what exactly is nirvana

Full Answer

What does 'Nirvana' really mean?

We achieve nirvana—a state of total peace without any clinging or struggle—when we are completely free from the illusion of ego. One who reaches nirvana is called an arhat, an enlightened person who is free from suffering and the poisons of passion, aggression, and ignorance.

What religion is Nirvana associated with?

What religion is most associated with Nirvana? The term nirvana is associated with both Hinduism, the oldest religion in the world, and Buddhism , its best known off-shoot. In both Hinduism and...

What makes Nirvana so great?

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What does Nirvana stand for?

What does NIRVANA mean? nirvana, enlightenment (noun) (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness see more » Couldn't find the full form or full meaning of NIRVANA? Maybe you were looking for one of these abbreviations:

What is nirvana in simple terms?

Nirvana is a place of perfect peace and happiness, like heaven. In Hinduism and Buddhism, nirvana is the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a person's individual desires and suffering go away.

What happens at nirvana?

The escape from samsara is called Nirvana or enlightenment. Once Nirvana is achieved, and the enlightened individual physically dies, Buddhists believe that they will no longer be reborn. The Buddha taught that when Nirvana is achieved, Buddhists are able to see the world as it really is.

Is it possible to reach nirvana?

Buddhists who achieve nirvana with the help of a buddha guide become arhats, people who are enlightened but not omniscient. While nirvana is possible for any person, in most Buddhist sects only monks attempt to achieve it.

What is nirvana and how is it reached?

This means that, in order to reach Nirvana in Buddhism, one must extinguish passion. The last truth reveals the device for the cessation of suffering (magga): the wheel of Dharma, also called the Noble Eightfold path. It consists of eight practices that lead to wisdom, morals, and focus in meditation.

What's the oldest religion?

The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.

What religion believes in nirvana?

Buddhism is one of the world's largest religions and originated 2,500 years ago in India. Buddhists believe that the human life is one of suffering, and that meditation, spiritual and physical labor, and good behavior are the ways to achieve enlightenment, or nirvana.

What is the final stage of enlightenment?

The last stage of Nirvana is Arahant. One who enters this stage is free from all ten fetters and become free from the cycle of rebirth and death as well. An arahant attained the level of Nirvana by following the path shown by Lord Buddha.

What are the 8 steps to nirvana?

The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi ('meditative absorption or union'; alternatively, equanimous meditative awareness).

Is nirvana the same as heaven?

Thirdly, the kingdom of heaven emphasizes the dichotomy between the good and the evil while nirvana emphasizes delivering all living beings. Fourthly, God acts as a king and judge in the final judgement of the kingdom of heaven while Buddha acts as a guide in the journey to nirvana.

What is a example of nirvana?

Nirvana is a place or state of being in peace or complete happiness. An example of nirvana is how people feel after meditating for hours. An example of nirvana is heaven. (Buddhism) Complete cessation of suffering; a blissful state attained through realization of sunyata; enlightened experience.

Is there consciousness in nirvana?

Nirvana is then shown to be a state in which consciousness transcends all objects, and thus participates in a timeless, unconditioned realm.

Do all Buddhists go to nirvana?

The Buddhist term for enlightenment is bodhi, 'awakening'. It is a set of methods for realizing that existence is suffering. If one follows the methods, one will stop making karma that causes rebirth. But one only attains nirvana once all their karma is spent, and none is left to trigger rebirth.

What does it feel like to reach nirvana?

Nirvana-in-this-life is believed to result in a transformed mind with qualities such as happiness, freedom of negative mental states, peacefulness and non-reactiveness.

What happens after death in Buddhism?

Generally, Buddhist teaching views life and death as a continuum, believing that consciousness (the spirit) continues after death and may be reborn. Death can be an opportunity for liberation from the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Is there consciousness in nirvana?

Nirvana is then shown to be a state in which consciousness transcends all objects, and thus participates in a timeless, unconditioned realm.

What happens when a Buddhist reaches enlightenment?

In the Mahayana, all enlightened beings are Buddhas. Enlightened beings have escaped the cyclic existence, known as samsara, and attained nirvana, where there is no more birth and death and no more suffering. Upon enlightenment, beings escape the three fires, or poisons, of anger, greed, and delusion.

What happens when you reach nirvana in Buddhism?

This is a trick question. Nirvana is not a place or a process. It is neither being nor not being, which is a very difficult concept to understand....

Does nirvana mean death?

Nirvana does not mean death. Nirvana is when a person, characteristically an enlightened Buddhist monk, has spent all their karma and will no longe...

What is nirvana according to Buddhism?

Nirvana is neither being nor not being. It is removing oneself from the framework of existence so entirely that it can't even be talked about in th...

What does Nirvana mean?

Nirvana ( nibbana) literally means "blowing out" or "quenching". It is the most used as well as the earliest term to describe the soteriological goal in Buddhism: release from the cycle of rebirth ( saṃsāra ). Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on "cessation of dukkha" in the Four Noble Truths doctrine of Buddhism.

What is the state of nirvana?

