Concept in Definition ABC

The word nirvana comes from Sanskrit and means extinction. To understand its genuine meaning it is necessary to understand the term in the context of some Eastern philosophies and religions, especially Buddhism.

Nirvana in Buddhism

According to the sacred texts of Buddhism, Sidartha, the true name of the Buddha, spent 40 days meditating under a tree and experienced a series of inner experiences. In a first stage he was meditating until he came to recognize all his previous lives.

On a second level, he understood the meaning of existence in a cyclical way through the action of karma and law of cause and effect in nature.

In a third stage and final level of meditation, he reached the conclusion that there were a series of poisons or mental brakes that disturb the human soul: sensual desire, attachment, wrong points of view and ignorance. After these phases of meditation, the Buddha reached the achievement of true enlightenment and supreme knowledge, nirvana.

Disturbances of the soul

For Buddhists, nirvana is the absence of all suffering. It must be borne in mind that suffering in humans is the consequence of mistakes and wrong perceptions of it. In other words, suffering occurs due to a misunderstanding of outer and inner reality, what Buddhists call "greed." Thus, to overcome avidity it is necessary to start on the path of meditation, what we popularly know as yoga. In this way, we will be able to feel free from the sufferings that afflict us.

If a person has an incorrect perception of others and of himself, this generates fear, violence and a mismatch emotional, that is, suffering. For this reason, Nirvana is a spiritual state in which the disturbances of the soul disappear.

During the process of searching for nirvana, the individual discovers misconceptions such as "being and not being" or "birth and death" and realizes the totality of reality.

In this sense, nirvana is a method of eliminating false notions and ideas that generate pain and anguish. An illustrative example of a misconception would be the observation of a cloud.

When we look at a cloud we think that it exists in an evident way, but when the cloud becomes rain it disappears and we say it is not there. This way of observing and understanding reality is wrong for Buddhists, because we should see the cloud in the rain or in the snow and, therefore, beyond the cloud itself.

Photos: Fotolia - Ivan Trizlic / lightpoet