InIndian religions, nirvana is sometimes used as a synonym ofmoksha andmukti.[note 2] 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 ofsamsara, the cycle of existence.[8][9] However, non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions describe these terms for liberation differently.[10] InHindu philosophy, it is the union of or the realization of the identity ofAtman withBrahman, depending on theHindu tradition.[11][12][13] InJainism, nirvana is also the soteriological goal, representing the release of a soul from karmic bondage and samsara.[14] TheBuddhist concept of nirvana is the abandonment of the10 fetters, marking the end of rebirth by stilling the "fires" that keep the process of rebirth going.[10][15][16]
The ideas of spiritual liberation, with the concept of soul and Brahman, appear in Vedic texts and Upanishads, such as in verse 4.4.6 of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad.[17]
The termnirvana in the soteriological sense of "blown out, extinguished" state of liberation appears at many places in the Vedas and even more in the post-BuddhistBhagavata Purana, however populist opinion does not give credit to either theVedas or theUpanishads. Collins states, "the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call itnirvana."[18] This may have been deliberate use of words in early Buddhism, suggests Collins, since Atman and Brahman were described in Vedic texts and Upanishads with the imagery of fire, as something good, desirable and liberating.[19] Collins says the wordnirvāṇa is from the verbal rootvā "blow" in the form of past participlevāna "blown", prefixed with the preverbnis meaning "out". Hence the original meaning of the word is "blown out, extinguished". (Sandhi changes the sounds: thev ofvāna causesnis to becomenir, and then ther ofnir causesretroflexion of the followingn:nis+vāna >nirvāṇa).[20] However the Buddhist meaning of nirvana also has otherinterpretations.
L. S. Cousins said that in popular usage nirvana was "the goal of Buddhist discipline,... the final removal of the disturbing mental elements which obstruct a peaceful and clear state of mind, together with a state of awakening from the mental sleep which they induce."[21]
The liberation from Saṃsāra developed as an ultimate goal and soteriological value in the Indian culture, and called by different terms such as nirvana, moksha, mukti and kaivalya. This basic scheme underlies Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, where "the ultimate aim is the timeless state ofmoksa, or, as the Buddhists first seem to have called it, nirvana."[30] Although the term occurs in the literatures of a number of ancient Indian traditions, the concept is most commonly associated with Buddhism.[4] Some writers believe the concept was adopted by other Indian religions after it became established in Buddhism, but with different meanings and description, for instance the use of (Moksha) in the Hindu textBhagavad Gita of theMahabharata.[22]
The idea ofmoksha is connected to the Vedic culture, where it conveyed a notion ofamrtam, "immortality",[31][32] and also a notion of atimeless, "unborn", or "the still point of the turning world of time". It was also its timeless structure, the whole underlying "the spokes of the invariable but incessant wheel of time".[note 4] The hope for life after death started with notions of going to the worlds of the Fathers or Ancestors and/or the world of the Gods or Heaven.[31][note 5]
The earliestVedic texts incorporate the concept of life, followed by an afterlife in heaven and hell based on cumulative virtues (merit) or vices (demerit).[33] However, the ancient VedicRishis challenged this idea of afterlife as simplistic, because people do not live an equally moral or immoral life. Between generally virtuous lives, some are more virtuous; while evil too has degrees, and either permanent heaven or permanent hell is disproportionate. The Vedic thinkers introduced the idea of an afterlife in heaven or hell in proportion to one's merit, and when this runs out, one returns and is reborn.[34][35][36] The idea of rebirth following "running out of merit" appears in Buddhist texts as well.[37] This idea appears in many ancient and medieval texts, asSaṃsāra, or the endless cycle of life, death, rebirth and redeath, such as section 6:31 of theMahabharata[38] and verse 9.21 of theBhagavad Gita.[39][40][note 6] The Saṃsara, the life after death, and what impacts rebirth came to be seen as dependent onkarma.[43]
Traditional mural painting depictingGautama Buddha entering parinirvana, Dharma assembly pavilion, Wat Botum Wattey Reacheveraram,Phnom Penh,Cambodia
Nirvana (nibbana) literally means "blowing out" or "quenching".[44] It is the most used as well as the earliest term to describe the soteriological goal in Buddhism: the extinguishing of the passions, which also gives release from the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra).[3][45] Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on "cessation of dukkha" in theFour Noble Truths doctrine of Buddhism.[45] It is the goal of theNoble Eightfold Path.[46]
