<p>In Buddhism, to be deathless means you have realized Nirvana and are liberated from samsara and will have no more rebirths and thus no more deaths. This does not mean you cease to exist for that would be nihilism and the Budha was clear that to say his teachings were nihilist was heresy.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-21T20:57:45.897Z
2015-08-21T20:57:45.897Z
Arron
<p>My interpretation of the Buddha's teachings (with input from many teachers) is that he was not especially concerned with what came before or after this existence. He said that he taught "the end of suffering" and little else. </p>

<p>As someone said earlier, nibbana is the cessation of the need for rebirth, thus any death. The way I understand it is that the conditions for some following existence cease, like blowing out a candle, and there is just nothing. The aspect of some sort of permanent "bliss" is counter to the teachings, in which <em>nothing</em> is permanent. I believe that permanence aspect was added on later because followers could not let go of that need to continue on in some respect.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-08T05:14:56.890Z
What needs (or better wants) to continue and in what respect, TonyCr, in the "earlier" idea?
Samana Johann
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-08T05:01:18.317Z
2016-01-08T05:01:18.317Z
TonyCr
<p>To break through to even so much as Metta (Lovingkindness), is a taste of the deathless (for as long as it's sustained).</p>

<p>So all these definitions above are helpful, but <em>you can't truly know what the deathless is</em> until you practice the 8-fold path enough that a Brahmavihara (or higher) occurs as a resultant.  Experiential knowledge is "Knowledge" in Buddhism, not mere book-reading, intellectual-level "knowledge".</p>

<p>I feel it's important for this distinction to be mentioned.  <strong>It's a feeling</strong> (which is "not of the flesh", as opposed to a "worldly feeling"), <strong>and not a concept</strong>.</p>

<p>Note: I'm a Buddhist monk, however I wish to remain anonymous.  I am bound by Vinaya to not discuss any attainment's I might have, so please don't ask (if "I've ever experienced the deathless").</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-22T15:01:51.757Z
2015-08-22T15:01:51.757Z
Esbeeb
<p>The deathless element refers to the aspect of your existence which is persistent through all mental states and conditions. It is not death in the sense of physical life or death, but in the sense of being eternally persistent within all conscious existence. </p>

<p>In this interpretation, it shows that Nibbana is not a state to be attained, but is instead an element of being, which is to be recognized as ever-present and then aligned with. Through recognizing yourself only as the deathless element, and only as a witness to the conditioned phenomenon, you reach the state of Nibbana. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-04T12:52:16.920Z
The Eternal Witness is related to Eternal Consciousness or even a Universal Consciousness, which is an idea of Hinduism (Brahman / Atman / Paramatman), that is rejected by the Buddha. According to the Buddha's description of eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness etc. it is dependent on other things and not standalone, therefore, it is impermanent (not eternal).
ruben2020
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-06T23:42:36.927Z
" within all conscious existence", How the ('all') suite here? considering "[Kilesa](http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/g_m/kilesa.htm)"
Shrawaka
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-04T08:39:37.877Z
2015-10-04T08:39:37.877Z
Texture Santino D
<p>There's an explanation on page 36 (page 10 of the PDF file) of <a href="http://www.themindingcentre.org/dharmafarer/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/1.1-Dhammacakka-Pavattana-S-s56.11-piya.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pita Tan's introduction to SN 56.11</a>.
The context is explaining the various types of dukkha ("birth is dukkha, death is dukkha, ..." and so on).</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>When we understand this, we have a good idea why nirvana—the final state of the Buddha and the
  arhats—are also “described” (for the convenience of the understanding of the unawakened) as being the
  opposites of birth, decay, disease and death—nirvana is thus non-birth, non-decay, non-disease and nondeath,
  that is to say:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>ajāta or abhūta “birth-free” being unborn, being free of rebirth, hence, no redeath;</li>
  <li>avyādhi or ajarā “decay-free” not subject to change, bodily or mental, or disease and dis-ease;</li>
  <li>asoka or abhaya “fear-free” without craving, there is no fear, nor danger from the world;</li>
  <li>amara or amata “death-free” without rebirth, there is no redeath, the cycle is finally broken.</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-17T11:53:49.557Z
2017-03-17T11:53:49.557Z
2018-08-14T22:06:13.773Z
ChrisW
<p>"Deathless" typically translates <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita">amrita</a> (lit. "no-death"), also translated as "the nectar", using the useful parallel with Greek mythology. Another translation of "to attain deathless" is "to partake of the nectar" - just another metaphorical way to refer to The Fruit. I suppose we could compare this with the modern American idiom "drank the Kool-Aid" - although the latter has rather satirical connotations.</p>

