Core tenet of Buddhism
Liberation is available in this life.
Nirvana is not a place but an extinguishing — the end of the fires of greed, hatred, delusion.
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held
Nibbana is not a heaven entered at death; the tradition insists it was realized by the Buddha at thirty-five and by students of his in this very life. The arhat — one in whom the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion have gone out — remains walking around, teaching, eating, aging. Liberation is a change in the person, not a change of address.
From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited
All conditioned things are subject to decay. Strive on with diligence.
Mahaparinibbana Sutta — DN 16Reported as the Buddha's final words.
The same ground, other faiths
claims that share this one's ideas
Every soul is already omniscient.
Jainism
Go deeper →
Liberation happens while you are alive.
Sikhism
Go deeper →
Knowledge liberates.
Advaita Vedānta
Go deeper →
The arhat completes the path.
Theravāda
Go deeper →
The twenty-two years were a classroom.
Heaven's Gate · story
Read it in full →
Liberation can be engineered.
Aum Shinrikyo
Go deeper →
Sign in to open the first thread. Everything here is attributed.