The Buddha is believed in the Buddhist scholastic tradition to have realized two types of nirvana, one atawakening, and another at his death.[47] The first is calledsopadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana with a remainder), the secondparinirvana oranupadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana without remainder, or final nirvana).[47]
In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of thefires, which are also said to cause rebirths and associated suffering.[48] The Buddhist texts identify these "three fires"[49] or "three poisons" asraga (greed, sensuality),dvesha (aversion, hate) andavidyā ormoha (ignorance, delusion).[50][51]
The state of nirvana is also described in Buddhism as cessation of all afflictions, cessation of all actions, cessation of rebirths and suffering that are a consequence of afflictions and actions,[45] a fire going out for lack of fuel, abandoning weaving (vana) together of life after life,[20] and the elimination of desire.[52]
Liberation is described as identical toanatta (anatman, non-self, lack of any self).[53][54] In Buddhism, liberation is achieved when all things and beings are understood to be with no Self.[54][55] Nirvana is also described as identical to achievingsunyata (emptiness), where there is no essence or fundamental nature in anything, and everything is empty.[56][57] Yet, in Theravada Buddhism it is also seen as the only unconditioned existent,[58] not just "destruction of desire" but a separate existent which is "the object of the knowledge" of the Buddhist path.[59]
Although the most ancient texts of Hinduism, such as the Vedas and early Upanishads, discuss a very closely related and borderline equivalent concept,[60] with the soteriological termMoksha, they do not mention the soteriological termNirvana.[22] The earliest attestation of the term 'Nirvana' is found in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita[22] and theNirvana Upanishad, likely composed in the post-Buddha era.[61][note 7] However, the earliest attestation of the term Nirvana in Buddhist texts is attributed to theNikayas of theSutta Pitaka, whose claim of First Buddhist Council origin has been questioned by several historians. Several modern scholars doubt whether the entire canon was really recited during the First Council,[62] because the early texts contain different accounts on important subjects such asmeditation.[63] Most scholars, from the late 19th century onward, have considered even the historicity of the First Council improbable. Some scholars, such as orientalistsLouis de La Vallée-Poussin and D.P. Minayeff, thought there must have been assemblies after the Buddha's death but considered only the main characters and some events before or after the First Council historical.[64][65]
The concept of Nirvana is described differently in Buddhist and Hindu literature.[66] Hinduism has the concept ofAtman – the soul, self[67][68][69] – asserted to exist in every living being, while Buddhism asserts through itsanatman doctrine that there is no Atman in any being.[70][71] Nirvana in Buddhism is "stilling mind, cessation of desires, and action" unto emptiness, states Jeaneane Fowler, while nirvana in post-Buddhist Hindu texts is also "stilling mind but not inaction" and "not emptiness"; rather it is infiniteness, the knowledge of true Self (Atman) and the acceptance of its universality and unity with Brahman.[66]
The ancient soteriological concept in Hinduism is moksha, described as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death through self-knowledge and the eternal connection of Atman (soul, self) and metaphysical Brahman. Moksha is derived from the rootmuc* (Sanskrit:मुच्) which means free, let go, release, liberate; Moksha means "liberation, freedom, emancipation of the soul".[72][73] In the Vedas and early Upanishads, the word mucyate (Sanskrit:मुच्यते)[72] appears, which means to be set free or release – such as of a horse from its harness.
The traditions within Hinduism state that there are multiple paths (Sanskrit:marga) to moksha:jnana-marga, the path of knowledge;bhakti-marga, the path of devotion; andkarma-marga, the path of action.[74]
The term Brahma-nirvana appears in verses 2.72 and 5.24-26 of the Bhagavad Gita.[75] It is the state of release or liberation; the union with theBrahman.[8] According to Easwaran, it is an experience of blissful egolessness.[76]
According to Zaehner, Johnson and other scholars,nirvana in the Gita is a Buddhist term adopted by the Hindus.[22] Zaehner states it was used in Hindu texts for the first time in the Bhagavad Gita, and that the idea therein in verse 2.71–72 to "suppress one's desires and ego" is also Buddhist.[22] According to Johnson the termnirvana is borrowed from the Buddhists to confuse the Buddhists, by linking the Buddhist nirvana state to the pre-Buddhist Vedic tradition of metaphysical absolute called Brahman.[22]
According toMahatma Gandhi, the Hindu and Buddhist understanding ofnirvana are different because the nirvana of the Buddhists isshunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana (oneness with Brahman).[77]
Rishabhanatha, believed to have lived millions of years ago, was the firstTirthankara to attain nirvana.
Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Sudharman – also called Gautama, and one of the disciples of Mahavira – explaining the meaning of nirvana to Kesi, a disciple ofParshva.[80][note 8]
There is a safe place in view of all, but difficult of approach, where there is no old age nor death, no pain nor disease. It is what is called nirvāṇa, or freedom from pain, or perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe, happy, and quiet place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view of all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from sorrows, they have put an end to the stream of existence. (81–4) – Translated by Hermann Jacobi, 1895
The concept of liberation as "extinction of suffering", along with the idea ofsansara as the "cycle of rebirth" is also part ofSikhism.[81] Nirvana appears in Sikh texts as the termNirban.[82][83] However, the more common term isMukti orMoksh,[84] a salvation concept wherein loving devotion to God is emphasized for liberation from endless cycle of rebirths.[83]In Sikhism Nirvana is not an after life concept but a goal for the living. Furthermore, Sikh nirvana/mukti is achieved through devotion to satguru/truth who sets you free from reincarnation bharam/superstition/false belief.[85]
The termNirvana (also mentioned isparinirvana) is in the 13th or 14th centuryManichaean work "The great song to Mani" and "The story of the Death of Mani", referring to therealm of light.[86]
^Also called vimoksha, vimukti. The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism: "Vimoksha [解脱] (Skt; Jpn gedatsu). Emancipation, release, or liberation. The Sanskrit words vimukti, mukti, and moksha also have the same meaning. Vimoksha means release from the bonds of earthly desires, delusion, suffering and transmigration. While Buddhism sets forth various kinds and stages ofenlightenment, the supreme emancipation is nirvana,[6][7]
^It is sometimes referred to asbhavana, which refers to spiritual "development" or "cultivating" or "producing"[27][28] in the sense of "calling into existence",[29]
^Many texts discuss this theory of rebirth with the concepts of Devayana (path of gods) and Pitryana (path of fathers).[41][42]
^The debate around the dating of the compilation of the Bhagavad Gita is partially based on the dating ofPāṇini, whom scholars such as Bronkhorst and Witzel place in the post-Buddha era, within the 5th–4th century BCE. However, most scholars place him between the 6th and 5th century BCE, with some, such as Bod, estimating a broader range from the 7th to 5th century BCE.
^The authenticity of this text is in doubt because Parshva, in Jain tradition, lived about 250 years before Mahavira, and his disciple Kesi would have been a few hundred years old when he met the disciple of Mahavira. See Jacobi (1895), footnotes.[80]
^Richard Gombrich,Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo. Routledge
^abChad Meister (2009).Introducing Philosophy of Religion. Routledge. p. 25.ISBN978-1-134-14179-1.Buddhism: the soteriological goal is nirvana, liberation from the wheel of samsara and extinction of all desires, cravings and suffering.
^Kristin Johnston Largen (18 February 2009).What Christians Can Learn from Buddhism: Rethinking Salvation. Fortress Press. pp. 107–108.ISBN978-1-4514-1267-3.One important caveat must be noted: for many lay Buddhists all over the world, rebirth in a higher realm – rather than realizing nirvana – has been the primary religious goal. [...] while many Buddhists strongly emphasize the soteriological value of the Buddha's teaching on nirvana [escape from samsara], many other Buddhists focus their practice on more tangible goals, in particular on the propitious rebirth in one's next life.
^abLoy, David (1982). "Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta".International Philosophical Quarterly.22 (1). Philosophy Documentation Center:65–74.doi:10.5840/ipq19822217.What most distinguishes Indian from Western philosophy is that all the important Indian systems point to the same phenomenon: Enlightenment or Liberation. Enlightenment has different names in the various systems – kaivalya, nirvana, moksha, etc. – and is described in different ways...
^Brian Morris (2006).Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 51.ISBN978-0-521-85241-8.There has been some dispute as to the exact meaning of nirvana, but clearly the Buddhist theory of no soul seems to imply quite a different perspective from that of Vedantist philosophy, in which the individual soul or self [atman] is seen as identical with the world soul or Brahman [god] (on the doctrine of anatta [no soul] ...
^Gwinyai H. Muzorewa (2000).The Great Being. Wipf. pp. 52–54.ISBN978-1-57910-453-5.Even the Atman depends on the Brahman. In fact, the two are essentially the same. [...] Hindu theology believes that the Atman ultimately becomes one with the Brahman. One's true identity lies in realizing that the Atman in me and the Brahman – the ground of all existence – are similar. [...] The closest kin of Atman is the Atman of all living things, which is grounded in the Brahman. When the Atman strives to be like Brahman it is only because it realizes that that is its origin – God. [...] Separation between the Atman and the Brahman is proved to be impermanent. What is ultimately permanent is the union between the Atman and the Brahman. [...] Thus, life's struggle is for the Atman to be released from the body, which is impermanent, to unite with Brahman, which is permanent – this doctrine is known as Moksha.
