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Term | Definition |
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Nirvana | (skt.: nirvana, moksha; tib.: nyang de, nya ngen le de pa, thar pa) Literal translation from sanskrit could be blown out or extinction, while literal translation from tibetan could be gone beyond suffering. Nirvana is the goal of spiritual practice in Hinayana Buddhism, the liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. Lord Buddha Shakyamuni in Anguttara Nikaya defined nirvana as: This is peace, this is exquisite - the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Nirvana. In commentary by Kedrup Tenpa Dhargye on Maitreyas work The ornament of Realizations another definition of nirvana is found: Nirvana is a cessation which comes from understanding, and which consists of having eliminated all mental afflictions (and potentials for them to arise in future).
There are four types of nirvana:
- natural nirvana, which refers to ultimate reality and it is grouped under nirvana because it can never cause mental afflictions
- nirvana with something left over; when a being attains nirvana and still has a body (which is the result of past karma) till he/she dies
- nirvana with nothing left over; when a being attains nirvana and does not have a body after he/she dies
- nirvana which does not stay in the extreme of samsara or in the extreme of peace; refers to nirvana of a Buddha
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