One of the common miscomprehensions is interpreting Nibbana as living in the present moment. While living in the present moment is a meditation practice, Nibbana is not a meditation practice and does not involve living in the present moment. Nibbana is a process that happens naturally shaped by karma and merits. Put differently, it is something in the air that enlightens a person shaped by merits and karmic effects. Consequently, rites and rituals that are created at the societal level do not impact the universal functioning that determines natural phenomena such as birth, death, and the enlightenment of beings. Enlightenment becomes a natural phenomenon due to the completion of paramis in the previous birth and is shaped by merits and karma for beings. The practice that leads to Nibbana is different from the practice that does not lead to Nibbana. For example, absence of triple gem in practice, such as living in the present movement through conscious effort as a mediative practice, will not likely produce fruition, because living in the present moment as a stand-alone practice does not support the accumulation of merits across the four stages of Nibbana, and each stage differs.

Merits, Nibbana and triple gems are linked. Merits can be gained in many ways, such as becoming a good person who looks after friends and family members (as applicable to oneself, for practitioners in all settings monatic or non-monatic), which generate merits. Becoming a good person indicates training to develop noble virtues, one aspect of the four factors of stream-entry. It is the highest degree of merits that supports the highest blessings in one’s life, which is Nibbana. The highest degree of merits can be generated by honoring, paying homage to the Triple Gem, and attending to Budda, private Buddhas, arahants, non-returners, once-returners, and stream enterers in order. These merits help to gain good things in this life, the afterlife, and Nibbana. Purity, as an inner quality support, shapes karma. Purity, as an inner quality and mental detachment, can be developed by practicing the teachings of Buddha in honesty to one’s heart. Practicing the teachings in line with honesty in the heart produces noble sangha, which is why a stream-enterer abandons clinging to rites and rituals, and precepts. Thus, reflecting on the qualities of the triple gem as a meditation can support developing four factors of steam entry, and, similarly, associating with those who have abandoned greed, hate, and delusion or being a noble friend who supports others gain merits and Nibbana, and good things in this life and afterlife. Refuge in triple gem shapes karma and provides merits that support the well-being of beings.

Similarly, based on social practices, the teachings of the Buddha are divided based on scripts or traditions. Yet Nibbana is not a textbook or script or similar thing, it is fruition that is established in one’s mind.

How can one practice to gain stream entry? The practice includes several components; engaging in meritious activities (i.e meditating on the qualities of the triple gem, chanting, and giving, etc.), reducing identifying the mind as “self” and applying the dhamma perspective into daily life by understanding that there is no permeant self, which is universally applicable to all beings, and in doing so, maintaining the mind in the middle, becoming a good person who genuinely cares for self and others. The practice indicates developing purity, merits, and mental detachment within one’s lifestyle.