Nirvana
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| Translations of Nirvana | |
|---|---|
| English: | salvation, extinguishing, liberation |
| Pali: | Nibbāna |
| Sanskrit: | निर्वाण (Nirvāṇa) |
| Bengali: | নির্বাণ nirbanô |
| Burmese: | နိဗ္ဗာန် (IPA: [neɪʔbàɴ]) |
| Chinese: | 涅槃 (pinyin: nièpán) |
| Japanese: | 涅槃 (rōmaji: nehan) |
| Khmer: | និព្វាន |
| Korean: | 열반 (RR: yeolban) |
| Mon: | နဳဗာန် ([nìppàn]) |
| Mongolian: | γasalang-aca nögcigsen |
| Shan: | ၼိၵ်ႈပၢၼ်ႇ ([nik3paan2]) |
| Sinhala: | නිවන (Nivana) |
| Tibetan: | མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།(mya ngan las 'das pa) |
| Thai: | นิพพาน (nibbana) |
| Vietnamese: | Niết bàn |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
Nirvāṇa (Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान nibbāna ; Prakrit: णिव्वाण) literally means "blown out", as in a candle.[1] It is most commonly associated with Buddhism.[web 1][2] In Indian religions, the attainment of nirvana is moksha,[note 1] liberation from the repeating cycle of birth, life and death (reincarnation).[3][4][note 2]
In the Buddhist context nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.[1] In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the divine ground of existence Brahman (Supreme Being) and the experience of blissful egolessness.[5]
Etymology
Phonetics
Nirvāṇa is a composed of three phones ni and va and na:- ni (nir, nis, nih): out, away from, without, a term that is used to negate
- va: blowing as in blowing of the wind and also as smelling[6]
- na: nor, never, do not, did not, should not[7]
- van: like, love; wish, desire; gain, procure; conquer, win; possess; prepare;[8]
- van:tree; forest; thicket, cluster, group; quantity; wood[8]
- va: blow (of wind); emit (an odor), be wafted or diffused[8]
- va: weave[8]
Abhidharma
The abhidharma-mahāvibhāsa-sāstra, a sarvastivādin commentary, 3rd century BCE and later, describes[9] the possible etymological interpretations of the word nirvana. [note 3][note 4]| Vana | +Nir | Nature of nirvana[10] |
|---|---|---|
| The path of rebirth | Leaving off | Being away from the path of rebirth permanently avoiding all paths of transmigration. |
| Forest | Without | To be in a state which has got rid of, for ever, of the dense forest of the three fires of lust, malice and delusion |
| Weaving | Being free | Freedom from the knot of the vexations of karmas and in which the texture of both birth and death is not to be woven |
| Stench or stink | Without | Being without and free from all stench of karmas |
Each of the five aggregates is called a skandha, which means "tree trunk." All five skandha serve to inform the study of experience, or else missing their causal relations leads away from the path to nirvana. Skandha also means "heap" or "pile" or "mass," which is the nature of their interdependence, like an endless knot's path, or a forest.
