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| Birth Name(s) : Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic |
Date of Birth: 1989 |
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N/A
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Musician |
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Full Nirvana Biography
| Nirvana experienced huge, but brief success and ushered in an era of grunge rock new to North America. The suicide of lead singer/songwriter Kurt Cobain in 1994 brought their fame to an abrupt and climactic end. Their multi-million selling album "Nevermind" was released in 1991. |
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Additional Nirvana Biography
Nirvāṇa ( Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान Nibbāna; Vietnamese: Niết bàn; Chinese: 涅槃; Mandarin Pinyin: nièpán, Cantonese: nihppùhn; Japanese: nehan (涅槃, nehan?); Korean: 열반, yeolban; Thai: nibpan นิพพาน); Tibetan mya-ngan-las-'das-pa; Mongolian ɣasalang-aca nögcigsen), is a Sanskrit word that literally means "to cease blowing" (as when a candle flame ceases to flicker) and/or extinguishing (that is, of the passions).
The Buddha describes the abiding in Nirvāṇa as "deathlessness" (Pali: amata or amaravati) or "the unconditioned" and as the highest spiritual attainment, the natural result that accrues to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct and practise in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path. Such a life dissolves the causes for future becoming (Skt, karma; Pali, kamma) that otherwise keep beings forever wandering through the impermanent and suffering-generating realms of desire, form, and formlessness, termed samsara.
Nibbāna is meant specifically - as pertains gnosis - that which ends the identity of the mind (citta) with empirical phenomena. Doctrinally Nibbāna is said of the mind which no "longer is coming (bhava) and going (vibhava)", but which has attained a status in perpetuity, whereby "liberation (vimutta) can be said".
It carries further connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. The realizing of Nirvāṇa is compared to the ending of avidyā (ignorance) which perpetuates the will (cetana) into effecting the incarnation of mind into biological or other form passing on forever through life after life (samsara). Samsara is caused principally by craving and ignorance (see dependent origination). Nirvāṇa, then, is not a place nor a state, it is an absolute truth to be realized, and a person can do so without dying. When a person who has realized Nirvāṇa dies, his death is referred as his parinirvāṇa, his fully passing away, as his life was his last link to the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara), and he will not be reborn again. Buddhism holds that the ultimate goal and end of samsaric existence (of ever "becoming" and "dying" and never truly being) is realization of Nirvāṇa; what happens to a person after his parinirvāṇa cannot be explained, as it is outside of all conceivable experience.
In Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta the Buddha likens nibbana to the cessation and extinguishing of a fire where the materials for sustenance has been removed:"Profound, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise."
"There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support . This, just this, is the end of stress."
The Theravāda school makes the antithesis of saṃsāra and Nibbāna the starting point of the entire quest for deliverance. Even more, it treats this antithesis as determinative of the final goal, which is precisely the transcendence of saṃsāra and the attainment of liberation in Nibbāna. Where Theravada differs significantly from the Mahāyāna schools, which also start with the duality of saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa, is in not regarding this polarity as a mere preparatory lesson tailored for those with blunt faculties, to be eventually superseded by some higher realization of non-duality. From the standpoint of the Pāli Suttas, even for the Buddha and the Arahants suffering and its cessation, saṃsāra and Nibbāna, remain distinct.
"The attributes of Nirvāṇa are eightfold. What are these eight? Cessation (nirodha), loveliness/wholesomeness (subha), Truth (satya), Reality (tattva), eternity (nitya), bliss (sukha), the Self (atman), and complete purity (parisuddhi): that is Nirvāṇa."
In the Visuddhimagga, Ch. I, v. 6 (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, pp. 6-7), Buddhaghosa identifies various options within the Pali canon for pursuing a path to Nirvāṇa, including:
- by insight (vipassana) alone (see Dh. 277)
- by jhana and understanding (see Dh. 372)
- by deeds, vision and righteousness (see MN iii.262)
- by virtue, consciousness and understanding (7SN i.13)
- by virtue, understanding, concentration and effort (see SN i.53)
- by the four foundations of mindfulness (see Satipatthana Sutta, DN ii.290)
Depending on one's analysis, each of these options could be seen as a reframing of the Buddha's Threefold Training of virtue, mental development and wisdom. |
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Nirvana Quote(s)
| Come as you are, as I want you to be. |
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