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| Translations of Nibbāna |
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| English: | Awakening, Enlightenment |
| Pali: | Nibbāna |
| Sanskrit: | निर्वाण (Nirvāṇa) |
| Burmese: | နိဗ္ဗာန် (neiʔbà̃ neibban) |
| Chinese: | 涅槃(T) / 涅盘(S) (pinyin: nièpán) |
| Japanese: | 涅槃 (rōmaji: nehan) |
| Vietnamese: | Niết bàn |
| Tibetan: | mya-ngan-las-'das-pa |
| Thai: | นิพพาน (nibpan) |
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Nirvana (Sanskrit: निर्वाण, Nirvāṇa; Pali: निब्बान, Nibbāna; Prakrit: णिव्वाण) is a sramanic philosophical concept important in Buddhism and Jainism. It is a state of being free from both suffering and the cycle of rebirth.
'Nirvana' is a Sanskrit word that literally means "to cease blowing" (as when a candle flame ceases to flicker) and/or extinguishing (that is, of the mental fetters).
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The Buddha described nirvana as the perfect peace of the mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states (kilesa). This peace, which is in reality the fundamental nature of the mind, is revealed when the root causes of the afflictive states are dissolved. The causes themselves (see sankhara) lie deep within the mind (that part of the mind that Western psychology calls the unconscious) but their undoing is gradually achieved by living a disciplined life (see eightfold path). In Nibbana the root causes of craving and aversion have been extinguished such that one is no longer subject to human suffering (dukkha) or further states of rebirths in samsara. Buddhist scholar, Prof. Herbert Guenther, states of Nirvana: "The notion of Nirvana is a transcendental postulate, which can only be proven psychologically/subjectively, not scientifically. Yet all highest and final goals lead towards it; indeed, it appears even to constitute the very commencement of the entire spiritual life ...With the reaching of Nirvana the Path has come to its end and reached its goal. The Self-realisation which was striven after and which here becomes Reality, signifies the ideal personality, the true human being." (Guenther, The Problem of the Soul in Early Buddhism, Curt Weller Verlag, Constanz, 1949, pp. 156-157).
The Buddha in the Dhammapada says of nirvana that it is "the highest happiness". This happiness is rather an enduring, transcendental happiness integral to the calmness attained through enlightenment or bodhi, than the happiness of blindful entertainment. The knowledge accompanying nirvana is expressed through the word bodhi. In Jainism, it means final release from the karmic bondage. When an enlightened human, such as, an Arhat or a Tirthankara extinguishes his remaining aghatiya karmas and thus ends his worldly existence, it is called parinirvana. Technically, the death of an Arhat is called nirvana of Arhat, as he has ended his wordly existence and attained liberation. Moksa, that is to say, liberation follows nirvana. An Arhat becomes a siddha, the liberated one, after attaining nirvana.
The Buddha explains nirvana as "the unconditioned" (asankhata) mind, a mind that has come to a point of perfect lucidity and clarity due to the absence of volitional formations. This being is described by the Buddha as "deathlessness" (Pali: amata or amaravati) and as the highest spiritual attainment, the natural result that accrues to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct and practise in accordance with the Noble Eightfold Path. Such a life dissolves the causes for future becoming (Skt, karma; Pali, kamma) that otherwise keep beings forever wandering through the impermanent and suffering-generating realms of desire, form, and formlessness, termed samsara.
Nirvana in sutra is never conceived of as a place (such as one might conceive heaven), but rather the antinomy of samsara (see below) which itself is synonymous with ignorance (avidyā, Pāli avijjā). This said:
Nirvāna is meant specifically - as pertains gnosis - that which ends the identity of the mind (citta) with empirical phenomena. Doctrinally Nibbāna is said of the mind which "no longer is coming (bhava) and going (vibhava)", but which has attained a status in perpetuity, whereby "liberation (vimutta) can be said".
It carries further connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. The realizing of nirvana is compared to the ending of avidyā (ignorance) which perpetuates the will (cetana) into effecting the incarnation of mind into biological or other form passing on forever through life after life (samsara).Samsara is caused principally by craving and ignorance (see dependent origination). nirvana, then, is not a place nor a state, it is an absolute truth to be realized, and a person can do so without dying. When a person who has realized nirvana dies, his death is referred as his parinirvāṇa (Pali: parinibbana), his fully passing away, as his life was his last link to the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara), and he will not be reborn again. Buddhism holds that the ultimate goal and end of samsaric existence (of ever "becoming" and "dying" and never truly being) is realization of nirvana; what happens to a person after his parinirvāṇa cannot be explained, as it is outside of all conceivable experience.