<p>More specifically "the deathless aspect" (amrita-dhatu) is (seems to be?) a synonym with what Mahayana calls "the absolute truth" -- the perspective of Three Marks Of Existence, Emptiness, and Pratityasamutpada -- as opposed to "the conventional truth" -- the perspective of Rebirth, Karma, and Samsara vs. Nirvana dichotomy.</p>

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2015-08-21T17:08:08.990Z
imo the American "drinking the kool-aid" is a reference to the Jonestown massacre (i.e. not a happy parallel). Thank you for connecting Amata to [Amrita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita) for me: I didn't expect that connection! I read the Rig Veda once (in translation) but scarcely understood it. I suppose the term is therefore aimed at ... contemporaries for whom the term was significant. Maybe I should understand it more as a metaphor, name, or title rather than as a description.
ChrisW
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2015-08-21T17:37:39.607Z
Sanskrit amṛta or Pāli amata.
Jayarava
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2015-08-21T17:37:48.760Z
I thought it was an LSD/Pranksters reference, no?
Andriy Volkov
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2015-08-21T21:30:59.790Z
Well as a modern idiom I think it means an unthinking or enthusiastic cooperation with a (e.g. corporate or political) culture or party-line; but imo (and google confirms) that "(don't) drink the kool-aid" is a reference to Jonestown; so yes satirical I guess, but a strain to compare it with "deathless".
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-22T12:01:31.587Z
The way it is used in USA where I live, I think it means a sudden and surprising change of perspective as a result of someone adopting someone else's point of view.
Andriy Volkov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-22T14:57:17.360Z
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
Robin111
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2015-08-22T15:05:13.960Z
"To become a firm believer in something; to accept an argument or philosophy whole-heartedly." "It can also be used ... humorously to refer to accepting an idea or changing a preference due to ... persuasion." - sorry I only ever heard it used in this sense. Also, I'm still not persuaded it has connection with Jonestown massacre, seems contrived after the phrase got popular.
Andriy Volkov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-22T15:37:14.517Z
I guessed that you meant, "(irrevocably) altered by their own experience (of the kool-aid)" ... I didn't guess you meant, especially, "adopting someone else's point of view". My initial guess before posting the OP was that it might be related to identity-view (if without-identity implies without-death). But other comments are saying it's a description of the state (not of the person), e.g. not conditioned, not created or destroyed, not impermanent -- so maybe it's a synonym for "not impermanent" (a reversal of a western view which readily associates 'death' with 'permanent').
ChrisW
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2015-08-22T17:30:28.523Z
I'm with your first guess.
Andriy Volkov
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2016-02-07T14:30:02.800Z
wrt to "koop-aid", there was also "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", written by author Ken Kesey, having to do with some of the early hippie LSD scene.
PaPa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-21T16:32:09.037Z
2015-08-21T17:41:41.080Z
2015-08-21T17:41:41.080Z
Andriy Volkov
<p><a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/10927/5715">Lanka's answer</a> strikes me as comprehensive. Except for the etymology of the word. Pali <em>amata</em> and Sanskrit <em>amṛta</em> derive from the root √mṛ 'die'. The form here is a past participle used as adjective - <em>mṛta</em> means 'died, dead'; compounded with the 'a', <em>amṛta</em> means 'undying, deathless'. </p>

<p>Ultimately it probably comes from Vedic, as the Upaniṣads more frequently speak of the cyclic afterlife as <em>punarmṛta</em> 're-death' or <em>punarmṛtyu</em> 'repeated dying'. It's this repeated death that makes the fact of cyclic existence ultimately unbearable and motivates the search for the deathless. And the opposite of repeated death is no death, the deathless. It can mean "immortality" in Vedic, in the sense that one's <em>ātman</em> exists permanently and once one transcends repeated death, then ātman rejoins and attains union with the universal principle of being, Brahman. Notably in the <em>Ariyapariyesana Sutta</em> it is Brahmā, the personification of Brahman, who urges the Buddha to teach after he opens the doors to the deathless. </p>

