In Buddhism, parinirvana (Sanskrit: परिनिर्वाण parinirvāṇa; Pali: परिनिब्बाण parinibbāṇa; Chinese: 般涅槃, bō niè pán) is the final nirvana, usually understood to be within reach only upon the death of the body of someone who has attained complete awakening (bodhi). It is the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice and implies a release from the bhavachakra, Saṃsāra, karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of all worldly physical and mental aggregates or skandhas.
The parinirvana of the Buddha is described in two different sutras: the Mahaparinibbana Sutta and the Nirvana Sutra. Because of its attention to detail, the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (of the Theravada tradition) has been resorted to as the principal source of reference in most standard studies of the Buddha's life[1]. It is also the oldest existing account.
Although the alternative Nirvana Sutra (of the Mahayana tradition) mentions some of the well-known episodes in the final months of the life of the Buddha, it uses these narratives merely as a convenient springboard for the expression of standard Mahayana ideals[1]. Both in style and in content, the Nirvana Sutra displays a disregard for historic particulars and a fascination with the supernatural and the ideals which characterize Mahayana writings in general[1]. As a Mahayana Sutra, it is of rather late date (after the second century AD)[1]. Its chief concern is to propound teachings on the eternal nirvanic nature found within all beings from the time without beginning and to teach the way to the realisation of this 'True Self' of Buddhahood or of deathless Parinirvana (Mahayanism, by Kosho Yamamoto, Karin Bunko, Tokyo, 1975 p.29).
The Buddhist term, Mahaparinirvana, meaning "great, complete Nirvana" is also encountered. The word "Mahaparinirvana" usually refers to the ultimate state of Nirvana (everlasting, highest peace and happiness) entered by an Awakened Being (Buddha) or "arhat" (Pali: Arahant) at the moment of physical death, when the mundane skandhas, the constituent elements of the 'bodymind' (Sanskrit: namarupa) complex, are shed and only the Buddhic skandhas remain (this in Mahayana Buddhism, notably the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra; see Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 Volumes, tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, ed. by Dr. Tony Page, Nirvana Publications, London, 2000, Vol. 3, pp.4-5, and passim). However, it may also refer (in the Mahayana) to the same inner spiritual state reached during a Buddha's physical lifetime too. In the Mahayana Buddhist scripture entitled the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha teaches that unlike "ordinary" Nirvana, "Mahaparinirvana" or "Parinirvana" is the sublimest state or realm realised by a perfect Buddha, a state in which that Buddhic being awakens to "the Eternal, Bliss, the Self, and the Pure" (Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 Volumes, op.cit., Vol. 8, pp.36-37). Only in Mahaparinirvana is this True Self (which is wholly Buddhic, eternal and non-egoic) held to be fully discernible and accessible (Kosho Yamamoto, Mahayanism, Karin Bunko, Tokyo, 1975, p.62). In the Dzogchen lineages of Mantrayana, parinirvana and mahasamadhi are refined into the phowa of the mindstream as the Rainbow Body.
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