Essay on Religious Tradition of Nirvana in Hinduism and...

The word nirvana is heard pretty often. For example, people might say theyve achieved nirvana when theyre really happy or they might talk about going to nirvana as an eternal reward after death. Then, of course, there’s the rock band who adopted the term Nirvana with a certain amount of irony. Furthermore, the word is fully imbedded in the modern vocabulary. But in reality, to most people in ¬ the Western world, religious nirvana is a total mystery. Both known religious traditions Hinduism and Buddhism focus on liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth and death and the suffering that comes with that cycle – known as samsara. However, there are important distinctions in how the two traditions view this liberation. Many associate†¦show more content†¦On the surface, the Noble Eightfold Path ideals are incredibly vague and theyre open to almost any interpretation. Buddhist sects view them differently, but generally follow the path by approaching the world wi th patience and joy, compassion, and contemplating the universe through meditation. The fundamental goals are to foster meditation (dhyana), morality (shila), and wisdom (prajna). The Buddha traveled all over India and attracted many disciples. After Buddha’s death, 500 of his closest disciples formed a council and created a canon of Buddha’s words. It is believed that the physical appearance of a being has a direct connection to a person’s spiritual attainments. Nirvana is believed to be the final ending of suffering and is a state beyond the cycle of birth and death. Buddhism’s liberation from samsara is known as nirvana which literally means blowing out or extinction, like quenching a flame. In Buddhist teaching, humans are bound to samsara through the flames of anger, ignorance and desire. So when one attains nirvana, one quenches anger (which focuses on the past), ignorance (which focuses on the present) and desire (which focuses on the future). In Buddhism, humans escape life and death by quenching all the anger, ignorance and desire while the physical body may still be alive. This is why Buddhists speak of rebirth rather than reincarnation. Nirvana is