Nirvana (Buddhism, Zen, Hinduism)

Derived from nir-va, to blow out, the term nirvana refers to a state of complete freedom, liberation and enlightenment, in total peace and bliss; the goal of Buddhism. Originally [nirvana]

referred to a state not in this world at all, a totally different mode of being. It was annihilation of the perishable and return to the unmanifest and imperishable state, beyond the physical, beyond time and space to the supramundane - [lokuttara]

. Subsequent interpretations - for example [Mahayana]

Buddhism - look on it more as total harmony with the universe, so that transcendence and mundane existence - [samsara]

- are united in an awareness of one's self and the absolute as one. [Madhyamaka]

Buddhism (middle way) sees the experience as one of emptiness - [sunyata]

- when everything related to our confused view of the world ceases to be or is absent. [Yogacara]

, which considers that only the mind exists and that the phenomenal world is simply a projection of it, does not distinguish [nirvana]

from [samsara]

, but describes [nirvana]

as awareness that only mind exists and that belief in phenomenal existence is confusion. [Yogacara]

distinguishes the [nirvana]

of the [arhat]

from that of the Buddha since only that of the Buddha includes the bliss of conscious extinction and the conscious compassion for all and unity with all. [Zen]

teaching is that [nirvana]

is the realization of the mind's essential nature - [bussho]

- the [buddha nature]

which is the same for all beings but only realized in [nirvana]

through wisdom - [prajna]

, such insight giving rise to [nirvana]

and [nirvana]

giving rise to such insight.

The path to Nirvana is the eightfold way, also referred to as the [noble path]

: right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation. Following this path one overcomes the three unwholesome roots - [akusala mula]

, which are [lobha]

(desire or greed), [dvesa]

(hatred) and [moha]

(delusion or blindness) and which bind one to [samsara]

, the cycle of birth and death. Anything connected with these mula is karmically unwholesome and has within itself the source of future suffering (duhkha). Wilful impulses or volition - [samskara]

- come to rest. There is no more coming into being (arising), subsisting, changeableness or ceasing (passing away). One who has achieved nirvana is called an Arhat, living in a condition where there is neither earth nor water nor fire nor air; neither infinite space nor infinite consciousness; perception or non-perception. The world is not so much overcome as removed. There is total emancipation from matter. Time ceases to exist.

Nirvana is the culmination of a "journey" through the four realms of form and formlessness. The sphere of neither conceptualization nor non-conceptualization is entirely transcended so that the practitioner remains in a state of cessation from both sensation and conceptualization. Descriptions of nirvana tend to emphasize what it is not rather than what it is, as what it is is indescribable. Because Buddhism equates mundane existence with suffering, the particular characteristic usually emphasized is cessation of all suffering - the third noble truth - although the experience is also said to be characterized by utter bliss and liberation. Ignorance and craving are dissolved in knowledge of unconditioned dharma. Activity is carried out for its own sake and no longer directed towards a definite goal.

Complete extinction, [pari-nirvana]

or [nirvana without remainder]

- [nirupadhisesanirvana]

- is that final and irreversible state of emancipation which may only arise on death of the body of the fully enlightened. Some equate this with total annihilation, self-identity ceasing when psycho-physical processes cease, although the orthodox view is that nothing can be known about such a state. Others identify attainment of cessation with nirvana, although there is some discussion as to whether nirvana as cessation is identical with pari-nirvana or whether it can arise in this life when it is as though physically dead. [Sopadhisesanirvana]

(nirvana with remainder) is that state experienced by Buddha when meditating under the Bo tree. In this case there is sufficient remainder of past actions for the practitioner to continue to live and act.

The characteristic of nirvana is peace; its function is not passing away and also comforting; its manifestation is as signlessness or as non-diversity. The [Path of Purification]

gives insight into nirvana and its real existence. Although it cannot be apprehended by ordinary people, this does not mean it cannot be apprehended at all; it can certainly be reached by following the right way. Past and future aggregates are absent - although their absence does not necessitate nirvana; there is no clinging to the past nor arousing of future. Present aggregates remain, supporting the path moment as nirvana is entered. Again, defilements are absent, but their absence alone does not necessitate nirvana. If nirvana were simply destruction it would be temporary, would be formed, achieved independent of right effort. Being formed entails the fire of craving and therefore suffering, which cannot be nirvana. Nirvana is not created - it is reachable by the Noble Path but not created by it. Finally, it is not non-existent - there remains that which is unborn, is not the result of becoming, is not made, is not conditioned or formed.

In Hinduism, [nirvana]

is transcendence, identical with the highest state of consciousness, with [turiya]

and with [nirbija samadhi]

(yoga) or [nirvikalpa samadhi]

. It is the merging of the individual, transitory "I" or self with the universal self Atman and that with Brahman. In this sense it is referred to in the [Bhagavad Gita]

as [brahman nirvana]

.

When Buddha achieved this state he is reputed to have said: "I, Buddha, who wept with all my brother's tears, laugh and am glad, for there is liberty". It is notable that his first two word are "I" and his name "Buddha". As in the mystic Sufi doctrine of (fana) annihilation in God, what is extinguished or blown out is metaphorically heat (agitation). The light remains.

Sometimes referred to as the third of the four noble truths.