<p>Nirvana / nibana is when:</p>

<ul>
<li>you have calmed all fabrications</li>
<li>you experienced something beyond the 5 aggregates when the fabrications have calmed down</li>
<li>your worldly perceptions or ignorance has subsided or changed forever or become very thin thus causing some or all of the fetters to fall off</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-15T16:15:11.287Z
2015-04-15T16:15:11.287Z
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
<p>I'll add one meaning for this word Nirvana, I came across recently (YouTube). It was used in Aasivakam, a pre-Buddhist sramana philosophy / religion. Founder of Aasivakam was contemporary to Buddha / Mahavir.</p>

<p>In Tamil language, it's neer (water) + vannam (color). It's one of 7 colors used to represent 7 stages of enlightenment; black, dark blue, green, red, yellow, white and water color (colorless).</p>

<p>I'm just adding this here for your information, and for others to constructively comment / edit.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-17T06:15:21.443Z
2018-09-17T06:15:21.443Z
vi.su.
<p>The <a href="https://accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca3/nibbana.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">definition of Nibanna</a> is as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all
fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of
craving; dispassion; cessation; Nibbana.&quot; — AN 3.32</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The way to enter Nibbana is by following the <a href="https://accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca4/index.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Eightfold Noble Path</a>: right wiev; right resolve; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right concentration. <a href="https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.02.than.html#dhp-21" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Heedfulness</a> leads one to Nibanna.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-04-19T12:11:48.920Z
2023-04-19T12:11:48.920Z
Marino Klisovich
<p>Nirvana (Sanskrit, also nirvāṇa; Pali: nibbana, nibbāna - it's all the same word)</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Extinguishing the fires</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires that cause suffering.
  These fires are typically identified as the fires of attachment
  (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya).   For
  example, Rupert Gethin states:  Literally nirvāṇa means ‘blowing out’
  or ‘extinguishing’ [...] What the Pali and Sanskrit expression
  primarily indicates is the event or process of the extinction of the
  ‘fires’ of greed, aversion, and delusion. At the moment the Buddha
  understood suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the path leading
  to its cessation, these fires were extinguished. This process is the
  same for all who reach awakening, and the early texts term it either
  nirvāṇa or parinirvāṇa, the complete ‘blowing out’ or ‘extinguishing’
  of the ‘fires’ of greed, aversion, and delusion. This is not a ‘thing’
  but an event or experience.  Contemporary Buddhist scholar Ajahn
  Sucitto emphasizes that when these fires are extinguished, the mind is
  freed. Ajahn Sucitto states:  The metaphors associated with nibbāna
  often liken it to the blowing out of a fire. When it is no longer
  burning, the fire has “nibbāna’d”—the elements on which it was based
  are no longer in a state of combustion. This may seem like sterility
  and lifelessness from the viewpoint of the fire, but from the
  perspective of the elements it means life and potential. That is, when
  the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion are extinguished, the mind is
  free to operate in terms of its fullest capacity. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Freedom from suffering</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist view, when the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya)
  are extinguished, suffering (dukkha) comes to an end. The cessation of
  suffering is described as complete peace. Bhikkhu Bodhi states:  The
  state of perfect peace that comes when craving is eliminated is
  Nibbāna (nirvāṇa), the unconditioned state experienced while alive
  with the extinguishing of the flames of greed, aversion, and delusion.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Freedom from rebirth</strong></p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist view, the fires of attachment (raga), aversion
  (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya) are the forces which propel
  the cycle of rebirth (samsara). When these fires are extinguished,
  freedom from rebirth is attained.   Bhikkhu Bodhi states:  For as long
  as one is entangled by craving, one remains bound in saṃsāra, the
  cycle of birth and death; but when all craving has been extirpated,
  one attains Nibbāna, deliverance from the cycle of birth and death. 
  Paul Williams states:  Nirvana is broadly speaking the result of
  letting-go, letting-go the very forces of craving which power
  continued experiences of pleasure and inevitably suffering throughout
  this life, death, rebirth, and redeath. That, in a nutshell, is what
  nirvana is. It is the complete and permanent cessation of samsara,
  thence the cessation of all types of suffering, resulting from
  letting-go the forces which power samsara, due to overcoming ignorance
  (thence also hatred and delusion, the 'three root poisons') through
  seeing things the way they really are. </p>
  
