I had an inspiration to write this question about Heaven vs Nirvana. When I add everything up between the two it is very hard for me at least to see why anyone would chose Nirvana over Heaven.

First we have Heaven up, many friends and family are here, you can visit who you want even people long past. There are great halls of knowledge here, everything is amazingly beautiful here. There is never any worry, fear, unhappiness, there is never any lack or limitation. You feel the love of God always for the rest of eternity all around you. You can even meet Jesus personally when you get to heaven. Every day is an amazing experience filled with love, adventure and play. Every day is a pure joy!

Now Nirvana is up, there is no lack because there is nothing here, it is a deep dark void. Devoid of everything, you are all alone in this darkness of nothing for eternity, no family no friends around. Nothing because Nirvana is nothing, there is no suffering because there is no feeling here either, there is nothing to see, hear feel, taste, smell nothing just emptiness.

It seems completely opposed to Heaven, Heaven with sight, sound, touch and taste all feelings amplified of pure love and joy. But Nirvana seems to be just the opposite, complete void, nothing.

I could see how that would be desirable if you knew nothing but suffering in life, you would want to feel and experience nothing in your after life. There was a lot of suffering in India at the time of the Buddha so his objective was to end all suffering, what better way then to shut down completely and experience absolutely nothing for eternity.

But to someone that knows what Love and Joy feels like I have a hard time trying to understand why you would want that to end and not want to experience anything for eternity.

So why would someone want to chose Nirvana over Heaven? Both of these are what we expect I can not say absolutes except for the "Near Death Experiences" that people have reported what Heaven was like for them.

As for me, I would rather expect Heaven than Nirvana myself.

EDIT ADDED 9-8-12

I am enjoying this very much. It is very interesting. I have read about Nirvana but that was only limited as compared to those that know it through their understanding and experience through their religion. Thank you everyone and please keep adding! :-)

asked 06 Sep '12, 14:54

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
36.9k428102

edited 08 Sep '12, 12:59

well wade where did you get your concept of nirvana? for those people nirvana it is heaven. then the problem is the understanding of the word? you know that the word is truth. how much do you know about truth,or the knowledge of the truth? even jesus said that this heaven would pass away. if you are going up level of truth and understanding how many level are they to the top? since you are born did you learn or see new things? it will be the same when you leave your flesh behind.

(06 Sep '12, 22:19) white tiger

Nirvāṇa (Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान, nibbāna; Prakrit: णिव्वाण) is an ancient Sanskrit term used in Indian religions to describe the profound peace of mind that is acquired with moksha (liberation). In shramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is union with the Brahman (Supreme Being).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

Brahman= God the father. different word same meaning. in those religion they are in knowledge of meditation and being-

(06 Sep '12, 22:47) white tiger

born of water nibbana.Nirvana is a state of mind that is free from craving, anger, and other afflicting states. The Buddha saw these psychological phenomena as the fundamental cause of dukkha.

By uprooting the kleshas one becomes asankhata ("unconditioned") free from the obscurations of the volitional formations. This ultimate state is described by the Buddha as "deathlessness" (Pali: amata or amāravati). "deathlessness"=spirit the living one in your presence: born of spirit.

(06 Sep '12, 22:52) white tiger

Yes I looked it up and it seems complex. Meditation and being? These are in Christianity as well, you know that. We are suppose to meditate on the word of God. We are suppose to be as Christ and ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven for all those on Earth.

It does seem though what they say about total peace being achieved through working this eight fold path is the same peace as when we fully accept Jesus as our personal savior and live it.

Great peace to know that we need not worry or fear.

(06 Sep '12, 22:56) Wade Casaldi

budha same has jesus add to hide some meaning for people ready to seek and find the truth.also one born of spirit might not have leave is flesh yet. and another might have leave is flesh and go through the narrow gate,to the kingdom of light and to God the father the alpha and the omega. so different experience for different people. yet they are able to understand each other. on the similar experience.

(06 Sep '12, 23:07) white tiger

wade the word is truth God is truth spirit light from the beguinning to the end. God has no darkness in him. he is not under ego,darkness and division. The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things.

(07 Sep '12, 10:44) white tiger

http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html you see meditation is the inside of the cup. people are often lead to see only the outside. very fee take the time to go inside and seek the truth and see how it all relate and what it truelly means. and you see that the lack of truth and the division is cause by this,who would do to other what they do not like being done to them, yet they do the same, eventually they need to lift that rock and split that piece of wood.

(07 Sep '12, 10:50) white tiger

Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of Adam, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move." Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will roll up in your presence, and whoever is living from the living one will not see death."

Does not Jesus say, "Those who have found themselves, of them the world is not worthy"?

(07 Sep '12, 10:57) white tiger

Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained.

Split a piece of wood; I am there.

Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."

"For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness."

(07 Sep '12, 10:58) white tiger

let there be light, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZyjgKhM3kw

,be the light that you can be experience and enjoy.

