Q&A for How to Attain Nirvana

Yes, you are right, all of that is driven by desire. There are three bases of desire: lobha (greed), dosa (aversion), and moha (delusion). Desire within these three bases is acknowledged as the causation of suffering. When you are hungry, it is okay to eat in the motivation of fulfilling daily nutrition necessity for doing the right effort. Do not eat more than you need because it gains greed (lobha). It's okay for you to desire to be free from these three bases, it's called right effort. To understand more, read about Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path. It is also okay to read some Dhammapada verse.

Don't be confused by the word "desire" used to explain the causes of suffering with the "desire" used to describe one's wish or will. An example of the former is our greed, some examples of the latter are birthday wishes and our ambition. Obsession about satisfying desire ultimately leads to all kinds of suffering, while fulfilling a wish keeps one's mind focused and directional. Once we make a wish, we may not be as obsessive as satisfying our desire to fulfill the wish. The "desire" to attain Nirvana is an aspiration to all Buddhists who have to be mindful of all conditions that may obstruct them to attain it, including their own "obsessive desire" to attain it.

Finding what you enjoy more and doing more of it does not lead to nirvana. You need to free yourself from all defilements. The main cause for suffering is craving, which happens due to greed, ignorance and hatred. The best way to attain nirvana is meditating.

Try to practice mindfulness. Focus on what scents you are smelling, what the ground feels like beneath you, the sounds you are hearing. Think of the little things. If you've never meditated before, check out a mindfulness tutorial on YouTube, or download the app Headspace.

To attain nirvana, you have to follow the exact path and methods taught in Buddhism. When you follow them, your vision, beliefs, and understandings are adapted to Buddhist teachings. It's all about following the methods with your own understanding with proper knowledge of "Dhamma."

There may be many ways of attaining Nirvana. Buddhism is just one way, so it is hard to say.

No. There are prerequisites that should be fulfilled. According to Buddhism, you will be reborn again and again until you attain nirvana. You have to fulfill those requirements along your chain of births.

According to Theravada Buddhism, there are four stages to attain nirvana, and you will know if and when you achieve each stage.

No. Attaining nirvana may seem to be an end of material existence, but a consciousness at that state transcends beyond space and time. It is a state of absolute freedom; free from all kinds of spacial (distance, size, and volume), temporal, and material obstruction (forms, objects, etc.).

Once you have attained nirvana, if you want to help others to attain nirvana as well, you can choose to be born again. Take example of Lord Buddha: he died at the age of eighty, but attained nirvana way before that. That doesn't necessarily mean he was never reincarnated. It is said that one attains nirvana when one knows what emptiness is. Once one does, he has freed himself from the cycle of birth, but he can always choose to be reincarnated to help others attain nirvana as well.

Well, that is an interesting question, but I am sure that you understand the basics of attaining Nirvana has a lot to do with having fewer desires.

Buddhism teaches people how to attain nirvana, so if you learn Buddhism you can answer these questions even if you haven't attained nirvana yourself.

You misunderstand the idea of being without desire. Buddhism teaches that you should love and be kind to everyone, and an example that monks like Thich Nhat Hanh use often is a mother's love for her children! However, wanting to be with your children always will eventually hurt you - eventually your children will move out, and even before then will not depend on you as much as they did when they were little. Accepting in advance that this will happen means that you won't suffer as much when it eventually does.

Killing someone is bad karma because there is always a way to avoid it (in countries with the draft, for example, you can almost always choose a non-combat role for religious reasons).

Buddhists are allowed to defend themselves, but not to harm someone else out of anger, even while defending themselves (which is difficult, of course), nor to kill anyone even in self-defense.

The point is that attaining Nirvana is only possible when you have let go of the desire even for that. It is only then that true enlightenment is possible (possibly even inevitable).

The word translated as "desire" could also be translated as "attachment". Think of it this way: It is natural to have the impulse to drink water. Buddhism doesn't think that is a bad thing. But if you are so attached to the idea of drinking Capri-Sun that you're absolutely miserable when it isn't available, you would be happier without that attachment.