Summary: Episode Description: This fifth lecture of the program is entitled Nirvana is Now. Stephen begins by arguing that nirvana is not some transcendent state to be attained after going through a "series of arduous spiritual exercises," but rather that it is immediately available to us right now. It is already here "every time we open our hearts." He alludes to a text entitled the Second Discourse to Sivaka in discussing this immediacy of nirvana. Then, through a close reading of the text On Emptiness, Stephen speaks about what the early buddhist conception of nirvana might have been. In this text, the buddha is recorded as saying, "now I mainly live by dwelling in emptiness." It is clear from this and other early texts that emptiness is a space in which to dwell and not, as is the case for later buddhism, an object of comprehension. Emptiness in early buddhism means a space empty of reactivity, free of "greed, hatred, and delusion." In other words, emptiness is where we "behold the stopping of reactivity," which is in fact an exact description of the third task, beholding nirvana. Stephen ends the lecture by pointing out that beholding nirvana, although an important task, is by no means the "end of the story." Beholding nirvana, beholding emptiness, is not "enlightenment." Through a gloss on another early buddhist text, Stephen explains that beholding nirvana is akin to the removal of a poisoned arrow. It is an important first step in "healing." However, after the arrow is removed, the wound has to be tended to over time; it requires "therapeutic care." So while beholding nirvana is crucial, it is only the precursor to the fourth task: carefully cultivating a path, a way of life, that is in a very real way about "healing" our, and the world's, wounds. For Series description and Teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: A Culture of Awakening: All 18 Parts