The Buddha discusses, in the context of nirvana, a consciousness differing from the consciousness factor in dependent co-arising, which is defined in terms of the six sense media. This consciousness is described as "consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all around."[1] This "consciousness without surface" differs from the kinds of consciousness associated to the six sense media, which have a "surface" that they fall upon and arise in response to.[2] In a liberated individual it is directly known, without intermediary, free from any dependence on conditions at all.[3] The dimension of consciousness that the Buddha refers to as "luminous" mind here and in other places[4] is remarkably parallel to teachings of the Great Perfection school.[5] It is presented by the Buddha and by modern-day Theravadins and Mahayanists not as a product of mystical speculation but as a phenomenological account of a state of consciousness realized through the cultivation of meditative stabilization.[6]
In Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta the Buddha likens nibbana to the cessation and extinguishing of a fire where the materials for sustenance has been removed:
Profound, Vaccha, is this phenomenon, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise.
There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress.
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (July 2008) |
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, calling nirvana the "opposite" of samsara or implying that it is apart from samsara is doctrinally problematic. According to early Mahāyāna Buddhism, they can be considered to be two aspects of the same perceived reality. By the time of Nāgārjuna, there are teachings of the identity of nirvana and samsara. However, even here it is assumed that the natural man suffers from at the very least a confusion regarding the nature of samsara.
In Burton Watson's most recent translation of the Lotus Sutra, Nirvana is described in the "Expedient Means Chapter" as an expedient means teaching, which was meant "For those of dull capacities/Who delight in a little Law/...are perplexed and confused/By a host of troubles."
Shakyamuni says in this chapter:
"Shariputra, listen carefully for the Law the Buddhas have attained, Through the power of Countless Expedient means They preach for the Benefit of living beings. The thoughts that are in the minds Of living beings, The different types of paths They follow, Their various desires and natures, The good and bad deeds They have done in previous existences – All these the Buddha Takes cognizance of, And then he employs causes, Similes, and parables, Words that embody the power Of expedient means, In order to gladden and Please them all. Sometimes he preaches sutras, Verses, stories of the Previous lives of disciples, Stories of the previous lives Of the Buddha, Of unheard-of things. At other times he preaches Regarding cause and conditions, Uses similes, parables, Passages of poetry or discourses. For those of dull capacities Who delight in a little Law, Who greedily cling to Birth and death, Who, despite the Innumerable Buddhas, Fail to practice the Profound and wonderful way But are perplexed and confused By a host of troubles – For these I preach nirvana. I devise these expedient means and So cause them to enter into the Buddha wisdom (Lotus Sutra P. 34)."
The Theravāda school makes the antithesis of samsara and Nibbāna the starting point of the entire quest for deliverance. Even more, it treats this antithesis as determinative of the final goal, which is precisely the transcendence of samsara and the attainment of liberation in Nibbāna. Where Theravada differs significantly from the Mahāyāna schools, which also start with the duality of samsara and nirvana, is in not regarding this polarity as a mere preparatory lesson tailored for those with blunt faculties, to be eventually superseded by some higher realization of non-duality. From the standpoint of the Pāli Suttas, even for the Buddha and the Arahants suffering and its cessation, samsara and Nibbāna, remain distinct.
In the experience of all, nirvana is a state which all six bases (Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body and Mind) cannot feel.
It is probably best to understand the relationship between nirvana and samsara in terms of the Buddha while on earth. Buddha was both in saṃsāra while having attained to Nirvāṇa so that he was seen by all, and simultaneously free from samsara.
Sarvastivādin commentary, Abhidharma-mahavibhāsa-sāstra, gives the complete context of the possible meanings from its Sanskrit roots:
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (July 2008) |
The nature of nirvana assumes a differently aspected Mahāyāna focus in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra or Nirvana Sutra, which alleges to be the final of all Mahāyāna sutras, delivered - the sutra indicates - by the Buddha on his last day of life on earth. Here, as well as in a number of related "tathagatagarbha" sutras, in which the Tathagatagarbha is equated with the Buddha's eternal Self or eternal nature, nirvana is spoken of by the Mahāyāna Buddha in very "cataphatic", positive terms. Nirvana, or "Great Nirvana", is indicated to be the sphere or domain (vishaya) of the True Self. It is seen as the state which constitutes the attainment of what is "Eternal, the Self, Bliss, and the Pure". Mahā-nirvāṇa ("Great Nirvana") thus becomes equivalent to the ineffable, unshakeable, blissful, all-pervading and deathless Selfhood of the Buddha himself - a mystery which no words can adequately reach and which, according to the Nirvāṇa Sutra, can only be fully known by an Awakened Being - a perfect Buddha - directly. The "tathagatagarbha"/Buddha nature does not represent a substantial self (atman); rather, it is a positive language and expression of "sunyata" (emptiness) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices; the intention of the teaching of 'tathagatagarbha'/Buddha nature is soteriological rather than theoretical.[7]
The Buddha of the Mahaparinirvāṇa Sutra gives the following definition of the attributes of nirvana, which includes the ultimate reality of the Self (not to be confused with the "worldly ego" of the five skandhas):
The attributes of nirvana are eightfold. What are these eight? Cessation (nirodha), loveliness/wholesomeness (subha), Truth (satya), Reality (tattva), eternity (nitya), bliss (sukha), the Self (atman), and complete purity (parisuddhi): that is nirvana.