The state of nirvana is also described in Buddhism as cessation of all afflictions, cessation of all actions, cessation of rebirths and suffering that are a consequence of afflictions and actions. Liberation is described as identical to anatta ( anatman, non-self, lack of any self).

What does "nirvana" mean in the Vedas?

The term nirvana in the soteriological sense of "blown out, extinguished" state of liberation does not appear in the Vedas nor in the Upanishads; according to Collins, "the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it nirvana ." This may have been deliberate use of words in early Buddhism, suggests Collins, since Atman and Brahman were described in Vedic texts and Upanishads with the imagery of fire, as something good, desirable and liberating. Collins says the word nirvāṇa is from the verbal root vā "blow" in the form of past participle vāna "blown", prefixed with the preverb nis meaning "out". Hence the original meaning of the word is "blown out, extinguished". ( Sandhi changes the sounds: the v of vāna causes nis to become nir, and then the r of nir causes retroflexion of the following n: nis+vāna > nirvāṇa ). However the Buddhist meaning of nirvana also has other interpretations .

What is the meaning of Nirvana in Sikh scriptures?

The concept of liberation as "extinction of suffering", along with the idea of sansara as the "cycle of rebirth" is also part of Sikhism. Nirvana appears in Sikh texts as the term Nirban. However, the more common term is Mukti or Moksh, a salvation concept wherein loving devotion to God is emphasized for liberation from endless cycle of rebirths.

What is the difference between Buddhist and Hindu nirvana?

According to Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of nirvana are different because the nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana (oneness with Brahman).

What is the meaning of Nirvana in the Bhagavad Gita?

According to Zaehner, Johnson and other scholars, nirvana in the Gita is a Buddhist term adopted by the Hindus. Zaehner states it was used in Hindu texts for the first time in the Bhagavad Gita, and that the idea therein in verse 2.71-72 to "suppress one's desires and ego" is also Buddhist. According to Johnson the term nirvana is borrowed from the Buddhists to confuse the Buddhists, by linking the Buddhist nirvana state to the pre-Buddhist Vedic tradition of metaphysical absolute called Brahman.

What is the second Nirvana called?

The first is called sopadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana with a remainder), the second parinirvana or anupadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana without remainder, or final nirvana). In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires that cause rebirths and associated suffering.

What Does Nirvana Mean?

If you open the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to 'nirvana', you will find the colloquial definition of the word to be 'a place or state of oblivion to care, pain, or external reality' or 'a goal hoped for but apparently unattainable'. However, the dictionary definition is not what nirvana means in its original language.

What Is Nirvana in Buddhism?

The great 3rd century CE Buddhist philosopher and logician Nagarjuna referred to nirvana as neti neti, 'neither this nor that'. He did this because no word, sign, or idea could accurately describe something that has no being. Even saying that nirvana doesn't exist misses the mark because it is both the absence of being and the absence of non-being.

How to Reach Nirvana in Buddhism

The history of Buddhist thought has many different approaches to attaining nirvana, the ultimate goal of Buddhism. These approaches, or schools, serve as guides that help one along the path, but there are disagreements over how one attains nirvana and who is ready to try.

Why can't we describe Nirvana?

Nirvana, the ultimate reality, cannot be described, because it is free of all concepts and ideas. Nirvana is the extinction of all concepts. It is total freedom. Most of our suffering arises from our ideas and concepts. If you are able to free yourself from these concepts, anxiety and fear will disappear. Nirvana, the ultimate reality, or God, is of the nature of no-birth and no-death. It is total freedom. We need to touch this reality to leave behind the fear connected with the idea of birth and death.

What is nirvana consciousness?

Originally Answered: NIRVANA Consciousness is manifestation of complex material interactions in natural units in universe. Human beings happen to be one of such units in this part of universe known to you and me who have also developed a mode of communication understood reciprocally at different degrees of harmony. Few religious philosophies could comprehend consciousness in other forms of evolved matter - for example through human mind. Of course this means the human body coexists with this mind. In simpler sentences - man with a thinking mind is result of millions of years of evolutionary process where man and mind both are some forms of matter and energy in some state. Now consciousness is also another stage of same evolutionary process where matter and energy of this universe exist in its unique state. Now, once we have understood body, mind and consciousness it becomes easier to comprehend so called nirvana. The human body and mind change states of existence as per universal law of conservation of mass and energy. For example at death a body decomposes into different matter and mind dissipates. However, consciousness which is not attached to a single body-mind unit but universally exists as ONE, continues in the universe. A human body-mind unit (any individual) is capable of realizing the universal consciousness by connecting to it, during its life time. If he can connect it is Nirbikalpa Samadhi (some name given to the experience). The individual in its life time is able to transcend body-mind existence and experience the exalted state of universal consciousness. Few people, said to have attained Nirbikalpa Samadhi have described the exalted experience as blissful enlightenment from where the individual can return to ordinary existence. When this process is final and irreversibly experienced it is NIRVANA.

Summary

Buddhism

Etymology

Overview

Hinduism

Jainism

Sikhism

Manichaenism