IN THE PRESENCE OF NIBBANA:Developing Faith in the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment

　　by Ajahn Brahmavamso

　　One of the most meaningful stanzas in the Dhammapada is verse 372:

　　Natthi jhanam apannassa,

　　Panna natthi ajhayato;

　　Yamhi jhanan ca panna ca,

　　Sa ve Nibbanasantike.

　　"There is no Jhana without wisdom,

　　There is no wisdom without Jhana.

　　One who has Jhana and wisdom,

　　He is in the vicinity of Nibbana."

　　In the Vicinity of Nibbana

　　Right now, those who are Buddhist monks and nuns and those who are serious lay practitioners are in the vicinity of Nibbana . Being in this situation, you should recall that you are practicing in precisely the same way that men and women, young and old, have been practicing for the last twenty five centuries, and eventually you will achieve the same results. You are in the presence of Nibbana in the sense that we have taken up the practise that is conducive to Nibbana.

　　Sometimes it”s hard to realise how close it can be. One doesn”t realise that it”s, as it were, just a slight turn of the head, or a slight change in the way of looking at things, which will open up the same truth which the Buddha saw; the same truth which Venerable Sariputta, Mahamoggallana, Mahakassapa, Ananda, Anuruddha, and all the great Arahants of the last twenty-five centuries have seen. It was there then, it is here now.

　　We should recall this frequently. Recall that there have been thousands, even tens of thousands of Arahants in the past, and that there will be many hundreds, even thousands of Arahants in the future. For this path is still available, and when the path is available, so are the fruits.

　　There is a book, which I haven”t looked up for a long time now, called A Manual of a Mystic. This is an old treatise on meditation which was found in an obscure monastery in Sri Lanka many decades ago.1 Part of the meditation practice described there is just the above recollection, the recollection of all the Arahants who achieved the sublime bliss of Nibbana in the past. And now, here you are, embarked on the same journey, doing the same things, which must give rise to the same fruits. This was the promise of the Buddha. He said that this Dhamma. leads one way and one way only: to Nibbana. If you can get into the stream, it will sweep you all the way down to the sea.

　　Such recollections, done frequently, give rise to great joy, happiness, and confidence; they give rise to faith in this practice which we call Buddhism, the Dhamma.. This in turn gives rise to the energy so that we can have the will -- the sustained will -- to do what is necessary to transform that glimmer of faith into sustained realisation.

　　You are in the presence of Nibbana every time you open up one of the books of the Tipitaka and read the teachings of the Buddha. You are in the presence of Nibbana because there is just a thin veil between you and the Dhamma.. When the Buddha taught these teachings to monks like Venerable Bahiya (Udana 1:10), just the teaching was enough to give people of that calibre great insight, insight which closed the gap between them and Nibbana. They were not just in the presence of Nibbana; they had made that one step further into full realisation of Nibbana.

　　Venerable Bahiya and others like him probably never imagined that they were so close to such a marvellous and sublime state, yet they became great disciples of the Buddha. Indeed, when people look through the glasses of delusion, they can very often think: "How could one like me ever gain this sublime bliss of Nibbana

　　 How could one like me ever attain a Jhana

　　 How could one like me ever penetrate such a deep and profound Dhamma.

　　" But the Buddha said that you can! You can because you have already had enough confidence and faith to take up the brown robe of the Lord Buddha…

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