Reality

Reality is simply Reality. It is what is.

It was once understood that the world was flat. That idea was believed and taught. It was common sense. But we discovered otherwise. The world is a sphere; that is Reality.

Reality is what is. Not what I want, hope, believe, or desire. It is what is. We get a better understanding of Reality everyday through observation, science.

People often ask, “Is the world temporary and passing?”

I don't know.

I don't think anyone 'knows'. The Buddha did not teach of a beginning or an ending. He taught of the existence of stress and the ending of stress.

Western religion, the Western viewpoint, sees time as a linear thing; a beginning and an ending. Eastern thought doesn't hold that view.

Think of a circle. There's no beginning and no ending - it is.

This idea of the circle may be hard to grasp in regard to time, but it's a view held by half of humanity. Most North Americans and Europeans are experienced in Western thought only. One-half of the planet has a history and philosophy that views things from a different perspective.

Neither is correct, neither is wrong. Two perspectives.

People investigating Buddhism often ask, “What happens to my personal identity at death or Nirvana?”

Think of yourself when you were 6-years old. Think of yourself when you were 10, 14, 17-years old. Where is that 'personality" today?

That which you refer to as your personality has evolved, matured, changed because of experiences?

In Buddhism we posit the thought of personality being a collection of memories of experiences.

Nirvana is the ending of greed, anger, and delusion.

Nirvana is the objective of Theravada Buddhism.

Within the Mahayana School - Chinese, Tibetan, Korea, Japanese, Vietnamese - the goal (if I may use that word for expediency) is not Nirvana but Buddhahood.

The mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra, which is chanted daily in Mahayana temples and monasteries, is: Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate.

An English translation: Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Beyond the Beyond.

This might be explained as:

Gone = Non-Attachment

Gone Beyond = Nirvana

Gone Beyond the Beyond = Buddhahood.

You have that within you Buddhahood, your Buddha-Nature.

That which you call a personality is a passing thing, as your thoughts, your youth, your body.

But, Buddhism does not teach nihilism. You are Life. You have always been and you shall always be.