But we are now in a position to consider this question rather more deeply. We have come to see that no amount of this kind of action or this kind of condition us by any means satisfactory. There is still something dissatisfying about it. something is lacking, No matter how successfully we may pursue these worldly ends we are always left dissatisfied. We are forced to recognize that something more is needed, and in the end we find ourselves drawn to the Dharma. We come to realize that we were born to study this highest and most precious piece thing accessible to a human being. there is nothing higher than this. This is the summum bonum, the best thing attainable by a human being.
Suppose we accept that we have born and that having been born we have a certain task to do, a task so important that to carry it through to completion ought to be man's highest aim. There can be no aim higher than this attainment of freedom from the misery of the unsatisfactory condition. And by following the Buddha's directions this complete freedom can be attained. The Buddhist teaching came into the world in order to inform people about the highest thing attainable by human beings. all the other religions existing prior to Buddhism had this same objective, to answer the question "Why was I born?" They had all been fully occupied with this same question: "What is that highest good for the sake of which man was born?"
Some of these religions considered sensual satisfaction to be the ultimate, the highest good. some considered the summum bonum to be the pure non-sensual bliss of the Brahmaloka. Then there was a sect which maintained that man's purpose in life was to seek bliss in the knowledge that nothing at all exists! There even existed the view that the highest thing attainable by man is the death-like condition of complete unconsciousness in which there is now awareness of anything whatsoever! These were the highest doctrines in existence at the time when the Buddha-to-be started his seeking. When he searched and studied in the various Ashramas, the highest teaching he was able to find was this. Being sufficiently wise to see that this was by no means the summum bonum, he set about investigating on his own account. Thus he arrived at the perfect insight which puts a final end to the unsatisfactory condition, and as we say, he attained nirvana.
Even though people had been talking about nirvana long before the time of the Buddha. the meaning of the word as used by him differs from the meanings it had for those sects. Mere words cannot be relied on; it is the meanings that count. When we say we were born in order to attain nirvana, we mean nirvana as that word was used by the Buddha. We don't mean the nirvana of other sects, such as abundance of sensual pleasure, or the highest stage of mental concentration. When we say nirvana is our goal, we must have in mind nirvana as understood in the Buddha's teaching. And in the Buddha's teaching nirvana is generally to be taken as the opposite of the compounded condition. This is expressed in the Pali saying we have already quoted:
Sankhara parama dukkha,
Nibbanam paraman sukham.
Nirvana is simply freedom from sankharas compounds. W must understand then that we were born in order to attain freedom from compounding. Some people may laugh at this statement that our objective in life is to attain "freedom from compounding". Compounding , this spinning on in the wheel of samsara, is unsatisfactory. freedom from compounding consists in having such a degree of insight that this vicious circle is cut through and got rid completely. When there is freedom from compounding, there is no more spinning on, no more wheel of samsara. Our purpose in life is to bring to a standstill the cycle of samsara to put a complete end to the unsatisfactory condition. This freedom from unsatisfactoriness is called nirvana.
Now, nirvana is not something occult and mysterious. It is not some sort of miracle, something supernatural. Furthermore, nirvana is not something to be attained only after death. This is a point that must be understood. Nirvana is attained at any moment that the mind becomes free from compounding. Freedom from compounding, at any moment, is nirvana. Permanent cessation of compounding is full nirvana, which is the kind we have been discussing. The experiencing of temporary nirvana serves as an incentive to go further, to head for permanent nirvana, the full nirvana that makes a man an arahant. This state arises with the knowledge that sankharas, that is compounds and compounding, are misery, while nirvana, freedom from compounding, is peace, bliss. Every man's purpose in life ought to be to tread the path to full nirvana.
So the answer to the question "Why were we born?" is provided by this saying:
Compounding is utter misery,
Nirvana is highest bliss.
Suppose we accept that we have born and that having been born we have a certain task to do, a task so important that to carry it through to completion ought to be man's highest aim. There can be no aim higher than this attainment of freedom from the misery of the unsatisfactory condition. And by following the Buddha's directions this complete freedom can be attained. The Buddhist teaching came into the world in order to inform people about the highest thing attainable by human beings. all the other religions existing prior to Buddhism had this same objective, to answer the question "Why was I born?" They had all been fully occupied with this same question: "What is that highest good for the sake of which man was born?"
Some of these religions considered sensual satisfaction to be the ultimate, the highest good. some considered the summum bonum to be the pure non-sensual bliss of the Brahmaloka. Then there was a sect which maintained that man's purpose in life was to seek bliss in the knowledge that nothing at all exists! There even existed the view that the highest thing attainable by man is the death-like condition of complete unconsciousness in which there is now awareness of anything whatsoever! These were the highest doctrines in existence at the time when the Buddha-to-be started his seeking. When he searched and studied in the various Ashramas, the highest teaching he was able to find was this. Being sufficiently wise to see that this was by no means the summum bonum, he set about investigating on his own account. Thus he arrived at the perfect insight which puts a final end to the unsatisfactory condition, and as we say, he attained nirvana.
Even though people had been talking about nirvana long before the time of the Buddha. the meaning of the word as used by him differs from the meanings it had for those sects. Mere words cannot be relied on; it is the meanings that count. When we say we were born in order to attain nirvana, we mean nirvana as that word was used by the Buddha. We don't mean the nirvana of other sects, such as abundance of sensual pleasure, or the highest stage of mental concentration. When we say nirvana is our goal, we must have in mind nirvana as understood in the Buddha's teaching. And in the Buddha's teaching nirvana is generally to be taken as the opposite of the compounded condition. This is expressed in the Pali saying we have already quoted:
Sankhara parama dukkha,
Nibbanam paraman sukham.
Nirvana is simply freedom from sankharas compounds. W must understand then that we were born in order to attain freedom from compounding. Some people may laugh at this statement that our objective in life is to attain "freedom from compounding". Compounding , this spinning on in the wheel of samsara, is unsatisfactory. freedom from compounding consists in having such a degree of insight that this vicious circle is cut through and got rid completely. When there is freedom from compounding, there is no more spinning on, no more wheel of samsara. Our purpose in life is to bring to a standstill the cycle of samsara to put a complete end to the unsatisfactory condition. This freedom from unsatisfactoriness is called nirvana.
Now, nirvana is not something occult and mysterious. It is not some sort of miracle, something supernatural. Furthermore, nirvana is not something to be attained only after death. This is a point that must be understood. Nirvana is attained at any moment that the mind becomes free from compounding. Freedom from compounding, at any moment, is nirvana. Permanent cessation of compounding is full nirvana, which is the kind we have been discussing. The experiencing of temporary nirvana serves as an incentive to go further, to head for permanent nirvana, the full nirvana that makes a man an arahant. This state arises with the knowledge that sankharas, that is compounds and compounding, are misery, while nirvana, freedom from compounding, is peace, bliss. Every man's purpose in life ought to be to tread the path to full nirvana.
So the answer to the question "Why were we born?" is provided by this saying:
Compounding is utter misery,
Nirvana is highest bliss.
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