Nirvana can be described as the extinction of all desires. Nirvana is what the Buddha was striving for before he became the Buddha. The first person to ever reach nirvana was the Buddha and within the theravada school of Buddhism the people who have attained enlightenment since are referred to as arhats. However, within the Mahayana school of Buddhism those who have attained enlightenment are still referred to as Buddha's and those who have reached enlightenment and return to help others are Bodhisattvas.
Arhat - An arhat is one who has reached enlightenment and attained complete wisdom according to Thravadan teachings. An arhat is not a Buddha but the person who has become an arhat has been released from samsara and will not be reborn. Arhats stress wisdom (prajna) more than compassion whereas the Mahayanan Bodhisattva stresses compassion (karuna).
The Three Baskets - The three baskets are the teachings of the Buddha and are classified into three major parts: the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta or Suttanata Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka, collectively known as, The Work, these are the official Buddhist texts (i.e. the bible). The Vinaya Pitaka is the collection of texts concerning the rules of conduct governing the daily affairs within the Sangha, the community of bhikkhus (ordained monks) and bhikkhunis (ordained nuns). Far more than a list of rules, the Vinaya Pitaka also includes the stories behind the origin of each rule, providing a detailed account of the Buddha's solution to the question of how to maintain communal harmony within a large and diverse spiritual community. The Suttanata Pitaka is the collection of suttas, or discourses, attributed to the Buddha and a few of his closest disciples, containing all the central teachings of Theravada Buddhism. (Over eight hundred sutta translations are available on this website.) The suttas are divided among five nikayas (collections).
