84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ། | Glossary of Terms

  • མྱ་ངན་འདས་པ།

  • མྱ་ངན་འདས།
  • མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
  • མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས།
  • mya ngan las ’das pa
  • mya ngan ’das
  • mya ngan las ’das
  • mya ngan ’das pa
  • nirvāṇa
  • nirvṛti
  • nirvṛta
  • Term
Publications: 39

In Sanskrit, the term nirvāṇa literally means “extinguishment” and the Tibetan mya ngan las ’das pa literally means “gone beyond sorrow.” As a general term, it refers to the cessation of all suffering, afflicted mental states (kleśa), and causal processes (karman) that lead to rebirth and suffering in cyclic existence, as well as to the state in which all such rebirth and suffering has permanently ceased.

More specifically, three main types of nirvāṇa are identified. The first type of nirvāṇa, called nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), is when an arhat or buddha has attained awakening but is still dependent on the conditioned aggregates until their lifespan is exhausted. At the end of life, given that there are no more causes for rebirth, these aggregates cease and no new aggregates arise. What occurs then is called nirvāṇa without remainder ( anupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), which refers to the unconditioned element (dhātu) of nirvāṇa in which there is no remainder of the aggregates. The Mahāyāna teachings distinguish the final nirvāṇa of buddhas from that of arhats, the latter of which is not considered ultimate. The buddhas attain what is called nonabiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣthitanirvāṇa), which transcends the extremes of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, i.e., existence and peace. This is the nirvāṇa that is the goal of the Mahāyāna path.