SuttaCentral
I have researched existing topics via Google before posting this but there’s none which answers this
If nibbana is the cessation of desire I am anxious to know whether there’s real difference between it and contentment which is if I am not mistaken a cessation of desire too
Please kindly point me to a sutta or commentaries but if there’s none your opinion too is okay and matters to me
Thanks
As in the wishing game by Ajahn Brahm:
Nibbana is the greatest contentment.
Ordinary usage, I would say nibbana is permanent, contentment is not.
In what sense do you say contentment is not permanent ?
If you’re talking about the ordinary experience of contentment, that’s simply an emotional state that doesn’t involve any insight.
Nibbana involves seeing through delusions. It leads to a deep experience of peace, but it arises through insight.
What’s that insight ?
The insight is knowing, deeply, that all experiences are impermanent and without essence, that they are incapable of bringing lasting peace or happiness, and that they are not oneself.
As the Dhammapada puts it:
All conditions are impermanent—
“Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā”ti,
when this is seen with wisdom,
yadā paññāya passati;
one grows disillusioned with suffering:
Atha nibbindati dukkhe,
this is the path to purity.
esa maggo visuddhiyā.
All conditions are suffering—
“Sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā”ti,
when this is seen with wisdom,
yadā paññāya passati;
one grows disillusioned with suffering:
Atha nibbindati dukkhe,
this is the path to purity.
esa maggo visuddhiyā.
All things are not-self—
“Sabbe dhammā anattā”ti,
when this is seen with wisdom,
yadā paññāya passati;
one grows disillusioned with suffering:
Atha nibbindati dukkhe,
this is the path to purity.
esa maggo visuddhiyā.
contentment of us, is poisonous, dangerous with footing or support in this world.
arihant’s contentment is none of above.
Contentment is a provisional but necessary state:
“This stands for the mind that, once it gets into a state of concentration, wonders where to go next to get something better. The trick is to learn how to stay in your meadow, so the grass has a chance to grow, so you have a chance to enjoy the water right where you already are. And the place where you are will develop into deeper and deeper states of concentration. This is why it’s so important that before you start working with the breath here or there, adjusting it here or there, you find at least some spot where it’s comfortable and focus on that.”
[…]
“The same with the breath: Find at least one little spot and stay right there for a while. It doesn’t have to be a big spot, just a small spot. And content yourself with that small spot for the time being. Allow it to be comfortable. After a while it will catch. Then you can start spreading that sense of comfort throughout the body because you’re working from a position of strength. You’re working from a position of comfort, not a position of desperation or anxiety or restlessness, thinking that this has to be like that, or that has to be like this. Just content yourself with what you’ve got and allow it to grow. Content yourself at first with the small things, and ultimately, with practice, they’ll grow into a greater and greater sense of wellbeing.”—Thanissaro
I think contentment is a quality of Saddha in the transcendental order, having faith in the teachings of the blessed one and not seeking a meaningful change in the world.
In the same order, nibbana would be asavakkhaye ñana - knowledge of destruction of cankers.
Ārogyaparamā lābhā, santuṭṭhiparamaṃ dhanaṃ.
Vissāsaparamā ñāti, nibbānaṃ paramaṃ sukhaṃ.
“Health is the highest gain. Contentment is the greatest wealth.
The trustworthy are the best kinsmen. Nibbāna is the highest bliss.”
1.Contentment is when you don’t have greed with things you don’t have
In case of nibbana you don’t even have greed with what you have let alone with what you don’t have
2.There’s still relishing and delighting with what one already has with contentment
With nibbana you don’t have relishing and delighting with things you already have
3.Now with contentment there is still ignorance by assuming that some things are changeless especially with what one already has
With nibbana there’s no ignorance or assumption that some things are changeless even if you own them
The most striking difference is about acceptance
in case of contentment you accept that you can’t get everything, this insight enable you to be happy with what you already have
In case of nibbana you accept that everything changes and this insight enable you to not depend on anything
Both are based on insight but nibbana needs more powerful insight as support than simply contentment
Thanks
May you all be happy 
Thanks for this post. Wonderful replies