Origins
Nirvāṇa is a term used in Hinduism,[11][12] Jainism,[13] Buddhism,[12][14] and Sikhism.[15] It leads to moksha, liberation from samsara, or release from a state of suffering, after an often lengthy period of bhāvanā[note 5] or sādhanā.The idea of moksha is connected to the Vedic culture, which had notion of amrtam, "immortality",[19][20] and also a notion of a timeless, an "unborn", "the still point of the turning world of time".[19] It was also its timeless structure, the whole underlying "the spokes of the invariable but incessant wheel of time".[19][note 6] The hope for life after death started with notions of going to the worlds of the Fathers or Ancestors and/or the world of the Gods or Heaven.[19][note 7] The continuation of life after death came to be seen as dependent on sacrificial action, karma,[21] These ideas further developed into the notion of insight into the real nature of the timeless Brahman and the paramatman.[22] This basic scheme underlies Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, where "the ultimate aim is the timeless state of moksa, or, as the Buddhists first seem to have called it, nirvana."[23]
Although the term occurs in the literatures of a number of ancient Indian traditions, the concept is most commonly associated with Buddhism.[web 1] It was later adopted in the Bhagavad Gita of the Mahabharata.[2]
Jainism
The terms moksa and nirvana are often used interchangeably in the Jain texts.[24][25] In Jainism, moksha (liberation) follows nirvāṇa. Nirvana means final release from the karmic bondage. An arhat becomes a siddha ("one who is accomplished") after nirvāṇa.[citation needed] When an enlightened human, such as an arihant or a Tirthankara, extinguishes his remaining aghatiya karmas and thus ends his worldly existence, it is called nirvāṇa. Jains celebrate Diwali as the day of nirvāṇa of Mahavira.[note 8] Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Gautama explaining the meaning of nirvāṇa to Kesi, a disciple of Parshva.[27]
There is a safe place in view of all, but difficult of approach, where there is no old age nor death, no pain nor disease. It is what is called nirvāṇa, or freedom from pain, or perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe, happy, and quiet place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view of all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from sorrows, they have put an end to the stream of existence. (81-4)
Buddhism
In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires that cause suffering. These fires are typically identified as the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya). When the fires are extinguished, suffering (dukkha) comes to an end. The cessation of suffering is described as complete peace.Bhikkhu Bodhi states:[28]
- The state of perfect peace that comes when craving is eliminated is Nibbāna (nirvāṇa), the unconditioned state experienced while alive with the extinguishing of the flames of greed, aversion, and delusion.
Hinduism
According to Zaehner and "many commentators",[2] nirvana is a Buddhist term rather than a Hindu term.[2] The term nirvana was not used in Hinduism prior to its use in the Bhagavad Gita,[2] though according to van Buitenen the use of the term was not confined to Buddhism at the time the Bhagavad Gita was written.[2] According to Johnson the use of the term nirvana is borrowed from the Buddhists to link the Buddhist state of liberation with Brahman, the supreme or absolute principle of the Upanishads and the Vedic tradition.[2]
Moksha
In Hinduism, moksha is the liberation from the cycle of birth and death and one's worldly conception of self. According to Hindson & Caner, when a person achieves moksha, they have reached nirvana;[29] while according to Flood, "The attainment of nirvana is thus moksa."[3]Moksha is derived from the root mu(n)c (Sanskrit: मुच्), which means free, let go, release, liberate.[30][31] In Vedas and early Upanishads, the word mucyate (Sanskrit: मुच्यते)[30] appears, which means to be set free or release - such as of a horse from its harness.
According to Aurobindo, the last bondage is the passion for liberation itself, which must be renounced before the soul can be perfectly free, and the last knowledge is the realisation that there is none bound, none desirous of freedom, but the soul is for ever and perfectly free, that bondage is an illusion and the liberation from bondage is an illusion too.[32]
Brahmanirvana in the Bhagavad Gita
Brahma nirvana (nirvana in Brahman) is the state of release or liberation; the union with the divine ground of existence (Brahman) and the experience of blissful ego-lessness.[5] The term brahmanirvana is used 5 times in the Bhagavad Gita:[citation needed]- verse 2.72: sthitvāsyāmantakāle'pi brahmanirvāṇamṛcchati
- 5.24 (and following 2 verses): sa yogī brahmanirvāṇaṃ brahmabhūto'dhigacchati
- 6.15: śāntiṃ nirvāṇaparamāṃ matsaṃsthāmadhigacchati
According to Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of nirvana are different:
The nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana [oneness with Brahman].[35]According to Gavin Flood,
...in the Bhagavad-gītā it seems to be contrasted deliberately with the Buddhist understanding, because it is described as the attainment of Brahman ('He who forsakes all objects of desire and goes about without cravings, desires or self-centredness attains serene peace.... Staying in this state, even in his last hour, he attains brahmanirvāṇa', 2. 71 f.), and the yogin is described not (as in Buddhism) as a candle blown out, but as 'a candle flame away from a draught which does not flicker' (6, 19) The attainment of nirvana is thus mokṣa.[3]
