Pathfinder: “Actually, this brings up another query I have: “Is there happiness in Nibbāna?”
Nibbana does not have anything that is associated with “this world of 31 realms.” Trees, water, mountains, or even thoughts or feelings (like happiness) are absent in Nibbana.
- It may be hard to grasp this initially. But the Buddha, with Paticca Samuppada, thoroughly explained that if any of those entities are present, they must come into existence due to root causes (greed, hate, ignorance) and conditions.
- Anything that comes into existence via root causes (greed, hate, ignorance) and conditions is impermanent (that is why any existence, including Deva or Brahma births, will not lead to “permanent removal of suffering”); but it is also more than impermanence (all such existence are of the anicca nature).
- “Nibbana sukha” is NOT a feeling. It is the absence of suffering. The closest analogy is the following: Suppose someone has had a chronic headache from birth. One day, it is cured, and he feels a great relief. That relief was not a new vedana but the absence of “dukkha vedana.”
See “Nibbāna “Exists”, but Not in This World”
- More posts in “Nibbāna.”