Nirvana

Nirvana or Nirvana (Sanskrit, n, निर्वाण, nirvāṇa; nis, nir = off, vā = blow ) or Nibbana ( Pali, nibbana ) is a Buddhist key concept of the escape from samsara, the cycle of suffering and rebirth ( reincarnation ) by awakening ( bodhi ) refers. The word means " extinction " (literally " blown away " by some Buddhists also regarded as a " record " within the meaning of understanding ) in the sense of the end of all with false personal ideas of the existence of associated factors, such as I - addiction, greed, attachment ( Upadana ).

• 3.1 Miscellaneous

Nirvana from the perspective of different Buddhist schools

Nirvana in early Buddhist schools

Ways to reach that nirvana in Theravada Buddhism

Nirvana is achieved in letting go of all attachments to the conditions of samsara. Consequently, nirvana means Some thought that opinions not something that sets itself only with the death, but can - provided the corresponding mental or spiritual development - are already achieved in life ( state of Arhat ). Nirvana is called the historical Buddha in several places of the Suttapitaka " the highest happiness ". However, this not creating, dissolving and becoming different subjected to well-being is not a pleasant feeling, but an independent and happiness beyond all feelings, conditions and configurations. Nirvana is synonymous with inner calm and composed in the absence of any uneasiness of mind, all wishes and presuppositions. Nirvana thus describes a specific, but unusual and largely unknown in the Samsara state of mind. He is also described as imageless ( animitta ), directionless ( apranihita ) and indiscriminately ( ekalakshana ).

Through intensive consideration of one of the three characteristics of existence ( " impermanence ", " unsatisfactoriness ," " emptiness " ) passes through the meditator different stages of knowledge ( vipassana -nana ). Continuous neutral observation of all phenomena of existence (feelings, sense objects, thoughts ) leads to a gradual detachment, culminating in the so-called experience of Maggaphala ( "moment of fruit "). this event, which is valid in the Theravada as the actual experience of Nirvana, changed the meditator and leads to a "break with the world." the urgency and intensity of these experience makes also the degree of " Erlöstheit " of a person.

Stages of enlightenment

In the Pali canon four stages of " enlightenment " of a person can be distinguished:

The stream enterer, the Nirvana for the first time " experiences " ( all senses the " Anprasseln " ) is the De - identification with his world freed and is more than seven times can be reborn, because the process of world redemption itself independent from now on. Within these remaining seven rebirths he can not return below the human existence, according to the scholastic definition. The Once -returner ( Nirvana a second time deeper experiences ) has only (maximum) one rebirth in the deva or human world before him. The non -returner is also reborn only one more time - but in certain very finely designed world, the field of " Brahma ".

The Arhat is considered the highest achievement of Nirvana. An Arhat has no more rebirth before him. Although he stands with the body still in life, he is freed internally and as it stands outside the world. In the Pali Canon countless parables have survived that attempt to describe the state of such a saint in the form of images. Famous is the comparison with a lotus leaf: Like a drop of water that touches a lotus leaf, this is true, but does not stick to it, so is the Holy One, as long as his body still exists, although made ​​of all perception, but this is not him hanging ( does not generate buildup).

Nirvana from the perspective of various schools of Mahayana Buddhism

Nirvana from the point of view of the Madhyamaka school

In the Madhyamaka school nirvana has a positive character, since using it are the lower aspects of the ego fall ( go out) and identification with the spiritual self. Nagarjuna understands the really real as Shunyata ( emptiness ). Nirvana is thus the realization of emptiness, lives out of and in all that is transitory, on the basis of a unified feeling and insight into the unity of the world ( samsara ), body, soul and spirit. It can be understood as freedom from attachments to states of unhappiness, satisfaction and happiness. At the same time it is the experience of bliss in the intense perception of their own identity with an absolute awareness.

Reception in Western Europe and background

The term is difficult to define and has resulted in the reception history of Buddhism in the West to misunderstandings. In the course of a longer history of translation from the Sanskrit to the Thai, the word was initially transferred from there with "nothing" in the Western European languages ​​. This misleading translation has to Buddhism from the perspective of Western European philosophy introduced the accusation, if it were a nihilistic doctrine.

Non - Canonical and modern theological statements about Nirvana

In the interpretation Nyanatiloka Mahatheras Nirvana is synonymous with a life of peace and happiness: " A Buddha lives meekly in a world of battle. He lingers suchtlos in a world of addictions. It rests sorry freed in a world of suffering. Nirvana is the highest happiness. Well, it's to make an Enlightened One. His light illuminates the world. His wisdom points the way to happiness. "

Rolf Elberfeld two stages of Nirvana: In the first stage, "man is free from all desire and has reduced its karmic reaction forces to a minimum. At this stage, the person must still eat, breathe, move. The second stage of liberation or nirvana is characterized by the complete destruction of all changes. In this second stage of nirvana, which can be achieved only with the physical death, are all five aggregates for absolute rest. This absolute rest also implies that no karmic effects are no longer present, which could lead to a new rebirth. "The state of absolute rest is the liberation from the cycle of life and is achieved by the Anupadishesha Nirvana ( Nikaya ), an event " after death " through the reincarnation can be overcome ( Shozen Kumoi, cit. Elberfeld, p 75). In Central India is meant by Parinirvana even the death of a monk or a nun.

Others

"Into Nirvana disappeared"

Derived "disappeared into nirvana " of the mistranslation as "nothing" has in German speaking the phrase, is something naturalized. It is approximately equivalent to: something had " vanished into thin air ."