  <p><strong>During life and after death</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist tradition, a distinction is made between a person's experience of nirvana during
  their life and after their death. These two aspects of nirvana are
  described as:  Nirvana during life Pali: sa-upādisesa-nibbāna 
  Sanskrit: sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa  Also translated as: nirvana with
  remainder; nirvana with residue  Indicates the experience of someone
  who has experienced nirvana in their lifetime but still remains in
  their physical body   Nirvana after death Pali: an-up ādisesa-nibbāna 
  Sanskrit: nir-upadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa  Also referred to as: nirvana without
  remainder; nirvana without residue; or parinirvana  Indicates the
  experience of nirvana for someone after their death  </p>
  
  <p><strong>Nirvana in this life</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist tradition, it is believed that a practitioner can achieve nirvana during their life, or at the
  moment of death. When a practitioner experiences nirvana during their
  life, this experience is referred as nirvana-in-this-life, or more
  traditionally, "nirvana with remainder" (Pali: sa-upādisesa-nibbāna;
  Sanskrit: sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).   Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin
  explains:  Like the Buddha, any person who attains nirvāṇa does not
  remain thereafter forever absorbed in some transcendental state of
  mind. On the contrary he or she continues to live in the world; he or
  she continues to think, speak, and act as other people do—with the
  difference that all his or her thoughts, words, and deeds are
  completely free of the motivations of greed, aversion, and delusion,
  and motivated instead entirely by generosity, friendliness, and
  wisdom. This condition of having extinguished the defilements can be
  termed ‘nirvāṇa with the remainder [of life]’
  (sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa/sa-upādisesa-nibbāna): the nirvāṇa that comes
  from ending the occurrence of the defilements (kleśa/kilesa) of the
  mind; what the Pali commentaries call for short kilesa-parinibbāna.
  And this is what the Buddha achieved on the night of his awakening. 
  The experience of nirvana-in-this-life is said to result in a
  transformed mind that has the following qualities:  free from negative
  mental states  peaceful  non-reactive  </p>
  
  <p><strong>Free from negative mental states</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>The experience of nirvana-in-this-life is said to be free from all negative mental
  states. For example, Walpola Rahula states that one who has achieved
  nirvana is "free from all ‘complexes’ and obsessions, the worries and
  troubles that torment others."   Damien Keown states:  Nirvana [...]
  involves a radically transformed state of consciousness which is free
  of the obsession with ‘me and mine’.  Rupert Gethin states:  Any
  person who attains nirvāṇa [...] continues to think, speak, and act as
  other people do—with the difference that all his or her thoughts,
  words, and deeds are completely free of the motivations of greed,
  aversion, and delusion, and motivated instead entirely by generosity,
  friendliness, and wisdom.  Contemporary Buddhist teacher Ajahn Sucitto
  states:  When the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion are
  extinguished, the mind is free to operate in terms of its fullest
  capacity.  Anam Thubten states:  Nirvana or whatever you want to call
  it means the complete deconstruction of all of our rigid mental
  patterns and habits as well the deconstruction of all of our limiting
  beliefs. This deconstruction creates a space for true inquiry. When we
  open our hearts and our minds completely, we are in a place where we
  can experience something new, a new truth, a new reality, a miracle
  that we haven't experienced in the past. We can see things differently
  and they present new, expanded opportunities, new horizons. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Peaceful</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>Nirvana is described as a state of perfect peace that comes when all negative mental states are eliminated. For example,
  Walpola Rahula states:  He who has realized the Truth, Nirvāṇa, is the
  happiest being in the world. He is free from all ‘complexes’ and
  obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental
  health is perfect. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over
  the future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates
  and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is
  joyful, exultant, enjoying the pure life, his faculties pleased, free
  from anxiety, serene and peaceful.  Damien Keown states:  It is clear
  that nirvana-in-this-life is a psychological and ethical reality, a
  transformed state of personality characterized by peace, deep
  spiritual joy, compassion, and a refined and subtle awareness.
  Negative mental states and emotions such as doubt, worry, anxiety, and
  fear are absent from the enlightened mind. Saints in many religious
  traditions exhibit some or all of these qualities, and ordinary people
  also possess them to some degree, although imperfectly developed. An
  enlightened person, however, such as a Buddha or an Arhat, possesses
  them all completely. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Non-reactive</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the state of nirvana, the mind is no longer reactive. Phillip Moffitt states:  Nibbana literally means "cooled"
  and is analogous to a fire that's no longer burning. Thus, when there
  is cessation, your mind no longer burns in response to the arising of
  pleasant and unpleasant in your life; it isn't reactive or controlled
  by what you like or dislike.  Ringu Tulku explains:  Someone who has
  attained [...] the state of nirvana, will no longer react within the
  pattern of aversion and attachment. The way such a person sees things
  will be nondualistic and therefore non-conceptual. [...] When this
  dual reaction is gone, nothing is haunting or fearful anymore. We see
  clearly, and nothing seems imposing, since nothing is imposed from our
  part. When there is nothing we do not like, there is nothing to fear.
  Being free from fear, we are peaceful. There is no need to run away
  from anything, and therefore no need to run after anything either. In
  this way there is no burden. We can have inner peace, strength, and
  clarity, almost independent from circumstances and situations. This is
  complete freedom of mind without any circumstantial entanglement; the
  state is called "nirvana" [...]. Someone who has reached this state
  has gone beyond our usual way of being imprisoned in habitual patterns
  and distorted ways of seeing these things.  Ajahn Sucitto states
  "qualities like calm, clarity, and kindness are all enhanced [...] the
  tinder and the sparkiness of the heart are removed."  </p>
  