<p>But as Lanka says, in Buddhism it is one of many synonyms for <em>nibbāna</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-21T17:49:05.377Z
2015-08-22T07:37:46.657Z
2017-04-13T12:51:06.270Z
Jayarava
<p>The word "<a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/search_results.html?cx=015061908441090246348%3Adj4lxnh4dda&amp;cof=FORID%3A9%3BNB%3A1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=deathless&amp;sa=Search" rel="nofollow noreferrer">deathless</a>" is used sometimes.</p>

<p>What does it mean? Are there non-obvious or non-English meanings to the words translated as 'death' and/or 'deathless'?</p>

<p>Similarly what does "attaining the deathless" mean, in this <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/vin/mv/mv.01.23.01-10.than.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Upatissa-pasine</a>,  for example ...</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Whoever attains the Deathless first will inform the other</p>
</blockquote>

<p>... how are they supposed to recognize when they "attain the deathless"?</p>

<p>Is "deathless" predicated on the idea that practitioners are trying to escape some dukkha associated with death, or escape death itself? Does that sutta conflate "deathless" with "sorrowless", or are the two distinct?</p>

<p>I notice there's also a word <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/8092/254">Timeless</a>. Deathless is a different word (<em>amata</em> instead of <em>akalika</em>), does the word 'deathless' have a different meaning and/or different usage?</p>

<hr>

<p>The expression is used in the <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.026.than.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ariyapariyesana Sutta</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>So I said to them, 'Don't address the Tathagata  by name and as "friend." The Tathagata, friends, is a worthy one, rightly self-awakened. Lend ear, friends: the <strong>Deathless</strong> has been attained.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That suggests to me (I may be wrong) that deathless might be associated with an ultimate stage of enlightenment (or perhaps that it's specifically intended/designed for the five in that audience, e.g. perhaps the Buddha knew that they were seeking "the deathless").</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-22T03:32:07.737Z
A more literal translation would be "undead", interestingly enough; the sense should be "undying", i.e. that which, because it is not involved with arising, is also not involved with ceasing.
yuttadhammo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-22T09:03:06.483Z
Here's some further description (adjectives and nouns which refer to Nibanna): [Nibbana is an existing reality](http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/nibbanaReal.htm)
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-18T12:00:09.073Z
The Deathless = Unbinding (nibbana / nirvana),
which gives release from the cycle of death and rebirth.       **Mindfulness is the way to the Deathless
(Nibbana), unmindfulness the way to Death.
Those who are mindful do not die, and those who
are not are as if already dead.**
Swapnil
<terminology>
What does deathless mean?
# What does deathless mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-21)

The word "[deathless](http://www.accesstoinsight.org/search_results.html?cx=015061908441090246348%3Adj4lxnh4dda&cof=FORID%3A9%3BNB%3A1&ie=UTF-8&q=deathless&sa=Search)" is used sometimes.

What does it mean? Are there non-obvious or non-English meanings to the words translated as 'death' and/or 'deathless'?

Similarly what does "attaining the deathless" mean, in this [Upatissa-pasine](http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/vin/mv/mv.01.23.01-10.than.html), for example ...

> Whoever attains the Deathless first will inform the other

... how are they supposed to recognize when they "attain the deathless"?

Is "deathless" predicated on the idea that practitioners are trying to escape some dukkha associated with death, or escape death itself? Does that sutta conflate "deathless" with "sorrowless", or are the two distinct?

I notice there's also a word [Timeless](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/8092/254). Deathless is a different word (*amata* instead of *akalika*), does the word 'deathless' have a different meaning and/or different usage?

---

The expression is used in the [Ariyapariyesana Sutta](http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.026.than.html):

> So I said to them, 'Don't address the Tathagata by name and as "friend." The Tathagata, friends, is a worthy one, rightly self-awakened. Lend ear, friends: the **Deathless** has been attained.

