As described earlier, the present is not cut off from the past and the future. The present exists as the effect of the past and as the cause of the future. The present, as a whole, consisting of three sub moments, has to be the past and the future, not in the mode of identify, but in the mode of " neither the same nor difference " or " neither identify nor diversity ". The temporal continuity flows on till Nirvana is realized, as the consciousness of one who has attained Nirvana, is not reborn. Consciousness in Buddhism is not always a useless passion. There is time when passion or desire is eliminated from consciousness and thereby ceases to be the cause of suffering. Desire is eradicated when Nirvana is realized. The Buddha says :
" The extinction of desire is Nirvana. He who destroys desire overcomes all suffering.
As we know, desire is not an inherent component of consciousness, it is one of psychic factors. Desire, according to the law of Dependent Origination, is conditioned by feeling [ vetana ]. This feeling is threefold ; pleasant, unpleasant and indifferent, which tend to produce greed, hatred and delusion respectively. Thus we can say that greed, hatred and delusion are three forms in which desire manifests itself. This explains why at times, Nirvana is described in term of the destruction of greed, hatred and delusion. when consciousness is freed form greed, hatred and delusion, which are the roots of karma, consciousness becomes karmically inoperative [ kiriya - citta ]. It is no longer accumulated fresh karma - energy. Consciousness whose karma - energy is exhausted will not be reborn after death as the Buddhist knows :
" When an Arahant dies, his body is broken, perception is stopped, all feeling are cooled, mental formation are calm down, consciousness has come to an end."
It is said that, the Arahant's consciousness is not reborn because the cause of is rebirth has been destroyed. Through the cessation of ignorance, karma - formation ceases, through the cessation of consciousness, name - and - from ceases. Since consciousness is the effective medium of rebirth, the cessation of consciousness is the cessation of Samsara, the series of rebirth. Nirvana, therefore, is said to be the cessation of existence [ bhavanirodha ].
" Having attained Nirvana, the Arahant knows that finished is birth, lived is the religious life, what should be done is done, nothing more is left to be done. "
Now one question arises : If consciousness is not - self, then who realizes Nirvana ? We have shown earlier that there is no self as thinking behind the though, it is the though that think. In a similar, there is no self behind the realization of Nirvana, it is wisdom [panna ] that realizes Nirvana. When wisdom, which is one of the psychic factors, is developed by means of insight meditation, it sees the reality of things. When the reality is seen, the concept of the phenomenal world [ papanca ] is destroyed. Ignorance is eradicated and its place arises wisdom. Then all forces, which produce the series of rebirth in ignorance become calmed and unable to generate any more karma - energy, because there is no more illusion, no more desire for existence. Nirvana is regarded as the realization of things as they are. It is just a change of our attitude towards things. The change follows the elimination of ignorance, which is responsible for the appearance of the phenomenal world. Not constituting, not thinking out for being or for non - being, he grasps after nothing in the world, not grasping, he is not troubled, being untroubled, he himself attains Nirvana.
If is interesting to note that this concept of Nirvana, as realization of the true nature of things, has been developed not only in Theravada but also in Madhyamika of Mahayana Buddhism. According to Nagarjuna, things are phenomena or Samsara, and their true nature is Nirvana. In essence, Samsara has no difference whatever from Nirvana and Nirvana has no difference from Samsara. Hence the reality is one, it becomes difference on the basis of our viewpoint. Nirvana, when looked at from the standpoint of thought - construction is phenomenal world, and phenomena devoid of superimposed thought construction are Nirvana . The difference between the two is epistemic, not ontological. According to Nagarjuna**, Nirvana or Nibbana is the Absolute Reality or Ultimate Truth [ paramartha - satya ] whereas the phenomenal world is the conventional Truth. [ Samurti - Satya ]. This is the gem of Nagarjuna's two - truth theory in Majjhim - Nikaya in early Buddhism.
** A famous commentator of Mathayamika or Majjhim - Nikaya
By THE BUDDHA'S Core Teachings
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