  <p><strong>Nirvana after death</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist view, when an ordinary person dies and their physical body disintegrates, the person's
  consciousness passes onto a new birth; and the person is reborn in one
  of the six realms of samsara. However, when a person attains nirvana,
  they are liberated from ordinary rebirth. When such a person dies,
  their physical body disintegrates and their consciousness is said to
  be completely liberated. They are not reborn in the ordinary sense.
  Their consciousness does not take rebirth into a physical form.<br>
  Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin explains:  Eventually ‘the
  remainder of life’ will be exhausted and, like all beings, such a
  person must die. But unlike other beings, who have not experienced
  ‘nirvāṇa’, he or she will not be reborn into some new life, the
  physical and mental constituents of being will not come together in
  some new existence, there will be no new being or person. Instead of
  being reborn, the person ‘parinirvāṇa-s’, meaning in this context that
  the five aggregates of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a
  being cease to occur. This is the condition of ‘nirvāṇa without
  remainder [of life]’ (nir-upadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa/an-up ādisesa-nibbāna):
  nirvāṇa that comes from ending the occurrence of the aggregates
  (skandha/khandha) of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a
  being; or, for short, khandha-parinibbāna.[f] Modern Buddhist usage
  tends to restrict ‘nirvāṇa’ to the awakening experience and reserve
  ‘parinirvāṇa’ for the death experience.  The experience of
  nirvana-after-death (paranirvana) is said to be beyond words or
  description. Walpola Rahula explains:  Nirvāṇa is beyond all terms of
  duality and relativity. It is therefore beyond our conceptions of good
  and evil, right and wrong, existence and non-existence. Even the word
  ‘happiness’ (sukha) which is used to describe Nirvāṇa has an entirely
  different sense here. Sāriputta once said: ‘O friend, Nirvāṇa is
  happiness! Nirvāṇa is happiness!’ Then Udāyi asked: ‘But, friend
  Sāriputta, what happiness can it be if there is no sensation?’
  Sāriputta’s reply was highly philosophical and beyond ordinary
  comprehension: “That there is no sensation itself is happiness’. </p>
  
  <p><strong>No words to describe the experience</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>In the Buddhist view, there are no words to describe the experience of nirvana-after-death.
  Walpola Rahula explains:  Now another question arises: What happens to
  the Buddha or an Arahant after his death, parinirvāṇa? This comes
  under the category of unanswered questions (avyākata). [Samyutta
  Nikaya IV (PTS), p. 375] Even when the Buddha spoke about this, he
  indicated that no words in our vocabulary could express what happens
  to an Arahant after his death. In reply to a Parivrājaka named Vaccha,
  the Buddha said that terms like ‘born’ or ‘not born’ do not apply in
  the case of an Arahant, because those things—matter, sensation,
  perception, mental activities, consciousness—with which the terms like
  ‘born’ and ‘not born’ are associated, are completely destroyed and
  uprooted, never to rise again after his death. [Majjhima Nikaya I
  (PTS), p. 486] </p>
  
