Buddhism: What is Nirvana? Nirvana: Extinguishing the Flame!
#buddhisminenglish #nirvana #buddhism
"A distinctive aspect of the Buddha that we need to grasp is his use of emptiness (śūnyatā) to describe the ultimate experience. Other spiritual masters have spoken of fullness to articulate their spiritual experiences."
Why did the Buddha choose this seemingly negative term? It's critically important for your spiritual growth, and not for philosophical reasons (darsana). I'm not concerned with philosophical issues. I discuss matters of practical value.

The concept of fullness, ideas of God (Ishvara), of perfection, of the absolute (paramārtha), of the ultimate—these are all positive terms. These terms perplexed the Buddha as he recognized the deceptiveness of the human mind (manas). Other mystics unintentionally used these positive nouns because that was their experience. Why dwell on past sufferings? Why not speak of what is occurring? They spoke from their personal experiences. However, over the centuries, these have been exploited by the cunning of the human mind. For the crafty mind (kuṭila-manas), the idea of fullness and these beautiful names became a reason to satisfy the ego (ahamkara): "I have become God. I have reached the absolute. I am united with the ultimate. I have achieved complete liberation (moksha)." This "I" becomes the focus of all our statements. The difficulty is that you cannot use the ultimate experience to satisfy the ego. The ego is an obstacle; it cannot become a bridge. Positive terms have been misused. Instead of destroying the ego, they have become decorations for it.

"God becomes a target, and you must reach it. You become greater than God. The reason is that the target cannot be bigger than you. That is easy to understand."
Liberation and the Ultimate Nature of Nirvana.