samsãra: The round of rebirth without beginning, in which all living beings revolve. Samsãra is the name given to the continuous process of being born, getting sick, growing old, and dying—an uninterrupted succes­sion of births, deaths, and rebirths. It encompasses the entire universe of sentient existence, from the grossest beings to the most refined, from the highest realms of the Immaterial World to the lowest realms of hell. All existence within this cycle is subject to change, inherently unstable, and burdened with pain and suffering, with each state of existence being determined by a being’s intentional actions of body, speech, and mind (kamma). The attainment of Nibbãna marks the complete transcendence of the world of samsãra.

轮回(saṃsāra)：指一切众生无始以来生死相续的轮转。这是众生不断的生、病、老、死——永无休止的生、死然后再生的过程，所以称作轮回。整个宇宙，从最粗的到最精细的、最高的无色界到最低的地狱，所有的有情众生都在轮回当中。在轮回中的众生全都受无常、不稳定和痛苦所支配，众生会生于哪个层次的生命，是取决于它们的身、语、意三业。证得涅槃则彻底超越世间的轮回。