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Nirvana or Annihilation?
“Often people are afraid when reading Buddhist books, where the interpretation of Nirvana is given as annihilation. No one wants to be annihilated, and people are very much afraid when they read ‘annihilation.’ But it is only a matter of words. The same word in Sanskrit is a beautiful word Mukti. The Sufis call it Fana. If we translate it into English, it is annihilation; but when we understand its real meaning, it is ‘going through’ or ‘passing through.’ Passing through what? Passing through the false conception, which is a first necessity, and arriving at the true realization.”
Hazrat Inayat Khan, in Volume II — The Mysticism of Music, Sound and Word
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“When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual discipline, they often think that somehow they are going to improve, which is sort of a subtle aggression against who they really are. It’s a bit like saying, “If I jog, I’ll be a much better person.” ….
The point is not to try to change ourselves. Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.”