^Fowler 2012, p. 46: "Shankara interpreted the whole of the Gita as extolling the path of knowledge as the best means to moksha, and a total identity of the atman with Brahman...,
^John E. Cort (1990), MODELS OF AND FOR THE STUDY OF THE JAINS, Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol. 2, No. 1, Brill Academic, pages 42–71
^Peter Harvey (2001).Buddhism. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 98–99.ISBN978-1-4411-4726-4.[Nirvana is] beyond the processes involved in dying and reborn. [...] Nirvana is emptiness in being void of any grounds for the delusion of a permanent, substantial Self, and because it cannot be conceptualized in any view which links it to 'I' or 'mine' or 'Self'. It is known in this respect by one with deep insight into everything as not-Self (anatta), empty of Self.
^Pali Text Society (1921–1925)."Bhāvanā".The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary. London: Chipstead. p. 503.Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved27 January 2022 – via Digital Dictionaries of South Asia.
^Monier-Williams (1899)."Bhāvana" and "Bhāvanā"(PDF). p. 755.Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved9 December 2008 – via U. Cologne.
^Atsushi Hayakawa (2014).Circulation of Fire in the Veda. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 101–103 with footnote 262.ISBN978-3-643-90472-0.The concept of punarmrtyu appeared, which conveys that even those who participated in rituals die again in the life after death when the merit of the ritual runs out.
^Krishan, Yuvraj (1997).The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and Jaina Traditions. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 17–27.ISBN9788120812338.Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved3 October 2020.; The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8.Encyclopædia Britannica. 1998. p. 533.ISBN978-0-85229-633-2.[These Upanishadic texts] record the traditions of sages (Rishis) of the period, notably Yajnavalkya, who was a pioneer of new religious ideas. [...] Throughout the Vedic period, the idea that the world of heaven was not the end – and that even in heaven death was inevitable – had been growing. [...] This doctrine of samsara (reincarnation) is attributed to sage Uddalaka Aruni, [...] In the same text, the doctrine of karma (actions) is attributed to Yajnavalkya...
^Frazier 2011, pp. 84–86, Quote: "They reach the holy world of Indra and enjoy the celestial pleasures of the gods in heaven, but having enjoyed the vast world of heaven, they come back to the world of mortals when their merit runs out. So, by following the injunctions of the three Vedas with a desire for pleasures, they get to travel to and fro. (Mahābhārata 6.31:20–1)".
^Christopher Key Chapple, ed. (2010).The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition. Translated by Winthrop Sargeant. State University of New York Press. p. 397.ISBN978-1-4384-2840-6.Archived from the original on 21 July 2023. Retrieved5 October 2016.Having enjoyed the vast world of heaven, they enter the world of mortals when their merit is exhausted. Thus conforming to the law of the three Vedas, Desiring enjoyments, they obtain the state of going and returning.
^Yuvraj Krishan (1988), Is Karma Evolutionary?, Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research, Volume 6, pages 24–26
^Collins 1990, pp. 82, 84: "Like all other things or concepts (dhammā) it is anattā, 'not-self. Whereas all 'conditioned things' (samkhāra – that is, all things produced by karma) are 'unsatisfactory and impermanent' (sabbe samkhāra dukkhā . . . aniccā) all dhammā whatsoever, whether conditioned things or the unconditioned nibbāna, are 'not-self (sabbe dhammā anattā). [...] The absolute indescribability of nirvana, along with its classification as anattā, 'not-self, has helped to keep the separation intact, precisely because of the impossibility of mutual discourse."
^abSue Hamilton (2000).Early Buddhism: A New Approach : the I of the Beholder. Routledge. pp. 18–21.ISBN978-0-7007-1280-9. Quote: "The corrected interpretation they offered, widely accepted to his day, still associated anatta with nirvana. What it means, it was now states, is that in order to achieve liberation you need to understand that you are not, and nor do you have, and nor have you ever been or had, an abiding self."
^Paul Williams; Anthony Tribe (2000).Buddhist Thought. Routledge. p. 61.ISBN978-0-415-20701-0.He makes no mention of discovering the True Self in the Anattalakkhana Sutta. As we have seen, the Buddha explains how liberation comes from letting-go of all craving and attachment simply through seeing that things are not Self anatta. That is all there is to it. One cuts the force that leads to rebirth and suffering. There is no need to postulate a Self beyond all this. Indeed any postulated Self would lead to attachment, for it seems that for the Buddha a Self fitting the description could legitimately be a suitable subject of attachment. There is absolutely no suggestion that the Buddha thought there is some additional factor called the Self (or with any other name, but fitting the Self-description) beyond the five aggregates.