  <p><strong>Physical existence is like a fire gone out</strong>   </p>
  
  <p>When a person who has reached nirvana dies, their physical existence is compared to a fire
  that has gone out. Walpola Rahula explains:  An Arahant after his
  death is often compared to a fire gone out when the supply of wood is
  over, or to the flame of a lamp gone out when the wick and oil are
  finished.[Majjhima Nikaya I (PTS), p. 487] Here it should be clearly
  and distinctly understood, without any confusion, that what is
  compared to a flame or a fire gone out is not Nirvāṇa, but the ‘being’
  composed of the Five Aggregates who realized Nirvāṇa. This point has
  to be emphasized because many people, even some great scholars, have
  misunderstood and misinterpreted this simile as referring to Nirvāṇa.
  Nirvāṇa is never compared to a fire or a lamp gone out.</p>
  
  <p>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(Buddhism)" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T19:33:36.843Z
Welcome to Buddhism.SE! We don't normally consider answers that are entirely comprised of a quotation as valid...
yuttadhammo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-02T16:46:49.957Z
@yuttadhammo Thank you for your welcome. My enlightenment about Nirvāṇa can only come by taking refuge in the dhamma which comprises exclusively quotations of those who have gone before. I do not understand why you reduced my closing text that acknowledged http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(Buddhism) which is a well-worked collection of secondary sources (from which I in turn selected) to a cryptic "Source: Wikipedia".
cuddlyable3
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-03T02:06:06.010Z
I don't think the fact that your knowledge comes from quotations necessitates the conclusion that you should just repeat quotations when someone asks you a question. Your original citation was "With acknowledgement to Wikipedia", which felt too close to plagiarism, since you didn't identify it as an actual quotation copied directly from a source. You can't just 'acknowledge' Wikipedia, you have to make clear that your text is a direct quote, and that the quote comes from Wikipedia.
yuttadhammo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-03T12:58:27.850Z
Thank you for your thinking about necessity. There is the case of a post that just names Wikipedia and a post that names a page in Wikipedia. English Wikipedia has over 4 million articles. There is no skill in taking away the page reference that gives much more good information than I have extracted, such as the several dharmic sources for what I posted. I suggest you consider that Wikipedia is not an original source for anything and that various views of nirvana are well elucidated by quotations such as I presented.
cuddlyable3
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T19:26:39.447Z
2014-10-01T19:34:39.787Z
2014-10-01T19:34:39.787Z
cuddlyable3
<p>Can anybody explain to me about "nibbana" and how it is different form "nirvana"?</p>

<p>Are there views about it and ways to get to it?</p>

<pali-canon><enlightenment><nirvana>
Can you explain "nirvana"?
# Can you explain "nirvana"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-01)

Can anybody explain to me about "nibbana" and how it is different form "nirvana"?

Are there views about it and ways to get to it?

**Tags:** pali-canon, enlightenment, nirvana


---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-10-01. Score: 5

Nirvana (Sanskrit, also nirvāṇa; Pali: nibbana, nibbāna - it's all the same word)

