Nirvana (Nibbana).. End of The Sansara Circle

As we discussed about the endless Sansara circle there is a way to get out of it. Break this circle to stop rebirth means attain Nirvana (Also called Nibbana). It is the ultimate goal of a person as a Buddhist. Breaking the Sansara circle is not an easy thing. It requires lot of efforts, dedication and real understand-ability of the Sansara. You have to practice the ten Paramitha (Kind of practices. Let's have a look into this later) through this Sansara to stop your desires. Because, path to Nibbana means you try to stop desires, anger and delusion on your own. Lord Buddha has showed us the path and practices to reach to Nirvana. All core teachings and deep Buddhism is about to attain Nibbana.

There are four steps in this Nirvana path.

1. Sovan 

If a person improve his mind to this state in the Nirvana path and if he couldn't go ahead with other three steps and died, then that person will definitely attain Nibbana within his next 7 rebirths. There is even a guarantee that he won't birth in four hell s ( see here) ever. For attain Sovan state you have to realize deeply and should have a right vision about your desires, anger and delusion.You have to remove your suspicion about the Buddha and his teachings completely and should have clear understanding about the four noble truth (Core teachings of the Buddha). That's mean you have to remove your delusion completely.

2. Sakrudagami

This is the second state of the Nirvana path. For attain Sakrudagami you have to remove half of your desires and anger. Sakrudagami person has only one birth in human world or in six heavens, if he couldn't go ahead with other two steps before his death. After that birth then he will birth in Brahma world and will attain Nibbana.

3. Anagami

This is the third step. You have to remove other half of  your desires and anger. Anagami person has only one birth if he died before step into the last step and he will birth only in Awiha, Athappaya, Sudassaya, Sudassiya, Akanittaya Brahma worlds and then will attain Nibbana.

4. Arahath 

This is the last step. You have to break every links to this Sansara to attain Arahath. You have to remove your desires, anger and delusion completely and which breaks your every links  with the Sansara circle. And that person has no more rebirth and it is called the Nibbana.

Places To Birth In The Sansara

In this Sansara there are unlimited places which we can get a birth. There are vast spaces called Chakkawala.  Chakkawala  is an area which gets lightened by a same sun and a same moon. There are unlimited Chakkawala in this endless universe. In a one Chakkawala there are 31 separate worlds which living beings can get their births. We can see some of them with human eyes and others, we can not. Because some of them exists in other dimensions which human eyes are not sensitive.

If a Chakkawala  has births of  the Buddhas, such Chakkawala is called as Magul Chakkawala (Meaning good/lucky Chakkwala). There can be unlimited Chakkawala which never got or won't get the births of the Buddhas ever (not even a single birth of any Buddha).

Lets see what are these 31 places in a one Chakkawala.(Below places are ordered from the worst place to the best place)

• The hell 
• Animal world
• Pretha world
• Asura world
• Human world
• 6 Heavens
• 20 Brahma worlds

All the births are related with our Karma. Simply, what you are doing in the present will decide your next birth in one of these worlds.

Note that I have mentioned some lifespans for each worlds. But these numbers can be vary according to the Karma of a person or  the time we live. As an example, in the Gauthama Buddhas time, the lifespan of the human is 120 years and before him it was more than that.now it has reduced. According to the Buddha, human lifespan is going to decrease from 120 to 10 years in the future and it will again increase to 10,000 years and at that time there will be an another Buddha called Mithree.

Below are some measurement I have used in here.

Yodun = Measure of  the distance. There are many explanation for this measurement which existed in Buddhas time.Some say it is the distance of a strong archer can shoot an arrow. Some say it is a 1 mile or less.Some say it is 16 miles.There is no exact explanation for this.

Kalpa = Very Long time period (Lets say there is a stone with 1 square Yodun , and someone is going to rub it with a soft cloth once in every 100 years. The depreciation time of that stone is even less than a Kalpa.So it is very huge time period which we can not imagine).

Anthak Kalpa = The time duration between one Buddha to an another Buddha.(Very long time period)
Asankya Kalpa = 64 x Anthak Kalpa
Maha Kalpa = 4 x Asankya Kalpa

The Hell (Niraya)

There are lot of descriptions about the hell in every religions. According to  the Buddhism the hell is the painful and most dangerous place which we can get birth. This world is filled with the pain and the sorrow only. The living beings in there do not die from the pain and when they die then they birth again and again to feel that unlimited pain. The bad Karma of the living beings will bring them  into the hell. The life span is very long for the living beings in the hell. There are main 8 hell s. Following are the 8 hell s and their lifespan with human years.