(07 Sep '12, 13:17) white tiger
showing 1 of 11 show 10 more comments

semantics
All the words man write about heaven/nirvana can never truly describe it.

1st Verse

       The Tao that can be told, is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named; is not the eternal name.

The Tao is both named and nameless

As nameless it is the origin of all things;

as named it is the Mother of 10,000 things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery;

ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.

And the mystery itself is the doorway

to all understanding.

Lao-tzu

When one waits for heaven or tries to get to a state of nirvana ,ones misses that in that moment, it is heaven and is nirvana.

peace

link

answered 07 Sep '12, 02:29

ursixx's gravatar image

ursixx
22.0k1445

edited 07 Sep '12, 04:31

"When one waits for heaven or tries to get to a state of nirvana ,ones misses that in that moment, it is heaven and is nirvana." I like that quote of yours! Very interesting point there. :-)

(07 Sep '12, 05:46) Wade Casaldi
1

“Shape clay into a vessel;
 It is the space within that makes it useful. 
Cut doors and windows for a room;
 It is the holes which make it useful. 
Therefore benefit comes from what is there; 
Usefulness from what is not there.”

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/285224-shape-clay-into-a-vessel-it-is-the-space-within

(07 Sep '12, 11:02) white tiger

@Wade Casaldi thanks wade @white tiger so true!

(07 Sep '12, 12:35) ursixx
showing 2 of 3 show 1 more comments

Heaven and Nirvana are both just words that try to point to States of Being. Neither are places that can be found from a physical point of view. Both point toward states that have no sense of self and, from a personal perspective, can never be realized. Words limit everything to the physical realm and are, at best, pointers directing the self within where Heaven and Nirvana can both be realized by those willing to, let go of the personal sense of identity and, embrace the uncertainty of the physical illusion.

And remember Wade up cannot exist without down so Heaven or Nirvana cannot be experienced without the integration of both.

To me they're one and the same because both contain no sense of the little self but are All Inclusive which, from my current point of perception, is the only path to freedom...Heaven or Nirvana, it matters not which :)

link

answered 07 Sep '12, 21:39

Michaela's gravatar image

Michaela
35.0k22277

Interesting point of view Wade. :)

Let me offer you a slightly different one.

He who has realized Truth, Nirvana, is the happiest being in the world. He is free from all ‘complexes’ and obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental health is perfect. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over the future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is joyful, exultant, enjoying the pure life, his faculties pleased, free from anxiety, serene and peaceful. As he is free from selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, and all such ‘defilements’, he is pure and gentle, full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance. His service to others is of the purest, for he has no thought of self. He gains nothing, accumulated nothing, because he is free from the illusion of Self and the ‘thirst’ of becoming.

As to why would one choose Nirvana over Heaven, perhaps because Nirvana can be realized right here, right now. In the very moment of the present. Whereas Heaven happens only after you die.

And as for nothingness, letting go of your attachments to love and hate, you will experience their oneness. It may seem there is nothing at all, but there is in fact everything there is. It's just that in the state of oneness you don't distinguish between the parts that together form oneness and separately form duality.

link

answered 06 Sep '12, 16:18

CalonLan's gravatar image

CalonLan
(suspended)

I thought you strive for Nirvana after many lifetimes of reincarnation you stop reincarnating and reach this nothingness.

The way you describe Nirvana on earth sounds like the ideal Christian, the Heavenly Kingdom on Earth in that respect that is here and after life. I find this very interesting and am glad you are working to clarify just what Nirvana is. Thank you CalonLan.

(06 Sep '12, 20:41) Wade Casaldi

"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. http://bible.cc/john/3-31.htm the one that comes from above know the truth, God is truth from the beguinning to the end.the word is truth.

(07 Sep '12, 11:03) white tiger

duality only exist because of the darkness that stop you from seing the broader truth,when all duality in you will be understood for what they trully are then you will be born of water and will know the living one in your presence.

(07 Sep '12, 11:15) white tiger
showing 2 of 3 show 1 more comments

They are both allegory. Both are simply a profound peace of mind. When you were born you had no beliefs; you were curious and open. Your beliefs and traditions were imposed on you by parents, teachers, religious teachers, etc. Oddly enough, the original knowledge/wisdom was known the world over. As the apostle Paul said, everything he was teaching to the Gentiles had already been taught to every creature upon the earth. Col. 1:23 Theologians distorted the true meaning of this ancient knowledge/wisdom.

“The same thing that is now called Christian Religion existed among the ancients. They have begun to call 'Christian' the true religion which existed before.” St. Augustine

link

answered 07 Sep '12, 09:34

crosby's gravatar image

crosby
5211

Difficult question, but I can only speak for myself. For me, Nirvana is the highest goal in this life and the afterlife. I hold it higher than the bliss of the heavens.

But, I can't convince anybody to want Nirvana over God's Heaven. It's a personal choice.

link

answered 14 Feb '23, 08:36

Nirvanee's gravatar image

Nirvanee
212

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