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涅槃

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: nirvana

Senses:

  • Extinction (Skt. nirvāṇa). As a verb, to enter extinction. An approximate transliteration of the Indic vulgar nibban, which becomes the Pāli nibbāna (Tib. mya ngan las 'das pa). Interpreted as the condition where the flames of delusion have been blown out—the final goal and attainment in Indian religions. In Hinduism, nirvana is the extinction of worldly desires and attachments, so that the union with God or the absolute is possible; absolute extinction or annihilation, complete extinction of individual existence.

    As cessation of suffering; nirvana was originally equivalent to the state of enlightenment attained by the Buddha, meaning the state that can be reached by extinguishing all illusions and destroying all karma, which is the cause of rebirth. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the notion of nirvana becomes distinguished from enlightenment, becoming a secondary level attainment of lesser vehicle practitioners such as śrāvakas. In the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, nirvana is described as having the four essential qualities of eternity 常, bliss 樂, substantiality 我, and purity 淨; It is the goal of spiritual practice in all branches of Buddhism. Also transliterated as 涅槃那; 泥日; 泥洹; 泥畔; translated as 滅, and further interpreted as release 解脫, tranquil extinction 寂滅 and unconditioned 無爲. Also no (re)birth 不生; calm joy 安樂; transmigration to 'extinction'  滅度.

    [Charles Muller, Ockbae Chun; source(s): Ui, Nakamura,Hirakawa, YBh-Ind, Soothill, JEBD, Yokoi, Iwanami]
  • [Soothill definition:] The meaning given to 'extinction' varies, e.g. individual extinction; cessation of rebirth; annihilation of affliction; extinction of all misery and entry into bliss. While the meaning of individual extinction is not without advocates, the accepted interpretation is the extinction or end of all return to reincarnation with its concomitant suffering, and the entry into bliss. Nirvāṇa may be enjoyed in the present life as an attainable state, with entry into parinirvāṇa 大般涅槃, or perfect bliss to follow. It may be (a) with a 'remainder'  有餘涅槃, i.e. the cause but not all the effect (karma), of reincarnation having been destroyed; (b) without 'remainder'  無餘涅槃, both cause and effect having been extinguished. The answer of the Buddha as to the continued personal existence of the Tathāgata in nirvana is, in the Hīnayāna canon, relegated 'to the sphere of the indeterminates' (Keith), as one of the questions which are not essential to salvation. One argument is that flame when blown out does not perish but returns to the totality of Fire. The Nirvana Sutra claims for nirvana the ancient ideas of 常樂我淨 permanence, bliss, personality purity in the transcendental realm. Mahāyāna declares that Hīnayāna by denying personality in the transcendental realm denies the existence of the Buddha. In Mahāyāna final nirvana is transcendental, and is also used as a term for the absolute. The place where the Buddha entered his earthly nirvana is given as Kuśinagara, cf. 拘尸那揭羅 (Skt. nir-√vā, parinirvāṇa; apavarga, amṛtaṃ padam, nirvāṇa-dharma, nirvāṇa-dhātu, nirvṛta, nirvṛti, nirvṛtti, paraṃ padam, pari-nir-√vā, parinirvāṇa-dharman, parinirvāyin, parinirvṛta, parinivṛta, mahā-parinirvāṇa, mokṣa, śama, śānti, śiva). [Charles Muller; source(s): Soothill]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bulgyo sajeon 125a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1001a

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 647

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 211b/235

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 493

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 11-P194, 18-P172

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 1076b

    Fo Guang Dictionary 4149

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0725

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4146a,162d4, (v.9-10)406a,1059a,1071a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 554-1-26*1371-1*1601-3-29*1702-3-7

    Sanskrit-Tibetan Index for the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra (Yokoyama and Hirosawa)

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1993-09-01

    Updated: 2018-12-28