NIBBANA, NIVVANA or NIRVANA

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NIBBANA or NIVVANA (निर्वाण)

It's "blowing out" or "quenching" of the activities of the worldly mind and its related suffering. ~Nirvana is the goal of the Buddhist path, and marks the soteriological release from worldly suffering & rebirths in saṃsāra.

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What is Nirvan?

~Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on "cessation of dukkha" in the Four Noble Truths, and the "summum bonum of Buddhism and goal of the Eightfold Path." ~In Indian religions, nirvana is synonymous with moksha and mukti.

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All Indian religions assert

Nirvana to be a state of perfect quietude, freedom, highest happiness as well as the liberation from attachment and worldly suffering and the ending of samsara, the round of existence. However, non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions describe these terms for liberation differently.

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In Hindu philosophy

Nirvan is the union of or the realization of the identity of Atman with Brahman, depending on the Hindu tradition. ~ In Jainism, nirvana is also the soteriological goal, representing the release of a soul from karmic bondage and samsara. The ideas of spiritual liberation, with the concept of soul and Brahman, appear in Vedic texts & Upanishads (Brihadaranyaka 4.4.6)

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In the Buddhist context

Nirvana refers to the abandonment of the 10 fetters, marking the end of rebirth by stilling the fires that keep the process of rebirth going. To achieve this status, one has to get rid of three psychological evils – Raga राग(greed, desire), Dwesha द्वेष (anger) and Moha मोह (delusion).

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The term nirvana in the soteriological sense of

"blown out, extinguished" state of liberation appears at many places in the Vedas and even more in the post-Buddhist Bhagavata Purana, however populist opinion does not give credit to either the Vedas or the Upanishads. Collins states, "the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it nirvana."

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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).

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L. S. Cousins said

In popular usage nirvana was "the goal of Buddhist discipline,... the final removal of the disturbing mental elements which obstruct a peaceful and clear state of mind, together with a state of awakening from the mental sleep which they induce." Nirvana (nibbana) literally means "blowing out" or "quenching".

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Sanskrit words vimukti, mukti, moksha

Have the same meaning. ~Vimoksha विमोक्ष means release from the bonds of earthly desires, delusion, suffering and transmigration. ...While Buddhism sets forth various kinds and stages of emancipation, or enlightenment, the supreme emancipation is nirvana.

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The Buddha is believed in two types of Nirvana

Buddhist scholastic tradition have realized two types of nirvana, one at enlightenment, and another at his death. ~The first is called sopadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana with a remainder), ~ the second parinirvana or anupadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana without remainder, or final nirvana).

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In the Buddhist tradition

Nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires that cause rebirths and associated suffering. The Buddhist texts identify these "three fires" or "three poisons" as raga राग (greed, sensuality), dvesha द्वेष (aversion, hate) and avidyā or moha मोह (ignorance, delusion).

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The state of nirvana 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 (अनात्मा anatman, non-self, lack of any self).

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Liberation is achieved in Buddhism

When all things and beings are understood to be with no Self. Nirvana is also described as identical to achieving sunyata शून्यता (emptiness), where there is no essence or fundamental nature in anything, and everything is empty.

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Being an unconditioned state

A fire going out for lack of fuel, abandoning weaving (vana वन) together of life after life, and the elimination of desire. Buddhist texts have asserted since ancient times that nirvana is more than "destruction of desire", it is "the object of the knowledge" of the Buddhist path.

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What is nirvana according to Buddhism?

Nirvana, the state to which all Buddhists aspire, is the cessation of desire and hence the end of suffering. Nirvana in Sanskrit means "the blowing out." It is understood as the extinguishment of the flame of personal desire, the quenching of the fire of life.

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What happens during Nirvana?

Those who achieve nirvana join God and merge their atman (pure self) in perfect communion with divine life. In this state, there is no ego or desire, and the atman is free from any kind of earthly manifestation, for it is one with eternal peace and perfection, also known as the state of yoga.

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Does Buddha have nirvana?

The Buddha himself is said to have realized nirvana when he achieved enlightenment at the age of 35. Although he destroyed the cause of future rebirth, he continued to live for another 45 years. When he died, he entered nirvana, never to be born again.

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There are four stages of Nirvana...

They are Sotapanna सोतापन्न, Sakadagami सकदागामी, Anagami अनागामी, & Arahant अरहंत. Nirvana, the most popular words in Buddhism, also known as Enlightenment. According to the legend, Lord Buddha attained the level of Nirvana in Bodh Gaya while meditating under the Bodhi Tree.

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Nibbaana is the fourth ultimate reality

...Paramattha Dhamma. Whereas the other three realities — consciousness (citta), mental formations (cetasikaa), and material phenomena (ruupa) — are conditioned, nibbaana is not. It is neither created nor formed. Nibbaana is the extinction of greed, hate, and delusion. But nibbaana is not the mere extinction of these defilements.

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Nibhana is a state to be attained

In this very existence by the extinction of greed, hate, and delusion. Nibbaana is the summum bonum of Buddhist practice, to be achieved only by following the Noble Eightfold Path. For most of us the journey along the Path will be long and arduous, but there are sign-posts on the way that will indicate we are going in the right direction.

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We will recognize these sign-posts when

The fetters that bind us are broken in succession. When the first three fetters — personality view, doubt, and clinging to mere rules and rituals — are broken one becomes a "stream enterer" (sotaapanna), one who has entered the stream to nibbaana. The fetters, once broken, will never bind such a person again. This is the truth he knows without uncertainty.

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◆The stream-enterer (sotaapanna)

will not be reborn in the four lower planes of existence. He will take rebirth seven times at the most, either in the human or heavenly planes. ◆When the next two fetters — sensuous craving and ill-will are attenuated, one becomes a "once-returner" (sakadaagaamii), due to return only once to the sense sphere world and then attain nibbaana.

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◆The non-returner" (anaagaami),

When all the lower five fetters are eradicated, the disciple becomes a "non-returner" (anaagaami), who will never return to the sense sphere world but, after death, will be reborn in a pure divine abode and attain nibbaana there.

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◆The 'arahant', free from all future becoming.

One who takes the next major step and eradicates the five higher fetters — desire for existence in fine material planes, desire for existence in the immaterial planes, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance — reaches the final goal. He is the arahant, free from all future becoming.

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When the arahant dies

He attains an-upaadi-sesa-nibbaana, nibbaana without the aggregates remaining. He will not be reborn anywhere. Earlier he severed the chain of dependent origination at the link where feeling is followed by craving. Now he severs it at the link where becoming leads to new birth.

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Life is a process of becoming, perishing at every

moment, generated by kamma. Since there is no ego-entity, there is nothing to be annihilated and nothing to enter a state of eternal existence. When the arahant dies, the physio-mental process comes to an end for lack of the "fuel" needed to keep it going. This fuel is craving (ta.nhaa), which leads to grasping, which in turn leads to further becoming.

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If craving is totally extinguished,

There can be no further becoming. When the body dies at the expiration of the life span, no new rebirth takes place. If there is no rebirth in any plane, then there is no decay, disease, and death; there is no sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or despair. This is the end of suffering. (Courtesy: Wikipedia & others)

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