Saṃsāra (Buddhism)

Translations of
saṃsāra (Buddhism)
Englishcycle of existence, endless rebirth, wheel of dharma, beginningless time
Sanskritsaṃsāra (Dev: संसार)
Palisaṃsāra (Dev: संसार)
Bengaliসংসার (sôngsar)
Burmeseသံသရာ
(MLCTS: θàɰ̃ðajà)
Chinese生死, 輪迴, 流轉
(Pinyin: shēngsǐ, lúnhuí, liúzhuǎn)
Japanese輪廻
(Rōmaji: rinne)
Khmerសង្សារ, វដ្ដសង្សារ
(UNGEGN: sângsar, vôddâsângsar)
Korean윤회, 생사유전 Yunhoi, Saengsayujeon
Laoວັດຕະສົງສານ
Mongolianᠣᠷᠴᠢᠯᠠᠩ, орчлон (orchilang, orchlon)
Sinhalaසංසාරය (sansāra)
Tibetanའཁོར་བ་
(khor ba)
TagalogSamsala
Thaiวัฏสงสาร
VietnameseLuân hồi
Glossary of Buddhism

Saṃsāra (in Sanskrit (संसार) and Pali) in Buddhism is the beginningless cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again.[1] Samsara is considered to be suffering (Skt. duḥkha; P. dukkha), or generally unsatisfactory and painful.[2] It is perpetuated by desire and ignorance (Skt. avidyā; P. avijjā), and the resulting karma and sensuousness.[3][4][5]

Rebirths occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, ghosts, hell).[note 1] Saṃsāra ends when a being attains nirvāṇa, which is the extinction of desire and acquisition of true insight into the nature of reality as impermanent and non-self.[7][8][9][note 2]

  1. ^ Trainor 2004, p. 58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next..
  2. ^ Wilson 2010.
  3. ^ Juergensmeyer & Roof 2011, p. 271-272.
  4. ^ McClelland 2010, p. 172, 240.
  5. ^ Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 18–19, chapter 1.
  6. ^ Buswell 2004, p. 711-712.
  7. ^ Buswell & Gimello 1992, p. 7–8, 83–84.
  8. ^ Choong 1999, p. 28–29, Quote: "Seeing (passati) the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana.".
  9. ^ Rahula 2014, p. 51-58.


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