nirvana

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To say that "I will not be free till all humans (or all sentient creatures) are free" is simply to cave in to a kind of nirvana-stupor, to abdicate our humanity, to define ourselves as losers.

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Definitions (6)

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  1. noun Buddhism The ineffable ultimate in which one has attained disinterested wisdom and compassion.
  2. noun Hinduism Emancipation from ignorance and the extinction of all attachment.
  3. noun An ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy.

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Examples (43)

  • Can she doubt it now, now with his hand in hers, cool and damp as modeling clay and she finds she can go anywhere, feel anything, reach any state she chooses: coma, nirvana, the bright dead bliss of no feeling at all. —  Omni: July 1994
  • I didn't get to drive it as I was two years shy of that 16 year old nirvana, the driver's license (even though I had been driving since I was 12 …) I thought it would be the perfect car, even though my then 6 year old brother would have to ride in the trunk; heck, I thought that was a pretty good trade off! —  The Truth About Cars
  • Their notion of nirvana is the Middle East without a viable Israel and Jews. —  Latest Articles
  • Obama has pledged to reach a post-partisan nirvana, and Republicans could condemn any investigation of Bush administration abuse of the republic as a partisan witch-hunt. —  Seeing the Forest
  • Stairway to heaven shold be number1 charles Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 10: 47 PM EST led zeppelin, black sabbath, and nirvana are the only decent bads of the lot. the rest suck ... van halen: are you kidding me. —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
 

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Etymologies (1)

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  1. Sanskrit nirvāṇam, a blowing out, extinction, nirvana : nis-, nir-, out, away + vāti, it blows; see wē- in Indo-European roots.
 

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