HOME
*



picture info

Chittamatra
Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It is also variously termed ''Vijñānavāda'' (the doctrine of consciousness), ''Vijñaptivāda'' (the doctrine of ideas or percepts) or ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'' (the doctrine of 'mere representation'), which is also the name given to its major epistemic theory. There are several interpretations of this main theory; while often regarded as a kind of Idealism, critical scholars argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism, aimed at deconstructing the reification of our perceptions. According to Dan Lusthaus, this tradition developed "an elaborate psychological therapeutic system that mapped out the problems in cognition along with the antidotes to correct ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during the nineteenth century from suggestions by Charles Trevelyan, William Jones, Monier Monier-Williams and other scholars, and formalised by the Transliteration Committee of the Geneva Oriental Congress, in September 1894. IAST makes it possible for the reader to read the Indic text unambiguously, exactly as if it were in the original Indic script. It is this faithfulness to the original scripts that accounts for its continuing popularity amongst scholars. Usage Scholars commonly use IAST in publications that cite textual material in Sanskrit, Pāḷi and other classical Indian languages. IAST is also used for major e-text repositories such as SARIT, Muktabodha, GRETIL, and sanskritdocuments.org. The IAST scheme represents more than ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Sautrāntika
The Sautrāntika or Sutravadin ( sa, सौत्रान्तिक, Suttavāda in Pali; ; ja, 経量部, Kyou Ryou Bu) were an early Buddhist school generally believed to be descended from the Sthavira nikāya by way of their immediate parent school, the Sarvāstivādins.Westerhoff, Jan, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2018, p. 73. While they are identified as a unique doctrinal tendency, they were part of the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya lineage of monastic ordination.Tadeusz Skorupski, Sautrāntika, Oxford Bibliographies, LAST MODIFIED: 29 MAY 2015, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0210 Their name means literally "those who rely upon the sutras", which indicated, as stated by the commentator Yasomitra, that they hold the sutras, but not the Abhidharma commentaries (sastras), as authoritative. The views of this group first appear in the '' Abhidharmakośabhāṣya'' of Vasubandhu''.'' Name The name Sautrāntika indicates that unlike other Nor ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Śūnyatā
''Śūnyatā'' ( sa, शून्यता, śūnyatā; pi, suññatā) pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as ''emptiness'', ''vacuity'', and sometimes ''voidness'', is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience. In Theravāda Buddhism, ''Suññatā'' often refers to the non-self (Pāli: ''anattā'', Sanskrit: ''anātman'') nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres. ''Suññatā'' is also often used to refer to a meditative state or experience. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, ''śūnyatā'' refers to the tenet that "all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature (''svabhava'')", but may also refer to the Buddha-nature teachings and primordial or empty awareness, as in Dzogchen, Shentong, or Chan. Etymology "''Śūnyatā''" (Sanskrit) is usually translated as "dev ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Trisvabhāva
Trisvabhāva (Sanskrit; Chinese: 三性 or 三自性) or the three natures, is one of the key doctrines of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism. The concept of the three natures describes the three qualities that all phenomena possess, and can be found in several Mahayana sutras, such as Samdhinirmocana Sūtra. The three natures are: ''Parikalpita-svabhava'' (the imaginary nature of things)'', Paratantra-svabhava'' (the dependent nature of things) and ''Parinishpanna-svabhava'' (the consummate or perfected nature of things). Meaning and interpretations ''Parikalpita'' (Sanskrit; Traditional Chinese: 遍計所執性): the "impure" or "imaginary" nature refers to the falsely perceived nature of objects as entities that exists separate from the consciousness that perceives them. Note that in the Yogācāra analysis, objects do not exist separately from the perceiving subject, they come into existence in dependence upon consciousness, which in turn are produced from seeds that reside i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sandhinirmocana Sutra
The ''Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra'' (Sanskrit) or ''Noble sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets'' is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text and the most important sutra of the Yogācāra school. It contains explanations of key Yogācāra concepts such as the basal-consciousness (''ālaya-vijñāna''), the doctrine of appearance-only (''vijñapti-mātra'') and the "three own natures" (''trisvabhāva''). Étienne Lamotte considered this sutra "the link between the ''Prajñaparamita'' literature and the Yogācāra Vijñanavada school". This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of which is typically considered to be that of Xuanzang. It also was translated into Tibetan. The original Sanskrit text has not survived to the present day. Nomenclature and etymology The ''Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra'' (; ''Gongpa Ngédrel'') is variously romanized as ''Sandhinirmocana Sutra'' and ''Samdhinirmocana Sutra''. The full Sanskrit ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ontology