• Sanjiwaya (162,000,000,000)
• Kala Suthraya (1,296,000,000,000)
• Sanghathaya (10,368,000,000,000)
• Rourawaya (82,944,000,000,000)
• Maha Rourawaya (663,552,000,000,000)
• Thapaya (5,308,416,000,000,000)
• Maha Thapaya (1/2 Anthak Kalpa )
• Awichiya (The worst hell or the worst place to birth in a Chakkawala) (1 Anthak Kalpa )

Each  hell has 16 sub hell s(Called Osupath Nira) around them(4 for one side). Therefore all together (16 x 8 + 8 = ) 136 hell s we can get birth.

There are another hell s except above 136 hells. Few of them are

• Lokantharika Niraya - The place which meet 3 Chakkawala together. This is a very cold hell which can not bear to anyone.
• Wetharani - A hell like a river
• Lokumbu Niraya - A Small hell
• Koat Imbli - A hell like a thorns tree 

Animal World

This is the world of animals and anyone can get birth as an animal. They are around us and always have to live with the fear for the death or hungry or both of them. There is no exact land or dimension for the animal world. Animals exist even in the lower heaves, Asura worlds or Pretha worlds.

Pretha World

It is kind of ghosts or spirits which suffer from the lot of pain (like endless hungry, endless vast pain in the body, burn in fire always..eating mucus or stools. .etc). They have long life span(like a Kalpa) or short life spans according to their Karma. There are 4 types of them.

• Paradathdupajiwi
• Buppipasaka
• Nijagngnamakanhitha
• Kalakgnjika

Asura World

Asura world living beings can be vary. Some are like devils and some are like semi gods. They live with the ocean but in a separate dimension. Some are powerful. Some are not.They had a war with the heavens even in the past.There are 5 types of them,

• Dewa Asura
• Winipathika Asura
• Wemanika Asura
• Lokantharika Aura
• Pretha Asura

Human World

It is us. One Chakkawala has only one human world. In this Chakkawala it is us.

Heaven (Dewa)

Buddha has told about the existence of the gods clearly. There are 6 heavens we can get birth. This places are filled with luxury and prosperity. Each heaven has unique luxury different from others. The gods have long life spans.Your good Karma brings you into these heavens. The closest heaven to the human world is Chathurmaharajikaya and it exists 42,000 yodun away and above us.

Below are the 6 heavens and their life spans with human years and they exist 42,000 yodun away and above from each others in following order.

• Chathurmaharajikaya (9,000,000)
• Thawathinsaya  (36,000,000)
• Yamaya (144,000,000)
• Thusithaya (576,000,000)
• Nirmanarathiya (2,304,000,000)
• Paranirmitha Wasawarthiya (9,216,000,000)

Mighty gods with mighty Karma live in these heavens. But there are minor Karma gods who live around us. Like on a tree. in a mountain etc..

Brahma World

If we get Dyana (kind of steady states of  the mind) from the meditation or mind concentration and we die with them, then we will birth in the Brahma worlds. The life spans of a person in there are the longest among the all the worlds in a Chakkawala. There are 20 Brahma worlds and closest one to the human world is Brahma Parisajja and it exist 5,508,000 yodun away and above to the Paranirmitha Wasawarthiya(The last heaven).

Below are the all Brahma worlds.

• Brahma Parisajja ( 1/3 Asankya Kalpa )
• Brahma Purohitha ( 1/2 Asankya Kalpa)
• Maha Brahma ( 1 Asankya Kalpa )
• Pariththaha ( 2 Maha Kalpa)
• Appamanaha ( 4 Maha Kalpa )
• Abhassara ( 8 Maha Kalpa)
• Pariththa Subha ( 16 Maha Kalpa )
• Appamana Subha ( 32 Maha Kalpa )
• Subhakinna ( 64 Maha Kalpa )
• Wehappalaya ( 500 Maha Kalpa )
• Asangnasaththaya ( 500 Maha Kalpa )
• Awiha ( 1000 Maha Kalpa )
• Athappaya ( 2000 Maha Kalpa )
• Sudassaya ( 4000 Maha Kalpa )
• Sudassiya ( 8000 Maha Kalpa )
• Akanitthaya ( 16000 Maha Kalpa )

Living beings in following Brahma worlds have only the mind(consciousness). There is no physical body for a person who lives in them.

• Akasanagnchayathana ( 20000 Maha Kalpa )
• Wigngnanagnchayathana (  40000 Maha Kalpa)
• Akignchagngnayathana ( 60000 Maha Kalpa )
• Newasagngna Nasagngnayathana ( 84000 Maha Kalpa )

Those are the 31 main places and other sub places we can get birth in a Chakkawala bunch. There are endless bunches like these through this universe. So we don't know what will be our next birth in this universe. That's why this Sansara is dangerous more than we think.