He further states: "Non-Self is samsara (the cycle of rebirth); the Self (atman) is Great Nirvāṇa."
An important facet of nirvana in general is that it is not something that comes about from a concatenation of causes, that springs into existence as a result of an act of creation or an agglomeration of causative factors: it was never created; it always was, is and will be. But due to the moral and mental darkness of ordinary, samsarically benighted sentient beings, it remains hidden from unawakened perception. The Buddha of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra insists on its eternal nature and affirms its identity with the enduring, blissful Self, saying:
It is not the case that the inherent nature of nirvana did not primordially exist but now exists. If the inherent nature of nirvana did not primordially exist but does now exist, then it would not be free from taints (āsravas) nor would it be eternally (nitya) present in nature. Regardless of whether there are Buddhas or not, its intrinsic nature and attributes are eternally present ... Because of the obscuring darkness of the mental afflictions (kileśas), beings do not see it. The Tathāgata, endowed with omniscient awareness (sarvajñā-jñāna), lights the lamp of insight with his skill-in-means (upāya-kauśalya) and causes Bodhisattvas to perceive the Eternal, Bliss, the Self, and the Pure of nirvana.
Vitally, according to these Mahāyāna teachings, any being who has reached nirvana is not blotted out or extinguished: there is the extinction of the impermanent and suffering-prone "worldly self" or ego, comprised of the five changeful skandhas, but not of the immortal "supramundane" Self of the indwelling Buddha Principle Buddha-dhatu. Spiritual death for such a nirvana-ed being becomes an utter impossibility. The Buddha states in the "Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra" (Tibetan version): "Nirvana is deathless ... Those who have passed into nirvana are deathless. I say that anybody who is endowed with careful assiduity is not compounded and, even though they involve themselves in compounded things, they do not age, they do not die, they do not perish."
In the Visuddhimagga, Ch. I, v. 6 (Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli, 1999, pp. 6-7), Buddhaghosa identifies various options within the Pali canon for pursuing a path to nirvana,[8] including:
Depending on one's analysis, each of these options could be seen as a reframing of the Buddha's Threefold Training of virtue, mental development[15] and wisdom.
Nirvana in Jainism means :-
Jains celebrate Diwali as the day of Nirvana of Mahavira. Kalpasutra gives an elaborate account of Mahavira’s nirvana. [17]
| “ | The aghatiya Karma’s of venerable Ascetic Mahavira got exhausted, when in this Avasarpini era the greater part of the Duhshamasushama period had elapsed and only three years and eight and a half months were left. Mahavira had recited the fifty-five lectures which detail the results of Karma, and the thirty-six unasked questions (the Uttaradhyana Sutra). The moon was in conjunction with the asterism Svati, at the time of early morning, in the town of Papa, and in king Hastipala's office of the writers, (Mahivira) single and alone, sitting in the Samparyahka posture, left his body and attained nirvana, freed from all pains.” (147)
In the fourth month of that rainy season, in the seventh fortnight, in the dark (fortnight) of Karttika, on its fifteenth day, in the last night, in the town of Papa, in king Hastipala's office of the writers, the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, went off, cut asunder the ties of birth, old age, and death; became a Siddha, a Buddha, a Mukta, a maker of the end (to all misery), finally liberated, freed from all pains. (123) That night in which the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira died, freed from all pains, was lighted up by many descending and ascending gods. (125) In that night in which the Venerable Ascetic Mahavira, died, freed from all pains, the eighteen confederate kings of Kasi and Kosala, the nine Mallakis and nine Licchavis, on the day of new moon, instituted an illuminations on the Poshadha, which was a fasting day; for they said: 'Since the light of intelligence is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter!'(128) |
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Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Gautama explaining the meaning of nirvana to Kesi a disciple of Parsva. [18]
| “ | 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 Nirvâna, 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) | ” |
