The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2649 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Vim
navatthu
(part of Buddhist P
li canon):
Vimokkha
(P
li),
vimok
a
(Skt., ‘liberation’, ‘deliverance’). A term occurring in early Buddhism in connection with two classificatory lists. First: the Eight Liberations or Stages of Liberation. These form a slight variant on the eight jh
nas as a system of classifying stages of attainment in developing concentration meditation (
sam
dhi
).
Second: the Three Doors to Deliverance (vimokkha-mukha). When a person resolves to attain
nirv
na
, he cannot make nirv
na itself a subject of meditation, for it is ‘inconceivable’, not an object of thought. He therefore makes his way towards nirv
na by making impermanence (
anicca
), suffering (
dukkha
), and noself (anatman), respectively, his subjects of meditation.

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