paradise

/par"euh duys', -duyz'/, n.

1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.

2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.

3. (often cap.) Eden (def. 1).

4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.

5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.

6. Archit.

a. parvis.

b. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.

7. (cap., italics) Italian, Paradiso /pah'rddah dee"zaw/. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Cf. inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2).

[bef. 1000; ME, OE paradis < LL paradisus < Gk parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; cf. Avestan pairi-daeza enclosure]

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▪ religion

      in religion, a place of exceptional happiness and delight. The term paradise is often used as a synonym for the Garden of Eden before the expulsion of Adam and Eve. An earthly paradise is often conceived of as existing in a time when heaven and earth were very close together or actually touching, and when humans and gods had free and happy association. Many religions also include the notion of a fuller life beyond the grave, a land in which there will be an absence of suffering and a complete satisfaction of bodily desires. Accounts of a primordial earthly paradise in the higher religions range from that of a garden of life (Judaism, Christianity, Islām) to that of a golden age of human society at the beginning of each cycle of human existence (Buddhism, Hinduism). A final state of bliss is variously conceived of as a heavenly afterlife (Islām, Christianity), union with the divine (Hinduism), or an eternal condition of peace and changelessness (Buddhism).

      In Christianity, paradise is pictured as a place of rest and refreshment in which the righteous dead enjoy the glorious presence of God. In its view of the heavenly afterlife, Islām views paradise as a pleasure garden in which the blessed experience the greatest sensual and spiritual happiness.

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