> **Extinguishing the fires**
>
> In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires that cause suffering.
> These fires are typically identified as the fires of attachment
> (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya). For
> example, Rupert Gethin states: Literally nirvāṇa means ‘blowing out’
> or ‘extinguishing’ [...] What the Pali and Sanskrit expression
> primarily indicates is the event or process of the extinction of the
> ‘fires’ of greed, aversion, and delusion. At the moment the Buddha
> understood suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the path leading
> to its cessation, these fires were extinguished. This process is the
> same for all who reach awakening, and the early texts term it either
> nirvāṇa or parinirvāṇa, the complete ‘blowing out’ or ‘extinguishing’
> of the ‘fires’ of greed, aversion, and delusion. This is not a ‘thing’
> but an event or experience. Contemporary Buddhist scholar Ajahn
> Sucitto emphasizes that when these fires are extinguished, the mind is
> freed. Ajahn Sucitto states: The metaphors associated with nibbāna
> often liken it to the blowing out of a fire. When it is no longer
> burning, the fire has “nibbāna’d”—the elements on which it was based
> are no longer in a state of combustion. This may seem like sterility
> and lifelessness from the viewpoint of the fire, but from the
> perspective of the elements it means life and potential. That is, when
> the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion are extinguished, the mind is
> free to operate in terms of its fullest capacity.
>
> **Freedom from suffering**
>
> In the Buddhist view, when the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya)
> are extinguished, suffering (dukkha) comes to an end. The cessation of
> suffering is described as complete peace. Bhikkhu Bodhi states: The
> state of perfect peace that comes when cusername_0ng is eliminated is
> Nibbāna (nirvāṇa), the unconditioned state experienced while alive
> with the extinguishing of the flames of greed, aversion, and delusion.
>
> **Freedom from rebirth**
>
> In the Buddhist view, the fires of attachment (raga), aversion
> (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya) are the forces which propel
> the cycle of rebirth (samsara). When these fires are extinguished,
> freedom from rebirth is attained. Bhikkhu Bodhi states: For as long
> as one is entangled by cusername_0ng, one remains bound in saṃsāra, the
> cycle of birth and death; but when all cusername_0ng has been extirpated,
> one attains Nibbāna, deliverance from the cycle of birth and death.
> Paul Williams states: Nirvana is broadly speaking the result of
> letting-go, letting-go the very forces of cusername_0ng which power
> continued experiences of pleasure and inevitably suffering throughout
> this life, death, rebirth, and redeath. That, in a nutshell, is what
> nirvana is. It is the complete and permanent cessation of samsara,
> thence the cessation of all types of suffering, resulting from
> letting-go the forces which power samsara, due to overcoming ignorance
> (thence also hatred and delusion, the 'three root poisons') through
> seeing things the way they really are.
>
> **During life and after death**
>
> In the Buddhist tradition, a distinction is made between a person's experience of nirvana during
> their life and after their death. These two aspects of nirvana are
> described as: Nirvana during life Pali: sa-upādisesa-nibbāna
> Sanskrit: sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa Also translated as: nirvana with
> remainder; nirvana with residue Indicates the experience of someone
> who has experienced nirvana in their lifetime but still remains in
> their physical body Nirvana after death Pali: an-up ādisesa-nibbāna
> Sanskrit: nir-upadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa Also referred to as: nirvana without
> remainder; nirvana without residue; or parinirvana Indicates the
> experience of nirvana for someone after their death
>
> **Nirvana in this life**
>
> In the Buddhist tradition, it is believed that a practitioner can achieve nirvana during their life, or at the
> moment of death. When a practitioner experiences nirvana during their
> life, this experience is referred as nirvana-in-this-life, or more
> traditionally, "nirvana with remainder" (Pali: sa-upādisesa-nibbāna;
> Sanskrit: sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin
> explains: Like the Buddha, any person who attains nirvāṇa does not
> remain thereafter forever absorbed in some transcendental state of
> mind. On the contrary he or she continues to live in the world; he or
> she continues to think, speak, and act as other people do—with the
> difference that all his or her thoughts, words, and deeds are
> completely free of the motivations of greed, aversion, and delusion,
> and motivated instead entirely by generosity, friendliness, and
> wisdom. This condition of having extinguished the defilements can be
> termed ‘nirvāṇa with the remainder [of life]’
> (sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa/sa-upādisesa-nibbāna): the nirvāṇa that comes
> from ending the occurrence of the defilements (kleśa/kilesa) of the
> mind; what the Pali commentaries call for short kilesa-parinibbāna.
> And this is what the Buddha achieved on the night of his awakening.
> The experience of nirvana-in-this-life is said to result in a
> transformed mind that has the following qualities: free from negative
> mental states peaceful non-reactive
>
> **Free from negative mental states**
>
> The experience of nirvana-in-this-life is said to be free from all negative mental
> states. For example, Walpola Rahula states that one who has achieved
> nirvana is "free from all ‘complexes’ and obsessions, the worries and
> troubles that torment others." Damien Keown states: Nirvana [...]
> involves a radically transformed state of consciousness which is free
> of the obsession with ‘me and mine’. Rupert Gethin states: Any
> person who attains nirvāṇa [...] continues to think, speak, and act as
> other people do—with the difference that all his or her thoughts,
> words, and deeds are completely free of the motivations of greed,
> aversion, and delusion, and motivated instead entirely by generosity,
> friendliness, and wisdom. Contemporary Buddhist teacher Ajahn Sucitto
> states: When the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion are
> extinguished, the mind is free to operate in terms of its fullest
> capacity. Anam Thubten states: Nirvana or whatever you want to call
> it means the complete deconstruction of all of our rigid mental
> patterns and habits as well the deconstruction of all of our limiting
> beliefs. This deconstruction creates a space for true inquiry. When we
> open our hearts and our minds completely, we are in a place where we
> can experience something new, a new truth, a new reality, a miracle
> that we haven't experienced in the past. We can see things differently