^Mun-Keat Choong (1999).The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 1–4,85–88.ISBN978-81-208-1649-7.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved5 October 2016.Emptiness is a characteristically Buddhist teaching. The present study is concerned with this teaching of emptiness (P. sunnata, Skt. sunyata) as presented in the texts of early Buddhism. [...] The teaching of emptiness is recognized as the central philosophy of early Mahayana. However, this teaching exists in both early Buddhism and early Mahayana Buddhism, where it is connected with the meaning of conditioned genesis, the middle way, nirvana and not-self (P. anatta, Skt. anatman).,
^Ray Billington (2002).Understanding Eastern Philosophy. Routledge. pp. 58–60, 136.ISBN978-1-134-79348-8.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved5 October 2016., Quote (p 59-60): "We may better understand what anatman implies if we examine Nagarjuna's concept of the void: shunyata or emptiness. Nagarjuna argued that there is no such thing as the fundamental nature, or essence, of anything. (...) In a word, all is emptiness, shunyata; instead of essence, there is a void. (...) everything is empty."; Quote (p 136): "What we can say, whichever branch of Buddhism we may have in mind, is that the state of nirvana, to which all Buddhists aspire, is like samadhi, a non-dual state. (...) the Buddhist concept of enlightened mind – bodhichitta – refers to a state beyond desire (dukkha) whereby the one who seeks nirvana has achieved shunyata, the emptiness or void described on pages 58–9."
^Olivelle 1992, pp. 5–9, 227–235, Quote: "Nirvana Upanishad...".
^Harvey, Peter (2013).An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4.Online version
^Gombrich, Richard (2006).How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings. 2nd ed. Routledge. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-0-415-37123-0.
^Prebish, Charles S. (2005) [1974]. "Review of Scholarship on Buddhist Councils". In Williams, Paul (ed.).Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Vol. 1: Early History in South and Southeast Asia. Routledge. p. 226. ISBN 0-415-33227-3.
^Mukherjee, B. (1994). "The Riddle of the First Buddhist Council – A Retrospection".Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, vol. 7, pp. 453.Online version
^"Atman (in Oxford Dictionaries)". Oxford University Press. 2012. Archived fromthe original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved1 June 2016.Quote: 1. real self of the individual; 2. a person's soul
^David Lorenzen (2004). Mittal, Sushil; Thursby, Gene (eds.).The Hindu World. Routledge. pp. 208–209.ISBN9781134608751.Advaita and nirguni movements, on the other hand, stress an interior mysticism in which the devotee seeks to discover the identity of individual soul (atman) with the universal ground of being (brahman) or to find god within himself.
^[a]AnattaArchived 22 January 2021 at theWayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self")."; [b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press,ISBN978-0791422175, page 64; "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."; [c] John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN978-8120801585, page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism"; [d] Katie Javanaud (2013),Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?Archived 6 February 2015 at theWayback Machine, Philosophy Now; [e] David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65–74
^[a]Christmas Humphreys (2012).Exploring Buddhism. Routledge. pp. 42–43.ISBN978-1-136-22877-3.Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved5 October 2016. [b]Richard Gombrich (2006).Theravada Buddhism. Routledge. p. 47.ISBN978-1-134-90352-8.Archived from the original on 3 July 2023. Retrieved5 October 2016.Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon.,
^abमुचArchived 27 December 2019 at theWayback Machine Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, Germany (2008)
^Heinrich Robert Zimmer (1951).Philosophies of India. Princeton University Press. p. 41.ISBN0-691-01758-1.Moksa, from the root muc, "to loose, set free, let go, release, liberate, deliver" [...] means "liberation, escape, freedom, release, rescue, deliverance, final emancipation of the soul.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Mahatma Gandhi (2009). John Strohmeier (ed.).The Bhagavad Gita – According to Gandhi. North Atlantic Books. p. 34.The nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana [oneness with Brahman]
^Jaini, Padmanabh (2000).Collected Papers on Jaina Studies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.ISBN81-208-1691-9.:"Moksa and Nirvana are synonymous in Jainism". p. 168
^Michael Carrithers, Caroline Humphrey (1991)The Assembly of listeners: Jains in society Cambridge University Press.ISBN0521365058:"Nirvana: A synonym for liberation, release, moksa." p. 297
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