Ultimate Sufi state of consciousness (Sufism)

In some Sufi systems the eighth is the highest state of mystical consciousness, which has been described as total annihilation of the self and absorption into the infinite. As such it can be compared with the Buddhist [nirvana]

. Among the Nakshbandi it is called "Alone in a crowd". In Ansari the eighth cycle is called "Sanctity" and described as the "gathering after separation", where the spiritual powers make their appearance (although Ansari gives "Realities" and "Mystical union" as above "Sanctity"). He describes the mystical station of gathering (jam) as world-renunciation, and the station of separation (tafriqah) the common view of one's individuality as being apart from the universe, ever among the pious. Thus the eighth is the station of "gathering", in which the mystic "beholds one moon plainly", conscious of nothing but unity. However a still higher state is the "gathering of the gathering" (jam al-jam) in which one beholds "three moons together": divine unity as essence, creator and creatures; or as essence, qualities and actions; or as the law, the way and the truth. Mystical stations are said to be fulfilled only through their opposites; so souls perfected by the gathering must be joined to forms which are in separation to effect unity of existence.