Hi some food for thought:
Passages from suttas:
"
Whatever states there are, whether conditioned or unconditioned, of these detachment is reckoned foremost, that is, the subduing of vanity, the elimination of thirst, the removal of reliance, the termination of the round (of rebirths), the destruction of craving, detachment, cessation, Nibbana. Those who have faith in the Dhamma of detachment have faith in the foremost, and for those with faith in the foremost the result will be foremost." -- The Buddha
"These, bhikkhus, are the two Nibbana-elements.
These two Nibbana-elements were made known By the Seeing One, stable and unattached:
One is the element seen here and now With residue,
but with the cord of being destroyed;
The other, having no residue for the future,
Is that wherein all modes of being utterly cease.
Having understood the unconditioned state,
Released in mind with the cord of being destroyed,
They have attained to the Dhamma-essence.
Delighting in the destruction (of craving),
Those stable ones have abandoned all being."
-- § 44. The Nibbana-element {Iti 2.17; Iti 38}
""What, sire, is the Blessed One's jewel of the analytical knowledges? ... Whoever shall ask me a question on the analytical knowledge of Dhamma, to him I shall speak comparing doctrine with doctrine, the deathless with the deathless,
the unconditioned with the unconditioned, Nibbana with Nibbana, emptiness with emptiness, the signless with the signless [non-manifestive], the undirected with the undirected, the imperturbable with the imperturbable." -- A Question (Solved by) Inference [
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .horn.html]
"When I had learnt of the undying state (nibbana), the unconditioned, through the instruction of the Tathagata, the Unrivalled One, I was highly and well restrained in the precepts and established in the Dhamma taught by the most excellent of men, the Awakened One." ... When I knew
the undefiled place, the unconditioned, taught by the Tathagata, the Unrivalled One, I then and there experienced the calm concentration (of the noble path). That supreme certainty of release was mine." -- Sirima: Sirima's Mansion [
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .irel.html]
Passages from other sources:
A Glossary of Pali and Buddhist Terms: [
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/glossary.html]
nibbida [nibbidaa]:
Disenchantment; aversion; disgust; weariness.
The skillful turning-away of the mind from the conditioned samsaric world towards the unconditioned, the transcendent — nibbana
"Dhammaa can be applied to both conditioned and unconditioned things and states. It embraces both conditioned and
unconditioned things including Nibbana." -- Ven. Narada Thera
"Nibbana, the Deathless, the unconditioned state [instead of a place] where there is no more birth, aging and death, and no more suffering".
"The highest fruition of merit is identical with the culmination of the Buddhist holy life itself — that is, emancipation from the shackles of samsaric existence and the realization of
Nibbana, the unconditioned state beyond the insubstantial phenomena of the world." -- Bikkhu Bodhi
"Ultimate truth, in the Buddha's Teaching, is
Nibbana, the unconditioned element (asankhata dhatu), and realization of ultimate truth the realization of Nibbana. Nibbana is the perfection of purity: the destruction of all passions, the eradication of clinging, the abolition of every impulse towards self-affirmation. The final thrust to the realization of Nibbana is the special province of wisdom, since wisdom alone is adequate to the task of comprehending all conditioned phenomena in their essential nature as impermanent, suffering and not-self, and of turning away from them
to penetrate the unconditioned, where alone permanent freedom from suffering is to be found. But that this penetration may take place, our interior must be made commensurate in purity with the truth it would grasp, and this requires in the first instance that it be purged of all those elements obstructive to the florescence of a higher light and knowledge.
The apprehension of Nibbana, this perfect purity secluded from the dust of passion, is only possible when a corresponding purity has been set up within ourselves. For only a pure mind can discern, through the dark mist of ignorance and defilement, the spotless purity of Nibbana, abiding in absolute solitude beyond the turmoil of the phenomenal procession. -- Bikkhu Bodhi
"With its cessation [of the five aggregates],
there remained the experience of the unconditioned, which he also termed nibbana (Unbinding), consciousness without surface or feature, the Deathless [if not this transcendental consciousness, then what is deathless?]" -- The Meaning of the Buddha's Awakening by Thanissaro Bhikkhu [
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ening.html]
Metta to all!