Vanishing into Nirvana

You do not vanish into Nirvana, nor does Nirvana abide in you, for Nirvana transcends all duality of knowing and known, of being and non-being.

Gautama, Buddha. THE LANKAVATARA SUTRA (pp. 3-4). Independent. Kindle Edition. 

In this passage, it seems Buddha is talking about two common ways of thinking about nirvana. On the one hand, we might take the approach that nirvana is a great "leaving" or "vanishing", similar to a disappearing act where we enter some void and never return again. But if there is an actual "vanishing", who is vanishing? The notion of vanishing into Nirvana still leaves the question of what is aware of the vanishing and whether it resides in the void.

.On the other had, the notion of a nirvana that abides within is also reminiscent of an essentialist view of the spirit. It is as though we could look inside of our bodies and find nirvana residing there. This too is resting on the delusion that there is a separate being that always resides in ourselves or even an essential nature. Even though texts do talk about Buddha nature, it seems this is not a substance that we can point to.

So when this part of the sutra suggests that Nirvana transcends duality of knowing and known, being and non-being, I have the thought that it means going beyond all categories that we create. Whenever we label or judge ourselves, we are always imagining a self or a being that remains the same. Is there? Even when we are making mistakes, do we make the same mistake twice? The notion that there is a self who is "essentially" or "inevitably" anything gives rise to all kinds of attachments, including the desire to protect the self or to achieve something special like the feeling of "vanishing" or "possessing" some prized or coveted object that nobody has.

If, on the other hand, we see life as a process that is always moving and in motion, then we no longer stick to the notion that we are "something" or "becoming something". Instead, we can acknowledge that our nature is always empty and compounded. Under this notion, our troubles are no more static than bubbles, and our successes also seem fleeting. This frees us up to embrace whatever is happening with equanimity: nothing to celebrate when things go "well" and nothing to mourn when things go "badly". This is because nothing is born or dies.  

Finally, Nirvana is not something we acquire through knowledge. The more we know, the farther we might even get from the view of empty mind. We continue to think in terms of acquisition, like a hand trying to grasp at sand.