Editing Nirvana (section)

== Hinduism ==
The most ancient texts of Hinduism such as the Vedas and early Upanishads do not mention the soteriological term ''Nirvana''.{{sfn|Fowler|2012|p=48}} This term is found in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita{{sfn|Fowler|2012|p=48}} and the [[Nirvana Upanishad]], likely composed in the post-Buddha era.{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= 5–9, 227–235, Quote: "Nirvana Upanishad..."}} The concept of Nirvana is described differently in Buddhist and Hindu literature.{{sfn|Fowler|2012|pp=48–49}} Hinduism has the concept of [[atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] – the soul, self<ref>{{cite web| title=Atman (in Oxford Dictionaries)| url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/atman| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230210157/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/atman| url-status=dead| archive-date=30 December 2014| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2012| quote=Quote: 1. real self of the individual; 2. a person's soul| access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Constance Jones|author2=James D. Ryan|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC|year=2006|publisher=Infobase|isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5|page=51|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=20 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020070415/https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC|url-status=live}}; Quote: The atman is the self or soul.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David Lorenzen|editor1-last=Mittal|editor1-first=Sushil|editor2-last=Thursby|editor2-first=Gene|title=The Hindu World|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134608751|pages=208–209|quote=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.}}</ref> – asserted to exist in every living being, while Buddhism asserts through its ''anatman'' doctrine that there is no Atman in any being.<ref name=5sourcesanatta>'''[a]''' [https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122042635/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=22 January 2021 }}, 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").";<br />'''[b]''' Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791422175}}, 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.";<br />'''[c]''' John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120801585}}, 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";<br />'''[d]''' Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206211126/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=6 February 2015 }}, Philosophy Now;<br />'''[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</ref><ref>[a] {{cite book|author=Christmas Humphreys|title=Exploring Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22877-3|pages=42–43|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC|url-status=live}}<br />[b] {{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZyJAgAAQBAJ|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90352-8|page=47|quote=Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon.|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=3 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703145618/https://books.google.com/books?id=jZyJAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}},</ref> 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 the knowledge of true Self (Atman) and the acceptance of its universality and unity with Brahman.{{sfn|Fowler|2012|pp=48–49}}

=== Moksha ===
{{main|Moksha}}
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 root {{Transliteration|sa|muc*}} ({{langx|sa|मुच्}}) which means free, let go, release, liberate; Moksha means "liberation, freedom, emancipation of the soul".<ref name=mmw>[http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0800/mw__0853.html मुच] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227230613/http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0800/mw__0853.html |date=27 December 2019 }} Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, Germany (2008)</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Heinrich Robert Zimmer|title=Philosophies of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bRQ5fpTmwoAC&pg=PA41|year=1951|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-01758-1|page=41|quote=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.}}</ref> In the Vedas and early Upanishads, the word mucyate ({{langx|sa|मुच्यते}})<ref name=mmw/> 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 ({{langx|sa|marga}}) to moksha: {{Transliteration|sa|jnana-marga}}, the path of knowledge; {{Transliteration|sa|bhakti-marga}}, the path of devotion; and {{Transliteration|sa|karma-marga}}, the path of action.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chad Meister|title=Introducing Philosophy of Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOCT3qFirJMC |year=2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-14179-1|page=25}}</ref>

=== Brahma-nirvana in the ''Bhagavad Gita'' ===
The term Brahma-nirvana appears in verses 2.72 and 5.24-26 of the Bhagavad Gita.<ref>{{cite book |translator=Winthrop Sargeant |editor=Christopher Key Chapple |year=2010 |title=The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COuy5CDAqt4C |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-1-4384-2840-6 |pages=157, 266–268 |access-date=5 October 2016 |archive-date=21 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721075137/https://books.google.com/books?id=COuy5CDAqt4C |url-status=live }}</ref> It is the state of release or liberation; the union with the [[Brahman]].<ref name="Flood" /> According to Easwaran, it is an experience of blissful egolessness.{{sfn|Easwaran|2007|p=268}}

According to Zaehner, Johnson and other scholars, ''nirvana'' in the Gita is a Buddhist term adopted by the Hindus.{{sfn|Fowler|2012|p=48}} 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.{{sfn|Fowler|2012|p=48}} According to Johnson the term ''nirvana'' 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.{{sfn|Fowler|2012|p=48}}

According to [[Mahatma Gandhi]], the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of ''nirvana'' are different because 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).<ref>{{Cite book|quote=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]|publisher=North Atlantic Books|year=2009|title=The Bhagavad Gita&nbsp;– According to Gandhi|author=Mahatma Gandhi|editor=John Strohmeier|page=34}}</ref>