Nirvana

Biography & Overview

Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering (duḥkha) and from the cycle of birth and rebirth (saṃsāra). In Indian religions, nirvana is sometimes used as a synonym of moksha and mukti. All Indian religions assert it to be a state of perfect quietude, freedom, and highest happiness; liberation from attachment and worldly suffering; and the ending of samsara, the cycle of existence. However, non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions describe these terms for liberation differently.