That suggests to me (I may be wrong) that deathless might be associated with an ultimate stage of enlightenment (or perhaps that it's specifically intended/designed for the five in that audience, e.g. perhaps the Buddha knew that they were seeking "the deathless").

**Tags:** terminology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: A more literal translation would be "undead", interestingly enough; the sense should be "undying", i.e. that which, because it is not involved with arising, is also not involved with ceasing.  
> **username_0**: Here's some further description (adjectives and nouns which refer to Nibanna): [Nibbana is an existing reality](http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/nibbanaReal.htm)  
> **username_2**: The Deathless = Unbinding (nibbana / nirvana), which gives release from the cycle of death and rebirth.       **Mindfulness is the way to the Deathless (Nibbana), unmindfulness the way to Death. Those who are mindful do not die, and those who are not are as if already dead.**  

---

## 7 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2015-08-21. Score: 6

"Deathless" typically translates [amrita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita) (lit. "no-death"), also translated as "the nectar", using the useful parallel with Greek mythology. Another translation of "to attain deathless" is "to partake of the nectar" - just another metaphorical way to refer to The Fruit. I suppose we could compare this with the modern American idiom "drank the Kool-Aid" - although the latter has rather satirical connotations.

More specifically "the deathless aspect" (amrita-dhatu) is (seems to be?) a synonym with what Mahayana calls "the absolute truth" -- the perspective of Three Marks Of Existence, Emptiness, and Pratityasamutpada -- as opposed to "the conventional truth" -- the perspective of Rebirth, Karma, and Samsara vs. Nirvana dichotomy.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: imo the American "drinking the kool-aid" is a reference to the Jonestown massacre (i.e. not a happy parallel). Thank you for connecting Amata to [Amrita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita) for me: I didn't expect that connection! I read the Rig Veda once (in translation) but scarcely understood it. I suppose the term is therefore aimed at ... contemporaries for whom the term was significant. Maybe I should understand it more as a metaphor, name, or title rather than as a description.  
> **username_11**: Sanskrit amṛta or Pāli amata.  
> **username_10**: I thought it was an LSD/Pranksters reference, no?  
> **username_0**: Well as a modern idiom I think it means an unthinking or enthusiastic cooperation with a (e.g. corporate or political) culture or party-line; but imo (and google confirms) that "(don't) drink the kool-aid" is a reference to Jonestown; so yes satirical I guess, but a strain to compare it with "deathless".  
> **username_10**: The way it is used in USA where I live, I think it means a sudden and surprising change of perspective as a result of someone adopting someone else's point of view.  
> **username_12**: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid  
> **username_10**: "To become a firm believer in something; to accept an argument or philosophy whole-heartedly." "It can also be used ... humorously to refer to accepting an idea or changing a preference due to ... persuasion." - sorry I only ever heard it used in this sense. Also, I'm still not persuaded it has connection with Jonestown massacre, seems contrived after the phrase got popular.  
> **username_0**: I guessed that you meant, "(irrevocably) altered by their own experience (of the kool-aid)" ... I didn't guess you meant, especially, "adopting someone else's point of view". My initial guess before posting the OP was that it might be related to identity-view (if without-identity implies without-death). But other comments are saying it's a description of the state (not of the person), e.g. not conditioned, not created or destroyed, not impermanent -- so maybe it's a synonym for "not impermanent" (a reversal of a western view which readily associates 'death' with 'permanent').  
> **username_10**: I'm with your first guess.  
> **username_13**: wrt to "koop-aid", there was also "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", written by author Ken Kesey, having to do with some of the early hippie LSD scene.  

---

### Answer by username_11 on 2015-08-21. Score: 5

[Lanka's answer](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/10927/5715) strikes me as comprehensive. Except for the etymology of the word. Pali *amata* and Sanskrit *amṛta* derive from the root √mṛ 'die'. The form here is a past participle used as adjective - *mṛta* means 'died, dead'; compounded with the 'a', *amṛta* means 'undying, deathless'.