> and they present new, expanded opportunities, new horizons.
>
> **Peaceful**
>
> Nirvana is described as a state of perfect peace that comes when all negative mental states are eliminated. For example,
> Walpola Rahula states: He who has realized the Truth, Nirvāṇa, is the
> happiest being in the world. He is free from all ‘complexes’ and
> obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental
> health is perfect. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over
> the future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates
> and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is
> joyful, exultant, enjoying the pure life, his faculties pleased, free
> from anxiety, serene and peaceful. Damien Keown states: It is clear
> that nirvana-in-this-life is a psychological and ethical reality, a
> transformed state of personality characterized by peace, deep
> spiritual joy, compassion, and a refined and subtle awareness.
> Negative mental states and emotions such as doubt, worry, anxiety, and
> fear are absent from the enlightened mind. Saints in many religious
> traditions exhibit some or all of these qualities, and ordinary people
> also possess them to some degree, although imperfectly developed. An
> enlightened person, however, such as a Buddha or an Arhat, possesses
> them all completely.
>
> **Non-reactive**
>
> In the state of nirvana, the mind is no longer reactive. Phillip Moffitt states: Nibbana literally means "cooled"
> and is analogous to a fire that's no longer burning. Thus, when there
> is cessation, your mind no longer burns in response to the arising of
> pleasant and unpleasant in your life; it isn't reactive or controlled
> by what you like or dislike. Ringu Tulku explains: Someone who has
> attained [...] the state of nirvana, will no longer react within the
> pattern of aversion and attachment. The way such a person sees things
> will be nondualistic and therefore non-conceptual. [...] When this
> dual reaction is gone, nothing is haunting or fearful anymore. We see
> clearly, and nothing seems imposing, since nothing is imposed from our
> part. When there is nothing we do not like, there is nothing to fear.
> Being free from fear, we are peaceful. There is no need to run away
> from anything, and therefore no need to run after anything either. In
> this way there is no burden. We can have inner peace, strength, and
> clarity, almost independent from circumstances and situations. This is
> complete freedom of mind without any circumstantial entanglement; the
> state is called "nirvana" [...]. Someone who has reached this state
> has gone beyond our usual way of being imprisoned in habitual patterns
> and distorted ways of seeing these things. Ajahn Sucitto states
> "qualities like calm, clarity, and kindness are all enhanced [...] the
> tinder and the sparkiness of the heart are removed."
>
> **Nirvana after death**
>
> In the Buddhist view, when an ordinary person dies and their physical body disintegrates, the person's
> consciousness passes onto a new birth; and the person is reborn in one
> of the six realms of samsara. However, when a person attains nirvana,
> they are liberated from ordinary rebirth. When such a person dies,
> their physical body disintegrates and their consciousness is said to
> be completely liberated. They are not reborn in the ordinary sense.
> Their consciousness does not take rebirth into a physical form.  
> Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin explains: Eventually ‘the
> remainder of life’ will be exhausted and, like all beings, such a
> person must die. But unlike other beings, who have not experienced
> ‘nirvāṇa’, he or she will not be reborn into some new life, the
> physical and mental constituents of being will not come together in
> some new existence, there will be no new being or person. Instead of
> being reborn, the person ‘parinirvāṇa-s’, meaning in this context that
> the five aggregates of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a
> being cease to occur. This is the condition of ‘nirvāṇa without
> remainder [of life]’ (nir-upadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa/an-up ādisesa-nibbāna):
> nirvāṇa that comes from ending the occurrence of the aggregates
> (skandha/khandha) of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a
> being; or, for short, khandha-parinibbāna.[f] Modern Buddhist usage
> tends to restrict ‘nirvāṇa’ to the awakening experience and reserve
> ‘parinirvāṇa’ for the death experience. The experience of
> nirvana-after-death (paranirvana) is said to be beyond words or
> description. Walpola Rahula explains: Nirvāṇa is beyond all terms of
> duality and relativity. It is therefore beyond our conceptions of good
> and evil, right and wrong, existence and non-existence. Even the word
> ‘happiness’ (sukha) which is used to describe Nirvāṇa has an entirely
> different sense here. Sāriputta once said: ‘O friend, Nirvāṇa is
> happiness! Nirvāṇa is happiness!’ Then Udāyi asked: ‘But, friend
> Sāriputta, what happiness can it be if there is no sensation?’
> Sāriputta’s reply was highly philosophical and beyond ordinary
> comprehension: “That there is no sensation itself is happiness’.
>
> **No words to describe the experience**
>
> In the Buddhist view, there are no words to describe the experience of nirvana-after-death.
> Walpola Rahula explains: Now another question arises: What happens to
> the Buddha or an Arahant after his death, parinirvāṇa? This comes
> under the category of unanswered questions (avyākata). [Samyutta
> Nikaya IV (PTS), p. 375] Even when the Buddha spoke about this, he
> indicated that no words in our vocabulary could express what happens
> to an Arahant after his death. In reply to a Parivrājaka named Vaccha,
> the Buddha said that terms like ‘born’ or ‘not born’ do not apply in
> the case of an Arahant, because those things—matter, sensation,
> perception, mental activities, consciousness—with which the terms like
> ‘born’ and ‘not born’ are associated, are completely destroyed and
> uprooted, never to rise again after his death. [Majjhima Nikaya I
> (PTS), p. 486]
>
> **Physical existence is like a fire gone out**
>
> When a person who has reached nirvana dies, their physical existence is compared to a fire
> that has gone out. Walpola Rahula explains: An Arahant after his
> death is often compared to a fire gone out when the supply of wood is
> over, or to the flame of a lamp gone out when the wick and oil are
> finished.[Majjhima Nikaya I (PTS), p. 487] Here it should be clearly
> and distinctly understood, without any confusion, that what is
> compared to a flame or a fire gone out is not Nirvāṇa, but the ‘being’
> composed of the Five Aggregates who realized Nirvāṇa. This point has
> to be emphasized because many people, even some great scholars, have
> misunderstood and misinterpreted this simile as referring to Nirvāṇa.
> Nirvāṇa is never compared to a fire or a lamp gone out.
>
> Source: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(Buddhism))

