How is nirvana different to the atheistic view of death?

Question

As far as I know, most atheists believe in 'eternal oblivion' after death i.e. nothing forever. And from what I have read about nirvana, it is freedom from rebirth, no more arising of moments of experience. What am I missing here?

Comments

Buddhists believe that when one dies, you are rebirthed into one of 6 realms which is considered as (Thanthayar /cycle) of (Dukkha / suffering). All 6 realms have Dukkha in them including if one is in Heaven.

To stop this cycle of Dukkha one has to follow Buddha teachings which takes you to the path of (Nibbana/ enlightenment – state of nothingness), essentially it means that you will not be part of the cycle of Dukkha or rebirth into any realms, therefore cessation of Dukkha and attainting the ‘nothingness’

Answer 1

From an atheistic point of view death is nihilistic. The end of a being or entity. In Buddhism there are no beings, entities, or even objects. These are concepts. Reality is only moments of experience. Moments of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking.

Nibbana is the cessation of experience. Since there is no entity or being that stops existing there is nothing that dies or is annihilated. There's just no more experience that arise.

It's a subtle difference but the main thing is the reference point: objects and entities vs moments of experience.

Answer 2

Nibbana is the cessation of suffering. It is attained while you live. Not when you die. The belief that it's all over after death is not supported by Buddhism. Buddhism teaches about causes and effect. As long as the causes are present, result will always arise. So as long as the causes for birth are present, birth occurs. This has no connection to the "you only live for once" belief held by materialist or atheists.