Nirvana in plain language

In the teaching of Buddhism, most dharma teachers run into a dilemma — they wonder if they should teach about Nirvana.

In the mid-90s, I was privileged to be appointed as the lecturer of Buddhism at a Buddhist temple in Manhattan’s Chinatown. That was my first teaching job ever. I told the abbot what I wanted to cover. I said all I will be teaching is foundational Buddhism — the basic ideas such as the Four Noble Truth. I used Walpola Rahula’s book, What the Buddha Taught, as reference material to base my lectures on. I also used Master Yinshun’s book, An Outline of Buddhism. As it turned out, teaching basic Buddhism is by no means easy. Teaching the First Noble Truth is manageable. Teaching the Second Noble Truth is manageable. Teaching the Fourth Noble Truth is not too difficult either. But I was stuck when I got to the Third Noble Truth, which is about Nirvana. It is commonly believed that Nirvana cannot be talked about. There is nothing “basic” in Buddhism. I ended up spending every Saturday preparing my lecture so that I would have something reasonable to present on Sunday, which was when the Buddhism class met. My audience were all adults. While most of them were common folks, there were occasionally wise elders who asked challenging questions. I remember there was someone who was a martial arts master who asked me what “Right View” is and whether there is an objective standard for it.