Nirvana (Buddhism)
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Nirvana or nibbana is the extinguishing of the passions, the "blowing out" or "quenching" of the activity of the grasping mind and its related suffering, stresses, and unease. Nirvana is the goal of m
Aniconic carving representing the final nirvana of a Buddha at Sanchi.
The Bhavachakra, an illustration of the cycle of rebirth, with the three poisons at the hub of the wheel.
In the cosmology of Jainism, which is a closely related sramana tradition, liberated beings abide in an actual realm (loka) or abode (sila) associated with nirvana. Some scholars have argued that early Buddhism held a similar view.
Buddhist sculpture of the final nirvana of the Buddha in greco-buddhist Gandharan style from Loriyan Tangai.
Saṃsāra (Buddhism)
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Saṃsāra in Buddhism is the beginningless cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again. Samsara is considered to be suffering, or generally unsatisfactory and painful. It is perpetuated b
Nirvana (Buddhism)
…stresses, and unease. Nirvana is the goal of many Buddhist paths, and leads to the soteriological release from dukkha ('suffering') and rebirths in saṃsāra. Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on "cessation of dukkha" in the Four Noble Truths, and the "summum bonum of Buddhism and goal of the Eightfold…
A thangka showing the bhavacakra with the ancient five cyclic realms of saṃsāra in Buddhist cosmology. Medieval and contemporary texts typically describe six realms of reincarnation.