Meditation Towards Liberation – Nibbāna / Nirvana

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Meditation Towards Liberation – Nibbāna / Nirvana

The meditation methods that have been preserved in Sri Lanka since the establishment of the Buddhist Order (particularly among forest-dwelling monastic communities) around 200 BC.

The meditation methods described in this short note are the outcome of many years of research, including discussions with forest-dwelling monks deeply engaged in meditation across various monasteries in Sri Lanka. This inquiry was undertaken to understand how Nibbāna (Nirvana) can be realized in this very life, and to uncover the original teachings and meditation practices of the Buddha that directly pointed toward liberation during His time.

From these discussions, it became clear that meditation is a practice of the mind—universal to all, regardless of gender, caste, nationality, or religion. Whoever earnestly engages in these two meditation methods may attain final liberation in this very life.

For this, mere study or lip service is not enough. Reading and absorbing theoretical knowledge nurtures “knowledge” but not true “understanding.” Genuine understanding arises only through practice. A mind filled solely with Dhamma concepts becomes conditioned, bound by perceptions and mental images, which obstruct progress in meditation. Liberation has never been attained through knowledge alone, but only through direct realization.

When the mind grows still, the universe unfolds. What was once thought to be the world is seen as only a fragment of a vast expanse. The sorrowful nature of existence becomes evident, and one realizes that consciousness taking birth in various forms of life is beyond our control. This realization gives rise to an urgent determination to escape this endless cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra)—just as a person instinctively rushes to extinguish fire upon their own head, as taught by the Buddha.

This following presents the two meditation methods most commonly practiced by forest-dwelling monks to realize Nibbāna. They are firmly rooted in the core teachings of the Blessed One, especially the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (The Four Foundations of Mindfulness).

Cittānupassanā: Observing the Arising and Ceasing of Thoughts

Liberation from the cycle of life and death (Samsāra) will purely depend on the freedom from the process of generation of thoughts. The Notion of the “Self” or the “I” established in the Consciousness around the temporary combination of Name (Nāma) and the Form (Rūpa) needs to be dismantled to understand the true nature of existence. Therefore, this has 2 parts:

1. Kayagathasathi Meditation – Understanding the Emptiness of the Body (Physical Form)

2. Cittānupassanā Meditation – Understanding the Emptiness of the Mind (Psychological Form)

i) Understanding the nature arising of thoughts.
ii) The observation of thoughts generation.
iii) The cessation of thoughts generation.
iv) The realization of Nirodha and Saññā-Vedayita-Nirodha-Samāpatti (Nibbāna).

1. Kāyagatāsati and Emptiness of Self
When one repeatedly practices Kāyagatāsati—contemplating the thirty-two parts of the body (Dethis Kunupa) or Contemplating on the Skeletal structure (Atti Saññā) or Contemplating on the process of a body decay after death (Nawaseewathika) or Contemplating on the base elements that forms the body (Dhāthu manasikara) —an insight gradually arises: the body is not “I” nor “mine,” but a collection of elements without essence.

From this contemplation of emptiness, the practitioner begins to sense that what is taken as “self” is only a process that is unwholesome, dependent on conditions, and subject to decay.

2. Cittānupassanā – Observing the Arising of Thoughts
Turning inward with closed eyes, the meditator begins to observe the mind directly. Thoughts, like ripples on water, arise from impressions rooted in past memory bundle (Kamma and Saṁsāric habits). These thoughts appear as memories, images, or feelings—some pleasant, some unpleasant/painful.

  • Pleasant thoughts invite craving, the desire to hold and prolong.
  • Unpleasant thoughts invite aversion, the urge to reject and push/run away.
  • Both craving (Taṇhā) and aversion (Paṭigha) are the fuel that sustains the cycle of Saṁsāra.

Observing Without Attachment
In Cittānupassanā, the task is neither to cling to nor to resist thoughts, but to watch them pass with neutrality. Just as one sits by a riverbank and observes the flow of water along which it carries leaves, branches, and debris floating downstream without grasping them, so too must one watch thoughts arise and pass away. There is an occurrence, but no possessor of the occurrence. Just an observation of thoughts flowing by without entangling and analysing the stream of thoughts/images/feeling passing by.

