Social Science Subject (Nibbana Topic) : The Matter of 'Nibbana'

 

Social Science Subject (Nibbana Topic) : The Matter of 'Nibbana'

          Human beings who yearn for spiritual deliverance allow their wish for liberation to rise higher up by different levels in the right and suitable proportion to the rising in human thinking capability. On account of this, 'nibbana' is like something that 'trap' all human being all along the path of life ; but somehow someday in the future, human being will have developed a mind so lofty that it begins to know the aspire for the highest liberation in a life which itself provides lesson to be learned throughout both the days and the nights.

          In short it means that when people, out of self-interest and some workable thinking, allow their own thinking to roam freely, they are bound to head directly to 'nibbana' because there is the only one way for the loftiness of the mind to go. The other ways are dead ends for the mind which is set in the power of sound reasoning. Such a mind simply cannot go the wrong way, the Buddha said ,"The chaste life as defined in the Buddhist teaching inclines toward 'nibbana'." This statement carries the same meaning as the rules of nature found in psychology already mentioned. That 'nibbana' is something which waits to 'trap' and 'obstruct' the path of all human beings is to be regarded or counted as a wonderful aspect of 'nibbana' itself and it also can be considered as the highest of luck for all human beings. Therefore to pick up the problem concerning 'nibbana' and to analyse them here is something appropriate and not out of time or place; or if asked to express my own personal opinion voluntarily, I would insist or comfirm that the study about this matter of  'nibbana' should be allocated the status of a branch of Social Science just like the other branches of Social Studies such as pychology or science, for examples, to speak, to think, to consider, and to consult about the problems concerning 'nibbana' ought to be something that is done on a daily basis in just the same way as we do to other branches of Social Studies such as politics and economics for example, because through out the time that the human mind is capable of feeling depresses, we ought to learn and know how to cure unhappiness in the way in should be just like when we feel hungry, we ought to find the means of satisfying our hunger.

          With this reason in mind, therefore I wish to request all the Buddhists, including both monks and the laity, to think about this matter of  'nibbana' as an interesting subject of social science and help to 'fumble' or treasure it as much as its importance inspires.

From : 'Nibbana'  Buddhadasa Bhikkhu 

Translated from Thai to English by Dr. J. Ratana Nantho Bhikkhu

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