Now the second line: Nibbanam paramam sukham. This has become a household maxim. It refers to nirvana (nibbana), the precise opposite of the compounded condition, in other words, freedom from sankharas. At any time when compounding ceases, there is nirvana. Complete and final freedom from compounds is full nirvana, momentary freedom from compounds is momentary nirvana, just a trial sample of the real nirvana. Anyone who has come to know fully the true nature of compounding will have no trouble in understanding by inference the opposite condition of freedom from compounding. the word "nirvana" can be translated "extinction", or cessation" or coolness", or "freedom from distress". All these meanings are consistent with the idea of stopping but constant worry, trouble, distress, misery. "Nirvana" implies the antithesis of "sankhara", that is, freedom from this process of compounding.
Now the next part of the quotation: "Really knowing this truth one is on the Path to Peace". This means that the realization of this truth leads one to seek the path leading to peace or nirvana. Nirvana is sometimes called peace (santi), that is stillness, coolness. They are equivalent terms. So this realization prompts us to do everything possible to move in the direction of peace or nirvana.
From this we can gather that the Buddha wished us to know about the unsatisfactory condition( dukkha), to know about freedom from the unsatisfactory condition, and to set out on the path leading from the unsatisfactory condition, and to set out on the path leading to this freedom from the unsatisfactory condition, in other words to nirvana. If a person has no idea of possibility of nirvana and does not realize that nirvana, being the absolute cessation of the unsatisfactory condition, is something to be valued above all else, then he will have no wish for nirvana, and will never set out on the path towards it. As soon as a person recognizes this present condition as thoroughly unsatisfactory, and loses all wish for anything but the very opposite condition, he will start taking an interest in nirvana and will set out on the path towards it. What he has to do is have a good look at his own mind and subject it to a deep and detailed scrutiny, to discover whether or not it is in the compound condition.
Now the next part of the quotation: "Really knowing this truth one is on the Path to Peace". This means that the realization of this truth leads one to seek the path leading to peace or nirvana. Nirvana is sometimes called peace (santi), that is stillness, coolness. They are equivalent terms. So this realization prompts us to do everything possible to move in the direction of peace or nirvana.
From this we can gather that the Buddha wished us to know about the unsatisfactory condition( dukkha), to know about freedom from the unsatisfactory condition, and to set out on the path leading from the unsatisfactory condition, and to set out on the path leading to this freedom from the unsatisfactory condition, in other words to nirvana. If a person has no idea of possibility of nirvana and does not realize that nirvana, being the absolute cessation of the unsatisfactory condition, is something to be valued above all else, then he will have no wish for nirvana, and will never set out on the path towards it. As soon as a person recognizes this present condition as thoroughly unsatisfactory, and loses all wish for anything but the very opposite condition, he will start taking an interest in nirvana and will set out on the path towards it. What he has to do is have a good look at his own mind and subject it to a deep and detailed scrutiny, to discover whether or not it is in the compound condition.
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