  • Thoughts are seen simply as thoughts.
  • One neither claims them as “mine” nor rejects them as “not mine.”
  • Observation itself becomes pure, silent awareness.

Seeing the Process of Generation
Through sustained attention, the meditator sees that thoughts arise linked together like the rings of a chain.

  • Contact at the senses—sight (Eyes), sound (Ears), smell (Nose), taste (Tongue), touch (Skin), or mind (Memory) sparks perception, which conditions feeling, which in turn conditions thought.
  • The speed of this process is so rapid that the ordinary mind mistakes it as continuous selfhood.
  • But with careful observation, the delusion can be dismantled.

The Flow of Thoughts and Their Exhaustion
The river of thought continues only as long as it has water. Likewise, the flow of mental proliferation (Papañca – the tendency of the mind to overthink, elaborate and create unnecessary mental complexities) persists only while there is fuel in the form of past impressions, ignorance, and clinging (Memory bundle carried in the Consciousness from one birth to another).

Therefore, when one observes the generation and flow of thoughts without the “I” or the “Self” as explained above, then the fuel diminishes, the stream begins to thin.

When the fuel is exhausted, the stream falls silent.

The Cessation (Nirodha) of Thoughts-Generation
In deep meditation, when the mind is no longer deceived by thoughts, their generation itself comes to a halt. Just as a river that has run dry ceases to flow, the continuous arising of thought ceases. This silence is not a blank void, but the direct experience of cessation—Nirodha (Saññā-Vedayita-Nirodha-Samāpatti).

At this stage of meditation:

  • With the absence of the thoughts in action, There is no arising of “I” or “mine.”
  • There is no craving, no resistance.
  • There is only peace, timeless and beyond measure.

This is the threshold of Nibbāna: the cessation of the wheel’s turning.

Transformation in Life
When the meditator returns from such silence, life in the ordinary world continues. But the relationship to it is transformed.

  • Greed and hatred lose their power.
  • Compassion and equanimity deepen.
  • The meditator lives among others, yet inwardly lives in peace.
  • The change is subtle, unrecognizable to others, yet profound within. This is the end result of seeing the mind as it truly is: impermanent, empty, and non-self.

The Highest Tribute
To walk this path, to observe the arising and ceasing of thoughts, and to realize silence in the mind leading to Emptiness that will eventually transcend beyond space and time to realize the state of Nibbāna (Saññā-Vedayita-Nirodha-Samāpatti) —this is the highest tribute one can offer to the Blessed One, who revealed the path of liberation.

As per the Enlightened one’s teachings in Sathara Sathipatthāna Sutta, it will take only minimum of 7days and maximum of 7 years to reach the state of either Non-returner (Anagami) or Arahant. When the Meditator has realized the state of Nibbana during this life itself, till death the person will continue to live in the mundane world due to the remaining Karmic energy (to pay off the Anusaya). However, the awareness of the world will be high compared to an average person.

However, after death the Consciousness (flow of Energy) of the person who has reached Nibbana while living, will no long have the propensity to continue with another birth in terms Physical/Astral form (with the combination of the four base elements Earth (Pathavī), Watery (Āpo), Heat (Tejo) and Airy (Vāyo).

Thereafter, the Consciousness will dissolve into a form of clean Energy that will no longer suffer with a Birth and Death cycle. Where “Prathi-sandi bīja” (Karmic seeds), that sprouts the seed of rebirth-linking consciousness to future Births from past Kamma is dissolved.

Thereafter, natural cessation of the Consciousness will take place when the causes (Karmic energy) are extinguished, like a lamp that naturally goes out, when the oil and wick are exhausted (“Nibbanthi dīpā yathāyaṃ padīpo”). Which is the ultimate Liberation from all suffering (Final Nibbāna – Nirupādisesa Nibbāna).