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exist on the most fundamental level. Ontologists often try to determine what the categories or highest kinds are and how they form a system of categories that encompasses classification of all entities. Commonly proposed categories include substances, properties, relations, states of affairs and events. These categories are characterized by fundamental ontological concepts, including particularity and universality, abstractness and concreteness, or possibility and necessity. Of special interest is the concept of ontological dependence, which determines whether the entities of a category exist on the most fundamental level. Disagreements within ontology are often about whether entities belonging to a certain category exist and, if so, how ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Abhidharma
The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study. Bhikkhu Bodhi calls it "an abstract and highly technical systemization of the uddhistdoctrine," which is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation." According to Peter Harvey, the Abhidharma method seeks "to avoid the inexactitudes of colloquial conventional language, as is sometimes found in the Suttas, and state everything in psycho-philosophically exact language." In this sense, it is an attempt to best express the Buddhist view of "ultimate reality" (''paramartha-satya''). There are different types of Abhidharma literature. The early canonical Abhidharma works (like the '' Abhidhamma Pitaka'') are not phi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sarvastivada
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particularly known as an Abhidharma tradition, with a unique set of seven Abhidharma works.Westerhoff, 2018, p. 61. The Sarvāstivādins were one of the most influential Buddhist monastic groups, flourishing throughout North India (especially Kashmir) and Central Asia until the 7th century. The orthodox Kashmiri branch of the school composed the large and encyclopedic ''Mahāvibhāṣa'' ''Śāstra'' around the time of the reign of Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE). Because of this, orthodox Sarvāstivādins who upheld the doctrines in the ''Mahāvibhāṣa'' were called ''Vaibhāṣikas.'' According to the Theravādin '' Dipavamsa'', the Sarvastivada emerged from the older Mahīśāsaka school ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Prajñāpāramitā
A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala Prajñāpāramitā ( sa, प्रज्ञापारमिता) means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna and Theravāda Buddhism. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a perfected way of seeing the nature of reality, as well as to a particular body of Mahāyāna scriptures (sūtras) which discusses this wisdom. It also refers to the female deity Prajñāpāramitā Devi, a personification of wisdom also known as the "Great Mother" (Tibetan: ''Yum Chenmo''). The word ''Prajñāpāramitā'' combines the Sanskrit words '' prajñā'' "wisdom" (or "knowledge") with ''pāramitā'' "perfection" or " transcendent". Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and is generally associated with ideas such as emptiness (''śūnyatā''), 'lack of svabhāva' (essence), the illusory ('' māyā'') nature of things, how all phenomena are characterized by "non-aris ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Bhūmi (Buddhism)
In Buddhism, ''Bhūmi'' (Sanskrit: '' भूमि'' 'foundation', Chinese: 地 'land' ) is the 32nd and 33rd place (10th and 11th in simple count) on the outgoing's process of Mahayana awakening. Each stage represents a level of attainment in that case, and serves as a basis for the next one. Each level marks a definite advancement in one's training that is accompanied by progressively greater power and wisdom. Buddhist monks who arrived at ''Bhūmi'' were originally called śrāvakas, in opposition to Brahminism. Śakro devānām and Trāyastriṃśa are together called "Bhūmi nivāsin". The ten bodhisattva stages are also called ''vihara'' ('dwelling'). Ten bhūmis of the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' The '' Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' refers to the following ten bhūmis. #''The first bhūmi, the Very Joyous.'' (Skt. ''pramuditā''), in which one rejoices at realizing a partial aspect of the truth; #''The second bhūmi, the Stainless.'' (Skt. ''vimalā''), in which one is free f ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Bhavana
''Bhāvanā'' (Pali;Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 503, entry for "Bhāvanā," retrieved 9 December 2008 from "U. Chicago" a Sanskrit: भावना, also ''bhāvanā''Monier-Williams (1899), p. 755, see "Bhāvana" and "Bhāvanā", retrieved 9 December 2008 from "U. Cologne" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/MWScanpdf/mw0755-bhAvodaya.pdf .) literally means "development" or "cultivating" or "producing" in the sense of "calling into existence".Nyanatiloka (1980), p. 67. It is an important concept in Buddhist practice (''Patipatti''). The word ''bhavana'' normally appears in conjunction with another word forming a compound phrase such as ''citta-bhavana'' (the development or cultivation of the heart/mind) or ''metta-bhavana'' (the development/cultivation of lovingkindness). When used on its own, ''bhavana'' signifies contemplation and 'spiritual cultivation' generally. Etymology ''Bhavana'' derives from the word ''Bhava'' meaning ''becoming'' or the su ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Buddhist Meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are '' bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and '' jhāna/dhyāna'' (mental training resulting in a calm and luminous mind). Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward liberation from defilements ('' kleshas'') and clinging and craving (''upādāna''), also called awakening, which results in the attainment of Nirvana, and includes a variety of meditation techniques, most notably ''anapanasati'' (mindfulness of breathing). Other techniques include '' asubha bhavana'' ("reflections on repulsiveness");Deleanu, Florin (1992)Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras Transactions of the International Conference of Orientalists in Japan (TICOJ) 37, 42-57. reflection on '' pratityasamutpada'' (dependent origination); '' anussati'' (recollections, including ''anapanasati'') and '' sati'' (mindfulness), culminating in ''dhyana'' (develo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]