Ultimately it probably comes from Vedic, as the Upaniṣads more frequently speak of the cyclic afterlife as *punarmṛta* 're-death' or *punarmṛtyu* 'repeated dying'. It's this repeated death that makes the fact of cyclic existence ultimately unbearable and motivates the search for the deathless. And the opposite of repeated death is no death, the deathless. It can mean "immortality" in Vedic, in the sense that one's *ātman* exists permanently and once one transcends repeated death, then ātman rejoins and attains union with the universal principle of being, Brahman. Notably in the *Ariyapariyesana Sutta* it is Brahmā, the personification of Brahman, who urges the Buddha to teach after he opens the doors to the deathless.

But as Lanka says, in Buddhism it is one of many synonyms for *nibbāna*.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-08-21. Score: 2

In Buddhism, to be deathless means you have realized Nirvana and are liberated from samsara and will have no more rebirths and thus no more deaths. This does not mean you cease to exist for that would be nihilism and the Budha was clear that to say his teachings were nihilist was heresy.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-01-08. Score: 1

My interpretation of the Buddha's teachings (with input from many teachers) is that he was not especially concerned with what came before or after this existence. He said that he taught "the end of suffering" and little else.

As someone said earlier, nibbana is the cessation of the need for rebirth, thus any death. The way I understand it is that the conditions for some following existence cease, like blowing out a candle, and there is just nothing. The aspect of some sort of permanent "bliss" is counter to the teachings, in which *nothing* is permanent. I believe that permanence aspect was added on later because followers could not let go of that need to continue on in some respect.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: What needs (or better wants) to continue and in what respect, username_4, in the "earlier" idea?  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2015-08-22. Score: 0

To break through to even so much as Metta (Lovingkindness), is a taste of the deathless (for as long as it's sustained).

So all these definitions above are helpful, but *you can't truly know what the deathless is* until you practice the 8-fold path enough that a Brahmavihara (or higher) occurs as a resultant. Experiential knowledge is "Knowledge" in Buddhism, not mere book-reading, intellectual-level "knowledge".

I feel it's important for this distinction to be mentioned. **It's a feeling** (which is "not of the flesh", as opposed to a "worldly feeling"), **and not a concept**.

Note: I'm a Buddhist monk, however I wish to remain anonymous. I am bound by Vinaya to not discuss any attainment's I might have, so please don't ask (if "I've ever experienced the deathless").


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2015-10-04. Score: 0

The deathless element refers to the aspect of your existence which is persistent through all mental states and conditions. It is not death in the sense of physical life or death, but in the sense of being eternally persistent within all conscious existence.

In this interpretation, it shows that Nibbana is not a state to be attained, but is instead an element of being, which is to be recognized as ever-present and then aligned with. Through recognizing yourself only as the deathless element, and only as a witness to the conditioned phenomenon, you reach the state of Nibbana.

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: The Eternal Witness is related to Eternal Consciousness or even a Universal Consciousness, which is an idea of Hinduism (Brahman / Atman / Paramatman), that is rejected by the Buddha. According to the Buddha's description of eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness etc. it is dependent on other things and not standalone, therefore, it is impermanent (not eternal).  
> **username_9**: " within all conscious existence", How the ('all') suite here? considering "[Kilesa](http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/g_m/kilesa.htm)"  

---

### Answer by username_0 on 2017-03-17. Score: 0

There's an explanation on page 36 (page 10 of the PDF file) of [Pita Tan's introduction to SN 56.11](http://www.themindingcentre.org/dharmafarer/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/1.1-Dhammacakka-Pavattana-S-s56.11-piya.pdf).
The context is explaining the various types of dukkha ("birth is dukkha, death is dukkha, ..." and so on).

> When we understand this, we have a good idea why nirvana—the final state of the Buddha and the
> arhats—are also “described” (for the convenience of the understanding of the unawakened) as being the
> opposites of birth, decay, disease and death—nirvana is thus non-birth, non-decay, non-disease and nondeath,
> that is to say:
>
> * ajāta or abhūta “birth-free” being unborn, being free of rebirth, hence, no redeath;
> * avyādhi or ajarā “decay-free” not subject to change, bodily or mental, or disease and dis-ease;
> * asoka or abhaya “fear-free” without craving, there is no fear, nor danger from the world;
> * amara or amata “death-free” without rebirth, there is no redeath, the cycle is finally broken.


---

