How to Achieve Nirvana

The path to enlightenment is a long and difficult one. Buddhists believe that everyone has the ability to achieve nirvana if they open up their minds and hearts. While the path to enlightenment isn't easy, there are a few things that you can do to help you achieve nirvana and learn the meaning of life and everything around you.

Instructions

1. Realize that you don't belong to yourself. You're a part of the energy and matter that make up the universe. You're one with the trees, the river and the sky. You are but one single entity, moving along the cosmic path to enlightenment. This idea is one that is strengthened on your path to achieving nirvana.

2. Come to terms with the fact that you own nothing. Personal possessions mean nothing to you, as you realize that you're one with the universe. The longer you study Buddhism, the more you'll begin to understand that mental concentration is the key to everything.

3. Give up your possessive emotions. Ideas like greed, hatred and jealousy all stem from the idea of self. Once you let go of your ideas of self and your worldly possessions, you will no longer feel the need for such emotions.

4. Let go. The last stage to achieving nirvana has to do with letting go completely. You're surrendering to the higher power, the universe and all that it represents. It's no longer about you and what you want, but rather about the world as a whole. Negative and positive things hold no emotions, since they're all part of the flow of energy.

Resources

• Buy Budhhism for Dummies to learn about the path to nirvana.