Nibbāna: Literally, the “unbinding” of the mind from passion, aversion, and delusion, and from the entire round of death and rebirth. As this term also denotes the extinguishing of a fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. “Total nibbāna” in some contexts denotes the experience of awakening; in others, the final passing away of an arahant. Sanskrit form: Nirvāṇa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana
Wandering in samsara is the result of failing to leave space and awareness as a unity and instead splitting them up into here and there. We have projected space as being there, while regarding awareness as being here. We split this unity of space and awareness up, fell into accepting and rejecting, hope and fear, affirming and denying, grasping at objects and fixating on the subject. That is how we ended up with the duality of samsara and nirvana – grasping the nondual as two.
Vajra Speech – Urgyen
Nirvana is the extinction of all notions. Birth is a notion. Death is a notion. Being is a notion. Nonbeing is a notion. In our daily lives, we have to deal with these relative realities. But if we touch life more deeply, reality will reveal itself in a different way.
Excerpt From
The Heart Of The Buddha’s Teaching
Hanh, Thich Nhat
Here’s some definition of Nirvana from the book fear
“Our true nature is nirvana”
“nirvana, the extinction of all notions”
Nirvana literally means cooling, the putting out of flames; in Buddhism, it refers to extinction of the afflictions brought about by our wrong perceptions. Nirvana isn’t a place to go or something belonging to the future. Nirvana is the true nature of reality, things as they are. Nirvana is available in the here and now. You are already in nirvana; you are nirvana, just as the wave is already the water.”
Excerpt From
Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm
Thich Nhat Hanh
Nirvana is a state of mind
…Samsara is a state of mind….
…no longer slaves to our neurosis and egocentricities
And what do we turn the mind toward? Toward itself. We work with our own mind as both the source of confusion and the source of clarity and contentment. We turn toward letting go of the misperceptions that keep us stuck in cycles of behavior that do not relieve our dissatisfaction. Letting go of these habits uncovers the freedom to make choices, meaning that we are no longer slaves to our neurosis and egocentricities, to our attractions and aversions. Knowing this freedom thoroughly, and allowing it to pervade our life, is called nirvana, liberation, awakening, or enlightenment. We also call this buddhahood. Uncovering this freedom is the path of dharma. Samsara is a state of mind. Nirvana is a state of mind. Just as the sun shines whether obscured by clouds or not, clarity exists in the midst of confusion and suffering.
turning confusion into clarity