Nibbāna

Extinction, definitive liberation. Nibbāna (Pāli, equivalent to nirvāṇa in Sanskrit) is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path.

Etymologically: nir + vāna = “blowing out,” like a flame extinguished when its fuel is exhausted. The three flames are: rāga (greed), dosa (aversion), and moha (ignorance). When they go out, suffering ceases.

Two dimensions:

• Sa-upādisesa-nibbāna — Liberation in life: the aggregates (khandhas) still function, but without attachment or resistance
• Anupādisesa-nibbāna — Parinibbāna: final extinction after the death of the body, without rebirth

Nibbāna is not a place or a state to achieve. It is the cessation of the conditions that produce suffering. Since it’s not something “made” but something “unmade” (nir + vṛ), negative metaphors are most precise: unborn, unproduced, unmade, unconditioned.

In the Dhammapada: nibbānaṃ paramaṃ sukhaṃ — “liberation is the supreme happiness.”