How to reach nirvana in 3-simple steps, Guaranteed!
According to the Buddha, we can all reach nirvana and become enlightened. However or whatever the enlightened state is like, the Buddha seemed to have a fail proof method to helping us get to that “awakened” state.
The Buddha, priorly known as Prince Siddhartha, is a credible speaker on this subject since his name basically describes his qualification. The word “buddha” means awakened one. Prince Siddhartha became the pronouncement of awaken-ness although he was not the only buddha. The concept of a buddha was widely accepted in India before the prince became the Buddha.
The prince was given the title as The Buddha” because he was the one that became awaken and from there, created a belief system to achieve nirvana; the state of infinite bliss and oneness with everything, whatever that is suppose to mean! That belief system took the world by storm and became what is known as Buddhism.
The belief system the Buddha taught upon reaching enlightenment was called the Four Noble Truth which contains the Eightfold Path. This Eightfold Path is the cornerstone of the Buddha’s teaching and consist of an 8-step methodology for reaching that enlightened, awakened state.
The 8-fold path can be summarize as cultivating the right views, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration, in that order. What a handful.
This 8-fold method is not as simple as it sounds. Actually it is much simpler than it sounds. Although we do not currently have an abundance of buddhas roaming around. Humans reaching reaching their fullest potential as buddhas seem to be a rare occurrence considering the universality that is it attainable by everyone.
The buddha recognizes the buddha nature within everyone and everything and therefore knows everyone as already enlightened. Since the Buddha is enlightened and yoked with everything else, he recognizes the world as himself, which is enlightened.
Why do we not recognize our Buddha-nature? The quick answer is: because we chose not to. When we decide we wholehearted want to, we can consult the Buddha and his teachings.
The Buddha considers this life as suffering.
We suffer because we desire. If we want to end suffering, we need to get rid of desire.
His disciples went off and wholehearted worked on getting rid of their desires. The monastic life is designed specifically to ease this task as much as possible.
After enormous time and effort invested with no avail, the disciples returned back to the Buddha and said. “teacher, we are now desiring not to desire!”
At which point the Buddha answered, “well now you are starting to understand the point.”
So you want to get rid of suffering? So you want to see past illusions? So you want to become enlightened? Why else would you click this story ?
Well, if those are your intentions, you have come to the right link. But why bother going through 8 tedious steps when you can do it in 3. So here are the 3 steps I promised:
STEP ONE: Identify the problem
The Buddha considers this world as Maya, or illusion. The idea presented in the 8-fold path is to help one see through the illusion of Maya. So the problem is that the world, as we know it or sense it, is not real.
So the question is “How do we get rid of illusion?” which is the problem we have identified. That takes us to step two.
STEP TWO: Find the solution
Like many great teachers, the Buddha never wrote anything down. Most of the text we have that is associated to the Buddha were written by his disciples. The main text are the sutras and the Four Noble Truths.
Sit back and relax; I have taken the privilege to handle the tedious task of consulting the buddhist texts. It was my pleasure! Since if you are able to become enlightened after following these 3 simple steps, the closer I become enlightened. It is a win-win-win situation for you, me, and everyone (everything) else.
I have scoured the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra which are foundational Sutras for understanding the teachings of the Buddha. I have also looked closely at the Four Noble Truths and have extracted a solution.
I qualified the solution by first realizing the question “how do we get rid of illusion” as being irrelevant and a poorly constructed question. At the same time, the question itself is contradictory.
Asking such a question perpetuates and makes real the illusion that we initially are trying to escape. Since the nature of an illusion is that it is not real, there is nothing to escape from or see past.
So then, how to reach nirvana?
STEP THREE: Walk on!
If this is all an illusion, then it is not real. If it is not real, then there is no limiting agent to escape from or see pass. the Buddha would agree with my simplification of his extensively long methodological.
Be aware his methodology is only long and tedious because his disciples asked for it to be that way. They wanted a method and so the Buddha gave them a method. They complicated his method. The Buddha was not going to allow his disciples to ruin his nirvana buzz so he left them to the methods to do as they please!
What step three entails is … go wash the face with fresh water to make sure one is not dreaming; then just walk on; which means to move forward, or not linger. In other words, farewell!
So you may ask, but the illusion is still there, even after you have “walked on”. Well, considering the Buddha’s ideas of attachment and desire, if you failed to achieve enlightenment after following this 3-simple steps, it can only mean a couple of reasons:
1.You became attached to the problem (see step 1), or you desired a definitive solution (see step 2).
and/or …
2.You did not wholeheartedly “walk on”’ which means to move forward, or not linger. In other words, farewell! Keep walking!
Another way of saying it; you don’t really want to yet!
Hope this brings much enjoyment & enlightenment to the world!
Come check out Dry Monkey’s collection of Haiku-ish poetry here! The Monku series make a tasty treat for the soul as you continue to walk on!
Thanks for visiting & sharing!
— Dry Monkey