Nirenpan, the word used by the Siamese to denote the Niri-una (q. v.) of the Buddhists.
Nirmalas, one of the divisions of the Sikhs (q. v.), who profess to practice the strictest seclusion of relig- ious asceticism. They lead a life of celibacy, and dis- regard their personal appearance, often going nearly naked. They do not assemble together in colleges, nor do they observe any particular form of divine service, but contine their devotion to speculative meditation and the perusal of the writings of Nanak, Kabir, and other unitarian teachers. They are always solitary, support- ed by their disciples, or wealthy persons who may hap- pen to favor the sect. The Nirmalas are known as able expounders of the Vedanti philosophy, in which Brah- mins do not disdain to accept of their instructions. Tliey are not a very numerous body on the whole ; but a few are almost aUva\'s to be found at the principal scats of Hindu wealth, and particularly at Benares.
Nirvana (from the Sanscrit riir, " out," and vdna, " blown ;" hence, literally, that which is hloicn out or ex- tinguished) is, in Buddhistic doctrine, the term denoting the final deliverance of the soul from transmigration. It implies, consequently, the last aim of Buddhistic ex- istence, since transmigration is tantamount to a relapse into the evils or miseries of Sansuru, or the world. But as Hinduism, or the Brahmanical doctrine, professes to lead to the same end, the difference between Nirvana and Moksha, Apavarga, or the other terms of Brahma- ism designating eternal bliss, and consequent liberation from metemps^-chosis, rests on the difference of the ideas which both doctrines connect with the condition of the soul after that liberation. Brahman, according to the Brahmanical doctrine, being the existing and everlasting cause of the universe, eternal happiness is, to the Brahmanical Hindu, the absorption of the human soul into that cause whence it emanated, never to de- part from it again. According to this doctrine, there- fore, the liberation of the human soul from transmigra- tion is equivalent to that state of felicity which religion and philosophy attribute to that entity. See HiNDuisjr. As, however, the ultimate cause of the universe, accord- ing to Buddhism, is the void or non-entity, the deliver- ance from transmigration is to the Buddhists the return to non-entity, or the absolute extinction of the soul. However much, then, the pious phraseologj^ of their oldest works may embellish the state of Nirvana, and apparently deceive the believer on its real character, it cannot alter this fundamental idea inherent in it. We are told, for instance, that Nirvana is quietude and identity, whereas Sansara is turmoil and variety ; that Nirvana is freedom from all conditions of existence, whereas Sansara is birth, disease, decrepitude and death, sin and pain, merit and demerit, virtue and vice ; that Nirvana is the shore of salvation for those who are in danger of being drowned in the sea of Sansara ; that it is the free port ready to receive those who have escaped the dungeon of existence, the medicine which cures all diseases, the water which quenches the thirst of iill desires, etc. ; but to the mind of the orthodox
Buddhist, all these definitions convey out the one idea, that the blessings promised in the condition of Nirvana are tantamount to the absolute extinction of the human soul, after it has obeyed in this life all the injunctions of Buddhism, and become convinced of all its tenets on the nature of the world and the final destination of the souL — Chambers.
There are four paths, an entrance into any of which secures either immediately or more remotely the attain- ment of Nirvana. They are : (1) Sowan, which is di- vided into twenty-four sections; and after it has been entered there can be only seven more births between that period and the attainment of Nirvana, Avhich may be in any world but the four hells. (2) Sakradagami, into which he who enters will receive one more birth. He may enter this path in the world of men, and after- wards be born in dewa-loka ; or he may enter it in a dewa-loka, and afterwards be born in the world of men. It is divided into twelve sections. (3) Anagtimi, into which he who enters will not again be born in a kiima- loka; he may, by the apparitional birth, enter into a brahma-loka, and from that world attain Nirvana. This path is divided into forty-eight sections. (4) Arya or Aryahat, into which he who enters has overcome or de- stroyed all evil desires. It is divided into twelve sec- tions. Those who have entered into any of the paths can discern the thoughts of all in the same or preceding paths. Each path is divided into two grades : (a) the perception of the path ; (6) its fruition or enjoyment. The mode in which Nirvana, or the destruction of all the elements of existence, may be reached is thus point- ed out by Dr. Spence Hardy in his Eastern Monachism : " The unwise being who has not yet arrived at a state of purity, or who is subject to future birth, overcome by the excess of evil desire, rejoices in the organs of sense, ayatana, and their relative objects, and commends them. The ayatanas therefore become to him like a rapid stream to carry him onward towards the sea of repeated existence; they are not released from old age, decay, death, sorrow, etc. But the being who is purified, per- ceiving the evils arising from the sensual organs and their relative objects, docs not rejoice therein, nor does he commend them, or allow himself to be swallowed up by them. By the destruction of the 108 modes of evil desire he has released himself from birth, as from the jaws of an alligator; he has overcome all attachment to outward objects ; he does not regard the unauthorized precepts, nor is he a sceptic; and he knows that there is no ego, no self. Bj' overcoming these four errors he has released himself from the cleaving to existing ob- jects. By the destruction of the cleaving to existing objects he is released from birth, whether as a brahma, man, or any other being. Bj' the destruction of birth he is released from old age, decay, death, sorrow, etc. All the afflictions connected with the repetition of ex- istence are overcome. Thus all the principles of exist- ence are annihilated, and that annihilation is Nirvana."