nirvana & meditation

Let me see if I've got this straight . By the way I'm sorry till you captured the benefit of meditation really well .

So nirvana . Well we've talked about how meditation can switch thoughts off and how then the mind becomes a tool rather than the controlling force .

How we get in touch with our true selves . The health benefits .

Nirvana . So what exactly is the whole nirvana thing about .

I think people are saying that until they reach nirvana they won't truly be in touch with the nature of reality ?

You guys that feel you have an idea of what nirvana is .

Do you know people that have achieved it ? Tolle is one of these guys ?

Does a person upon achieving nirvana radically change how they behave or is it more a case of their outlook only changing ?

Tolle I read sat on a park bench experiencing bliss for a few years . Doesn't sound terribly productive to me but then maybe I'm missing the point .

Is there a point to nirvana ?

Does it serve the greater community ? Or is it just about personal happiness ?

Certainly there are some beautifully charitable people in this world but they aren't enlightened are they ?

Does experiencing nirvana make you a kind person ?

wow Tom you got the first points right, I am impressed my friend 

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Thank you till .
I read the whole thread and I was amazed . I kept asking the same question and you kept answering and I just couldn't believe I hadn't seen that.

Nikprit I'll read . Too lazy is right but you've motivated me .
I still prefer the personal experience of hearing the views of the contributors though .

Anyway thanks and I'll let you know what I think .

Thank you .
Free from desire , aversion , delusion . Beautiful . Love blowing out the candle .

What's all this about avoiding rebirth ?

Is nirvana more than an experience then or do only some people believe that ?

I think the avoidance of rebirth has something to do with not getting caught in the cycle of a forum. 

Right . But do you believe your meditation has anything to do with rebirth or not ?

No pain no gain.

Rebirth of what?

Well so I took nikprit's advice and read about nirvana .

There seemed to be two parts .

Firstly freedom from delusion , desire and aversion . Beautiful !

Secondly an end to karma and the soul being reborn into another vehicle .

So what I'm saying is do you have to believe in reincarnation to accept that nirvana exists or not ?

It seemed though that various theologies viewed nirvana as a potential and I'd guess not all believe in reincarnation .

Anyway what I wonder is you guys that know about meditation , do you see it and nirvana as being related absolutely to reincarnation or not ?

If you haven't said it a thousand times you haven't said it once.

'I am not, I will not be. 
I have not, I will not have. 
This frightens all children, 
And kills fear in the wise.' 
Nagarjuna

CONVENTIONAL AND ULTIMATE WISDOM

Although Albert Einstein was certainly not a Buddhist, these statements sound much like it:

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'universe', a part limited in time and space. 
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest 
- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. 
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affectation for a few people near us. 
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion 
to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

From Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh:

"Enlightenment for a wave in the ocean is the moment the wave realises that it is water."

Says the lama to his pupil: "Do you understand that you don't really exist?"
Upon which the pupil replies: "Whom are you telling that?

nice

I know !

  It's one thing to deadlock someone's statement and quite another to see the truth of that statement.

  More like, no pain no gain, but no loss either!!

  No sir. It's not about becoming calmer and calmer, not about control and practice, not about gradual change.

  Calmness doesn't come if noise hasn't been understood. Noise is your whole life, the whole circus of one's life, all the suffering, the fear, the insecurities, the projections born out of that, all of it.

  If that is not understood as a whole, practice all you wish, the noise and suffering will still be there, for what is not understood never goes away.

  If you are, then suffering is there.

 

  Meditation has no purpose.

Troy what the hell are you talking about all the time? I think like noone here ever gets your point. Even though my English is far from being perfect I at least try to formulate my point in a way that everyone can understand it.