they’re smitten with passion for their own views. ‘Only here is there purity, in no other doctrine is purity,’ that’s what they say. That’s how the many sectarians are entrenched, speaking firmly there concerning their own path. Speaking firmly concerning your own path, what opponent here would you take as a fool? You’d simply bring quarrels on yourself if you said your opponent’s a fool. Taking a stance on your decisions, and yourself as your measure (执于我), you dispute further down into the world. But one who’s abandoned all decisions (is nonpartisan and has no attachment to either views) quarrels no more. — Sutta Nipata KN 4.12
Buddha said: “Just as a stick from a funeral pyre, burning at both ends and smeared with dung in the middle, can serve no useful purpose as fuel in the village or as timber in the forest – using such a simile do I speak of the person who is concerned neither with his own good nor the good of others. The person who is concerned with the good of others but not his own is more excellent and higher than this. The person who is concerned with his own good but not the good of others is more excellent and higher still. And he who is concerned with both his own good and the good of others – he is of the four persons the chief, the best, the topmost, the highest, the supreme.” A person who is not concerned with his own good is either the worst or second worst of the four types of persons. He cannot be trusted even if he is only concerned with the good of others; because he is either pretending to be selfless (but actually evil) or he is insane (due to years of brainwashing by religious doctrines). A person who pretends to be selfless is more dangerous than a person who is concerned only with his own good; because there is evil selfishness hiding behind the fake selflessness. A person who is concerned only with his own good doesn’t deserve to have a good friend; he only deserves to have a friend similar to himself who is not concerned with the good of others. In the end, he may have to live alone in isolation.
The Buddha teaches monks to cultivate the Four Sublime States of Loving-kindness (metta); Compassion (karuna); Sympathetic Joy (mudita); and Equanimity (upekkha). Helping others is strongly encouraged. However, one is discouraged to sacrifice himself for others. Preaching self-sacrifice will only bring more suffering to oneself and others. It is a form of attachment or clinging. They will do disservice to their followers; like blind leading the blind, or like a person sinking into a cesspool trying to save another person to get out of the cesspool. One is out of the cesspool when he cultivates himself to abandon greed, hatred and delusion and attain wholesome virtue, equanimity and wisdom. Without any attainment, i.e. one has no personal and direct knowledge on the way leading to cessation of suffering (except the faith in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha), he may wrongly teach the followers and inadvertently bring more suffering to everybody instead.
RESILIENT KID 