See also: Nirvana

Nirvāna is a term Sanskrit (निर्वाण nirvāṇa ), copies Pali Nibbāna (निब्बान), which means “extinction” of flame or fever, étymologiquement “ex-spiration” , and by extension “appeasing” then “release”. This word became, in Chinese 涅槃 nièpán , in Japanese 涅槃 nehan , in Korean 열반 yolban , in Tibetan myang-ʼdas or myan-ngan ʼdas-Pa (litt.: beyond last the suffering ), and in Thai นิพพาน nípphaan .

Meaning in Buddhism

In its Buddhist meaning , which is most common today, this term indicates the “goal” of the Buddhist practice, the Awakening ( Bodhi ). It is beyond any description and can be defined only negatively like the end of ignorance and wanting to live. It can be compared, according to the texts, with the extinction of a flame: just as one cannot define a fire which does not burn, one cannot define a person who “exsufflé” the aggregates of existence (desires, volitions, designs erroneous) which involve a not waked up person of rebirth in rebirth.

A less negative definition is that of a total and permanent interior peace, coming from the detachment. The acquisition of this “state” (which is defined as a “not-state”) is considered possible during the life, or, possibly, at the time of death. The idea popularized enough in the public of the nirvāna as of a “Paradis” where one would continue to exist after death is absurd (and contradictory with the Buddhist thesis of not-oneself and the Vacuité of the phenomena and the Absolute). One cannot thus nor “enter there”   nor “to remain there”. The nirvāna is not either death, but rather the end of the belief in an autonomous and permanent ego.

Close terms are: awakening, extinction, release, illumination, delivery, absolute vacuity, supreme peace, ultimate reality.

See also Parinirvāna , Satori .

Meaning in the hindouism

The same concept also exists in the Hindouisme but it is preferably named Moksha (or mukti , bush-hammered ), the term of nirvāna there being less often employed.

Quotations

• “There are a without-birth, without-to become, without-creation, without-condition. If there were not this without-birth, without-to become, without-creation, without-condition, one could not escape born, become, created, conditioned. But since there is a without-birth, without-to become, without-creation, without-condition, one can escape born, become, created, conditioned. ” Udana , VIII, 3.
• “As a flame puffed up by a powerful wind goes in rest and cannot be defined, thus the wise one which is released from the body and from the spirit ( nāmakāyā ) goes in rest and cannot be defined. ” Sutta Nipāta
• “Where there is nothing, where nothing can be seized, it is the ultimate Island. I call it nirvāna : complete extinction of old age and death. ”

Popular direction

In the familiar language, nirvana indicates a " happiness suprême" , a pleasure of the directions reaches in particular by the Sexualité, of the objects or the highly pleasant situations. It is then about a canted direction, about synonymous with intense pleasure, rather far away from the concept of interior peace.

See too

• Parinirvâna
• Buddhism hīnayāna
• Saṃsāra
• Louis of the Valley-Chick, Nirvâna , G. Beauchesne, 1925

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