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Wikipedia defines nirvana in the Buddhist context as the “imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished". Generally, it is viewed as the state of perfection, or bliss.

What’s nirvana got to do with the stock market? Well, we’ve never met an investor who wasn’t searching for the “perfect stock” or the “perfect strategy.”

We have lots of good stock ideas, but we are certainly not going to publicly call any of them perfect. That tempts fate a little too much.

However, here are five separate market/stock levels of bliss, and perhaps you can guide your own portfolio to a state of nirvana by looking for these strategies amongst your own holdings.

The double-double

A double-double happens when you own a stock in a company that is taken over and you get new shares in the acquired company as payment, and then the company whose shares you now own gets acquired as well.

Bam! You have two takeovers from the same investment. For investors, it doesn’t get much better than this.

A double-double is a rare phenomenon, but we would watch, for example, Gran Tierra Energy Inc. In 2011 Gran Tierra exchanged its shares in a takeover of Petrolifera Petroleum Ltd. Today, many view Gran Tierra as a target, setting up a potential double win for former Petrolifera shareholders.

The 100% yield

This occurs when the annual dividend on a stock rises so much that it exceeds your adjusted cost base. It is also rare, but, given enough time, can happen.

Take Bank of Nova Scotia. Its dividend today is $2.64 per share. On a split-adjusted basis, you could have bought the bank’s shares for $2.66 or less on Jan. 31, 1983. Thus, any shareholder who has held on for 31 years now has a yield-on-cost of 99.2%. One more dividend increase and you’re at nirvana.

Short sell and hold to bankruptcy

You don’t generally have to pay taxes when you short a stock until you cover your position. If a stock continually goes down, you at least defer taxes for a very long time.

The rules are mixed in a bankruptcy, but many investors just never cover their short position in these cases, and never declare a capital gain.

RBI Energy Inc., for example, recently filed for bankruptcy protection, and its shares have been suspended. In 2010, though, you could have shorted RBI Energy at $6 per share. With its restructuring still underway, we doubt any short sellers are declaring their gains on this one. Nirvana: 100% tax-free gains?

Stocks that never seem to go down

Owning a stock that continually rises is always a good thing provided, of course, you don’t sell out too early.

For example, Amaya Gaming Group Inc. has risen from $2 per share to $37 in four years, despite lots of market volatility during that time; and Concordia Healthcare Corp. has jumped from $6 per share in late 2013 to $42.

Bidding war frenzy

It’s nice to own a company that receives a takeover bid, and then a third or even fourth company shows up to up the ante.

Allergan Inc. shareholders recently experienced some bliss when Actavis PLC came in and trumped Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc.’s bid for the company. The takeover interest has more than doubled Allergan’s shares in the past year.

Next time one of your positions receives a bid, make sure you look at the possibility of another buyer. Again, don’t sell too early.

And, if none of these strategies work, you can always go back to yoga class.

In case you missed it, check out Five reasons to still love the energy sector.