The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1716 page)

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(Skt., ‘extinction’; Chin.,
nieh-pan
; Jap.,
nehan
; Korean,
y
lban
). The final goal and attainment in Indian religions.
In Hinduism, nirv
na is the extinguishing of worldly desires and attachments, so that the union with God or the Absolute is possible. In
Bhagavad-g
t
, it seems to be contrasted deliberately with the Buddhist understanding, because it is described as the attainment of
Brahman
, and the yogin is described, not (as in Buddhism) as a candle blown out, but as ‘a candle flame away from a draught which does not flicker’ (6. 19). The attainment of nirv
na is thus
mok
a
.
In Buddhism there is no Self or soul to attain any state or union after death. Nirv
na (P
li,
nibb
na
) therefore represents the realization that that is so. It is the condition of absolute cessation of entanglement or attachment, in which there is, so to speak, that state of cessation, but no interaction or involvement. Thus
nibbuta
(past participle) is ‘he who is cooled’, i.e. from the fever of clinging and thirst (
tanh
). It does not mean ‘extinction’, a view which the Buddha repudiated (
nihilism
). That is why nirv
na can receive both negative (what it is not) and positive (what it is like) descriptions. The so-called ‘Nirv
na School’ of early (5th-cent.) Chinese Buddhism, stressed the positive aspects of nirv
na, and regarded it as an eternal and blissful condition. The final attainment of the state of nirv