Is all of conscious life simply a distraction from nirvana?

Answer 1

If you consider the conscious a state of here and now, soaking in all of the 400 million streams of information being fed into your mind (where it is nearly impossible to process them all) and Nirvana to be a state of inner peace (instead of heaven in an out of this world experience) attained by using your imagination to take you to other times and places, then I believe it would be a distraction.

However both can be a distraction from what is really going on. Everything we see, hear, feel and smell is an interpretation, a perception if you will. Therefore, in this case, both would be a distraction from what is real. Because there are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine and anyone else who witnesses an event. You and I can witness the same conscious event and have two different beliefs about what it was we just seen. Another person witnessing it may have yet another belief.

It all depends on how you define the word "conscious" and what you understand "nirvana" to be. As you can see I have already within this example showed you that we all have different perceptions, just from words alone.

Being conscious, in our perception of reality - what it is to us, is definitely a distraction from nirvana. This of course is from the way I define it from my perception. You would have to state with more clarity what it means to you.

Answer 2

Distraction may be the wrong term. More like a test. The trick is
incorporating conscious life into nirvana.

Answer 3

I liked urbancoyote's answer. However I would add that consciousness has many levels and you can get stuck on one or another or 'distracted' or some might say fossilized. However I don't see them as distinct planes of existence so much as all part of the waves and cycles of learning and spiritual growth and so the characterization of 'distraction' is a little harsh as each level of understanding is really just a point along an infinite curve, each blends into the next.

Answer 4

No. Both conscious life and nirvana are distractions from the unity of eidetic clarity, also known as "englightenment" or "dynamic meditation."

It is also called for by artists who have prepared themselves for a brief thunderclap of flawless public performance. My seminar graduates call this eidetic undistracted state, "the sacred vigil."

Again, both mundane conscious life and nirvana are distractions.

Answer 5

Hmm. If you consider your conscious life as part of the material world. I feel that it is a spiritual part of me, and not limited to the laws of nature.
My interpretation of Buddhistic nirvana is when who you are becomes identical with who everyone, everything is. You understand all because you are all. In this case, understanding your own consciousness is a stepping stone to understanding the greater consciousness, to becoming as respectful of all life as you are to your own.
If I'm wrong in my interpretation I'd love to be corrected. I like to understand all religions.

Answer 6

Consciousness is our only key to reach nirvana.

Answer 7

I don't believe so. I think life is central to our humaness and whatever else there is is icing on the cake.

Answer 8

only if u manage to fart explosively when in public, e.g. in public libraries, i am speaking from my own experience

Answer 9

???