Among above worlds Niraya, Animal, Pretha, Asura are treated as the bad places to birth. if we gathered bad Karma we will be there. Normally above 4 are treated as four hell s in the Buddhism.

Human World is in the middle of this order and it is treated as a good place along with Dewa (gods) and Brahma.

Also human world and 6 heavens are called as Kama worlds.

As you can see that the Brahma world living beings have unimaginable lifespan. Therefore some can think that they are immortal gods. But they are not. After that time period they will again birth in an another place. It could be even in the hell.. That depends on their Karma.

Following is the sketch picture of a Chakkawala(Note that this shows the dimension related existence of the worlds and their gaps with each other)

Sansara..The Endless Circle.

Sansara... the main reason to the teachings of the Buddhism. What is it? It is an endless circle of birth,existence,getting old and destruction. Every living being go through this same circle again and again no matter human, animal even god, all should go with this circle. This is where the Buddhism focus on, instead of the god/s. Buddhism is to break this circle and stop rebirth. All the teachings of the Buddhas explain reason for this circle and how to break that circle.

In this Sansara circle you can be a human in one birth, you can be an animal in an another birth or you can be a god in one birth. There is no guarantee that your circle will be a human circle.It depends on your Karma(The things you are doing present will decide your next birth). No one controls it and it is the nature of this universe. This universe is endless and there are unlimited living being in there.All are subject to this circle. Even the universe is also subject to this circle. Creation, existence destruction and recreation is relevant to the universe.

How deep is this Sansara?

According to the Buddha, this Sansara is very deep and very dangerous and there are no start point or end point for it unless you attain Nibbana(Lets talk about it later). It is like a circle.There is no start point or end point for a circle.So we don't know how much lives we spent and how much lives we have to spend in this circle. 

Once the Buddha said that the amount of the tears of a single person which came from his eyes due to the deaths of only for his mothers in every lives in this Sansara is huge more than whole the oceans in the earth.So can you believe how deep is this circle? And also lets have a look into your dog. Can you believe that, before this life,your dog had become your mother, father, brother, sister, friend for unlimited times in this Sansara.Now it is just a puppy for you. But he had become a king for unlimited times in this Sansara for unlimited kingdoms.And you will going to be a puppy of your dog in countless time for next births.So how furious this Sansara?You can't get rid of it, if you don't try to break this circle.

This earth,Solar system will die in future. But again there will be a new earth new solar system. we have no place to hide from this. At the current moment our solar system is not the only system which has the life. There are unlimited solar systems in this universe with life and all are subject to this Sansara.So no escape or no super powers to avoid that. Only you can break that circle on your own.

Come and See The Buddhism...

Buddhism..!!! What is it? Why it is different from other religions? Lets talk about it. Let's have a look into the actual nature of this universe. As a Buddhist i wanted to share the knowledge which we have about the Buddhism.So this blog is for the people who actually want to explore the wisdom and the real universe nature.This is not an another religious promoting campaign. What I want is to share what we know as the Buddhists.You can talk about what I'm saying in this blog and you can even criticize if you are not agree with what i'm saying. I'm also exploring about this precious knowledge and I have my own questions about some areas. lets share what we know with each other.So I welcome all of your ideas.

I named after this blog with a saying of the Lord Buddha.It is,

Ehi Passiko (Come and see)

Lord Buddha invited to the whole world to come and see the Buddhism.  Because Buddhism is very deep knowledge base.Buddha asked world to question it before accept his teachings.because he didn't need blind followers.he wanted to people understand what he realized and make their salvation on their own. It can be realized by only the intelligent people. If you can understand it, you can break the link between the life and death. Lets talk about all these later.

As the Buddhists we believe that whole universe has endless life and death circle.and we suffer from it without even knowing the deep of it. Birth of a Buddha is a rare incident and being a human in a such a time is a luck.So its our responsibility to share the knowledge which we have, to the people who are looking for the real truth of this life.

There are two Buddhism teachings in this world called Theravada and Mahayan. We believe that the real teachings of the Buddha is with the Theravada Buddhism. I'm going to share the Theravada Buddhism in here.Buddha's language was "Pali" which is a dead language in the future.But Pali was a common ancestor for the lot of languages in the present.My mother tongue is Sinhala and which is a one of  a grand child of Pali. I'm not a master in English. But i'll try to convert Pali and Sinhala teachings to the English as I can. Please forgive me for my bad grammar mistakes in this blog.

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

-Albert Einstein-

"Among the founders of all religions in this world, I respect only one man — the Buddha. The main reason was that the Buddha did not make statements regarding the origin of the world. The Buddha was the only teacher who realized the true nature of the world." 

-Bertrand Russell-