Nirvana (spirituality)

Statue of Buddha, of the Tang dynasty, in the province of Hebei.

In Shramanic philosophy, nirvana is the state of liberation from both suffering (duḥkha) and the cycle of rebirths.

It is an important concept in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism and is often achieved through different spiritual practices and techniques.

Nirvana is a Sanskrit word that refers to a state that can be reached through meditation and spiritual enlightenment, and that consists of the liberation of desires, suffering, individual consciousness and the cycle of reincarnations.

Etymology

Nirvana literally means "extinguished", as in a candle.

In other languages it is said:

• أعربية (nirvāna)in devanagari writing (of the Sanskrit);
• ि ि。 (nirvāna)in puppy;
• أعربية, (nibbāna)in pali;
• (nizen)in Chinese;
• (nehan)in Japanese;
• ▪ (nipphan)in Thai;
• 반 (y refugee)in Korean

Nirvana in Hinduism

Nirvana is the transcendent state free of suffering and individual phenomenal existence; it is the religious experience most identified with Buddhism. The word comes from a verb meaning to cool down or go out, like the end of a candle. The connotation is that only in nirvana are the flames of hatred, attachment and ignorance extinguished. In a state of nirvana, the cycle of transmigration is broken, which would otherwise be eternal. Its nature has been much debated by Western thought, some of whose researchers maintain that it implies total annihilation, while others interpret it as eternal bliss. Both points of view are problematic at times, since nirvana is indescribable and can only be known from the experience of it.

Hinduism speaks of the union with the absolute one (Brahman), therefore although nirvana points to the same event of inner peace, it should not be considered with exactly the same consequences as in Buddhism, since from In fact, Buddhism redefined the concept of nirvana according to its own postulates. Each therefore has its own religious framework.

Hinduism uses the term nirvana in its context of mokṣa (liberation from samsara or the cycle of repeated birth and death), in which the soul or ātmān will merge with divinity or the absolute. This liberation is therefore a fusion of the soul with divinity.

In turn, within Hinduism this concept of liberation is conceived differently by the various (dárśanas) Hindu creeds. The Vaishnavas (Vishnuists, or devotees of the god Vishnu) consider that mokṣa does not imply the monistic fusion of the soul within God, but the acceptance of the soul to serve Him. That is why in Vaishnavism one does not really want to abandon reincarnation, but to serve God, even if it is suffering in this world far from him.

Nirvana in Buddhism

Scheme of samsara and her relationship with nirvana according to Canon Páli.

Siddhartha Gautama referred to nirvana as follows:

«There are monks, a condition where there is no land, no water, no air, no light, no space, no limits, no time without limits, no ideas, no lack of ideas, no world, no world, no sun, no moon. To that, monks, I denote him neither to go nor to come, nor to rise up, nor to be fed, nor death, nor birth, nor effect, nor change, nor stopping: that is the end of suffering.» (Udana, VIII, 1)

Since nirvana cannot be defined in words, it is often delimited by what it is not:

• It is not the common existence to which human beings are subject.
• It has no beginning or end (it is not within the measurable time).
• You cannot generate or manufacture.
• It has no duality, so it cannot be described with words.
• It is not a subjective state of consciousness.
• It's not conditioned on anything or anything.
• It is not any kind of development or conversion.^{[chuckles]required]}
• It has no parts or stages that can be distinguished from one another.^{[chuckles]required]}

Gautama Buddha redefined the attainment of nirvana present in Hinduism through a meditative process in which the body and mind are analyzed as devoid of intrinsic individuality. In this process there is a vacuum of individuality (śūnyatā) of everything present in the body and mind of the subject. This lack of individuality is also common to all phenomena in the universe; being through the four stages of nirvana as the different degrees of illumination that a person can obtain in this life are presented.

As in Hinduism, the realization of Buddhist nirvana implies the definitive liberation from the suffering of existence or from the different states of reincarnation to which all beings are subject. But in Buddhism this idea will be taken to its ultimate consequences. The difference in the Hindu context is that this occurs through union with an absolute (Brahman) similar to what the mysticism of Western theistic religions exposes.

The statement that Buddhism considers nirvana as the opposite of samsāra (the world as we live in it now) is not correct from the point of view of Buddhist doctrine, since gods and men are subject to karma and Buddha expressed the final liberation of gods and men in the midst of the world of phenomena. Therefore, he distanced himself from that state of absorption in divinity or union with an absolute as the path of ultimate liberation as it was present in Hinduism.^{[citation needed]}

Nirvana in Jainism

Image of Mahavira's nirvana from Kalpasutra. In it is appreciated the Siddhashila, where the souls of those who achieve the nirvana come.

In Jainism it refers to liberation from the bonds of karma. When a human being like a Tirthankara is freed from his karmas, his experience in the world ends by attaining nirvāṇa. Technically, the end of the life span is called nirvana as earthly existence has ended and liberation has been achieved. Moksa would then be the liberation that follows nirvana. Thus we would have a first step, nirvana, which the Arhat performs and who only later and through Moksa becomes a siddha, the liberated one.

Jains celebrate Diwali as the day Mahavira achieved his nirvana. The Kalpasutra narrates Mahavira's nirvana in detail.