Nirvana is a state of mind
The average Central European usually has little contact with the teachings of the teacher of all teachers, however the word "Nirvana" has entered the vernacular. Mostly it is used "wrongly", but since the knowledge of Buddhism is sketchy at best, this is not even noticed. I send you to "Nirvana", which stands for the great unknown land where I wish the people who "get on my nerves" to go. So I wish you into nothingness, so the misleading usage.
But what is nirvana? How do we get to this said land, and where does the term even come from?
Generally, the term nirvana is used to describe the exit from the cycle of suffering (the rebirths) through "enlightenment" (following the example of Buddha). However, there are quite different views, so also the comprehension of the circumstances associated with existence is equated with nirvana.
In contrast to the Western view of paradise after death, however, nirvana is not the place where milk and honey flow, but can be achieved already in life, because nirvana is a simple state of mind. According to Buddha, it is entirely up to us how we "feel", whether we are happy or not. In any case, if we firmly believe in the concept of cause and effect, then we are on the right path, towards "enlightenment" and nirvana.
The three characteristics of existence are quickly recognized, for all life is impermanent, corporeal, and empty, so that the seeker, through neutral contemplation of these characteristics, combined with the general detachment (cessation of attachments) associated with them, then opens the doorless gateway toward Nirvana.
The attainment of Nirvana is often also equated as a "break with the world", since "enlightened people" pay almost no more attention to conventions, since they have seen the true connections. Here one speaks now also of the entrance into the stream. It is precisely this peculiarity that makes the rendering of Buddhist teachings so difficult, since the stream-entered person can now often live completely self-sufficiently, no longer dependent on the systems of society. But then he also does not pass on the teaching, because he has reached the realization of nirvana, has left the lower realms of incarnation.
For me personally, however, nirvana is a state of mind that comes to those people who have chosen a life of peace and happiness (and believe me, it is a choice, a conscious decision). Whether or not "enlightenment" can then be achieved in a further step, only time will tell.
Do you want to take this attitude of mind? Then the path is your goal!

Best gift is health; frugality is the sun of wealth, most faithful clan is trust, and nirvana is highest bliss.
- Buddha - "The Enlightened One" - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero

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