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Welcome to Buddhism.SE! We don't normally consider answers that are entirely comprised of a quotation as valid...  
> **username_4**: @username_5 Thank you for your welcome. My enlightenment about Nirvāṇa can only come by taking refuge in the dhamma which comprises exclusively quotations of those who have gone before. I do not understand why you reduced my closing text that acknowledged http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(Buddhism) which is a well-worked collection of secondary sources (from which I in turn selected) to a cryptic "Source: Wikipedia".  
> **username_5**: I don't think the fact that your knowledge comes from quotations necessitates the conclusion that you should just repeat quotations when someone asks you a question. Your original citation was "With acknowledgement to Wikipedia", which felt too close to plagiarism, since you didn't identify it as an actual quotation copied directly from a source. You can't just 'acknowledge' Wikipedia, you have to make clear that your text is a direct quote, and that the quote comes from Wikipedia.  
> **username_4**: Thank you for your thinking about necessity. There is the case of a post that just names Wikipedia and a post that names a page in Wikipedia. English Wikipedia has over 4 million articles. There is no skill in taking away the page reference that gives much more good information than I have extracted, such as the several dharmic sources for what I posted. I suggest you consider that Wikipedia is not an original source for anything and that various views of nirvana are well elucidated by quotations such as I presented.  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2015-04-15. Score: 1

Nirvana / nibana is when:

* you have calmed all fabrications
* you experienced something beyond the 5 aggregates when the fabrications have calmed down
* your worldly perceptions or ignorance has subsided or changed forever or become very thin thus causing some or all of the fetters to fall off


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### Answer by username_2 on 2018-09-17. Score: 1

I'll add one meaning for this word Nirvana, I came across recently (YouTube). It was used in Aasivakam, a pre-Buddhist sramana philosophy / religion. Founder of Aasivakam was contemporary to Buddha / Mahavir.

In Tamil language, it's neer (water) + vannam (color). It's one of 7 colors used to represent 7 stages of enlightenment; black, dark blue, green, red, yellow, white and water color (colorless).

I'm just adding this here for your information, and for others to constructively comment / edit.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2023-04-19. Score: 0

The [definition of Nibanna](https://accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca3/nibbana.html) is as follows:

> "This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all
> fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of
> cusername_0ng; dispassion; cessation; Nibbana." — AN 3.32

The way to enter Nibbana is by following the [Eightfold Noble Path](https://accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca4/index.html): right wiev; right resolve; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right concentration. [Heedfulness](https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.02.than.html#dhp-21) leads one to Nibanna.


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