How do you...?

Question

Achieve perfect nothingness or nirvana?
and how do you know when you get there?

Answer 1

It is achieved by working to overcome desire. The paradox is that desiring to overcome desire is itself desire. The only way to do this is to allow yourself to experience the interconnectedness of all things in each moment of your life. You cease to exist as an independent agent when you come to recognize that you are just as much others as you are yourself.

You can become aware of these matter through meditation, mindfulness, and recognizing the vanity in pursuing material things (more than are needed to sustain life and loved ones).

And each day you learn a little more.

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Answer 2

Oh fooooo. That is a HUGE question, which I am not properly equipped to answer. I can say this: When you get there, you know.

Check around for a local monastery or temple that offers ram lim teachings; if you don't have one, look for the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, which is the text we use in our ram lim teachings. It's sort of a step by step guide to enlightenment.