Mukti (Hinduism, Buddhism)

Liberation, or release from the cycle of birth and death [samsara]

, is normally seen in Hindu tradition as only occurring at death after a life of devotion to God. However, some traditions see the possibility of such detachment from all that is liable to change and of realization of the immutable pure consciousness of the essential nature of being that liberation may be achieved while living in this lifetime - [jivanmukti]

. This discrimination of the permanent from the transient frees the individual from suffering so that there is a state of bliss, [ananda]

. After death, the sequence of causes for further action, [karman]

, ceases and the individual is not reborn but achieves union with Brahman.

In the Advaita school this implies seeing all plurality, even the plurality of the individual [atman]

, as an illusion; everything in reality is Brahman, and awareness of this is liberation. Another approach (Samkhya) sees mukti as being achieved on perceiving the spirit (purusa or atman) as entirely other than nature (prakriti), and as simply witnessing the suffering arising from lack of discrimination. This perception leads to [kaivalya]

; the individual in a state of serene wisdom lives on until his karma is exhausted, although it is no longer added to, and after death he is not reborn. Tantric sects look on mukti as the purifying of the impure body into pure substance; the actual body of such a [siddha]

is considered by some to be immortal. For the Buddhist, mukti implies a period of sentient existence freed from suffering; this entails detachment from objects and persons - neither attachment nor aversion, as both are considered desires, and freedom is freedom from desire. This period in heaven eventually culminates in death; permanent release is achieved only by an [arhat]

. Although Zen puts little emphasis on desires and their results, it makes clear that the enlightenment does in fact bring automatic freedom from desire and the cycle of birth and death.