Svabhava ( sa, स्वभाव, svabhāva; pi, सभाव, sabhāva; ; ) literally means "own-being" or "own-becoming". It is the intrinsic nature, essential nature or essence of beings. The concept and term ''svabhāva'' are frequently encountered in Hindu and Buddhist traditions such as

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ...

(e.g. in the '' Avadhūta Gītā''),

Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

(e.g. in the '' Ratnagotravibhāga''),

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as ...

(e.g., the writings of

Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents ...

) and

Dzogchen Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. ...

(e.g. in the

seventeen tantras The ''Seventeen Tantras of the Esoteric Instruction Series'' () or the ''Seventeen tantras of the Ancients'' (''rnying-ma'i rgyud bcu-bdun'') are an important collection of tantras in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. They comprise the c ...

). In the nondual Advaita Vedānta yoga text, ''Avadhūta Gītā'',

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

(in the Upanishadic denotation) is the ''svabhāva''. In the Mahāyāna Buddhadharma tradition(s) it is one of a suite of terms employed to denote the

Buddha-nature Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gon ...

, such as "''

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra ...

''".

Indian philosophy

The term first appears in the

Shvetashvatara Upanishad The ''Shvetashvatara Upanishad'' ( sa, श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् or or , IAST: ' or ') is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Up ...

, as a possible first cause (''jagatkāraṇa'').Ramkrishna Bhattacharya, ''Svabhāvavada'' and the Cārvāka/Lokāyata: A Historical Overview There also seems to have been an Indian philosophical position called ''Svabhāvavada'' which was akin to naturalism which held that "things are as their nature makes them". It is possible this position was similar to or associated with Carvaka.

Samkhya

In early

samkhya ''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a dualistic school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, '' puruṣa'' ('consciousness' or spirit); and ''prakṛti'', (nature ...

philosophy, Svabhava was a term which was associated with

prakṛti Prakriti ( sa, प्रकृति ) is "the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". It is a key concept in Hinduism, formulated by its Sāṅkhya school, where it does not refer to matter or nature, b ...

. It is the inherent capacity of

, which is independent and self caused.

Vaishnavism

The ''

Bhagavad Gītā The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (ch ...

'' (18.41) has nature (''svabhava'') as a distinguishing quality differentiating the '' varṇā''. Overzee (1992: p. 74) in her work on

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philo ...

(1881–1955) and Rāmānuja (1017–1137) highlights Rāmānuja's usage of ''svabhāva'' in relation to Brahman thus:

Let us look more closely at what Rāmānuja means by the Lord's "nature". If you read his writings, you will find that he uses two distinct yet related words when referring to the nature of Brahman: ''svarūpa'' and ''svabhāva''.Overzee, Anne Hunt (1992). ''The body divine: the symbol of the body in the works of Teilhard de Chardin and Rāmānuja''. Issue 2 of Cambridge studies in religious traditions. Cambridge University Press. , . Source

(accessed: Monday April 5, 2010), p.74

Buddhism

In early Theravada, Theravādin texts, the term "''svabhāva''" did not carry the technical meaning or the soteriological weight of later writings. Much of Mahayana Buddhism (as in the '' Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'') denies outright that such a ''svabhāva'' exists within any being; however, while in the

tathāgatagarbha sūtras The Tathāgatagarbha sūtras are a group of Mahayana sutras that present the concept of the "womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the tathāgata, the buddha. Every sentient being has the possibility to attain Buddhahood because of the ''tathāgat ...

, notably the ''

Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra The ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (Sanskrit; , ; Vietnamese: ''Kinh Đại Bát Niết Bàn'') or ''Nirvana Sutra'' is Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra of the Buddha-nature genre. Its precise date of origin is uncertain, but its early form ...

'', the Buddha states that the immortal and infinite Buddha-nature - or "true self" of the Buddha - is the indestructible ''svabhāva'' of beings, this position is clarified in the ''

Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra The ''Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra'' (, '' of Queen Śrīmālā'') is one of the main early Mahāyāna Buddhist texts belonging to the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras that teaches the doctrines of Buddha-nature and "One Vehicle" through the w ...

'', which directly states that "tathāgatagarbha is not a substantial self, nor a living being, nor ‘fate,’ nor a person."

Theravāda

In the

Pāli Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During ...

, ''sabhāva'' is absent from what are generally considered to be the earliest texts. When found in later texts (e.g., the paracanonical '' Milindapañha)'', it generically refers to state (of mind), character or truth. In the post-canonical Abhidhamma literature, ''sabhāva'' is used to distinguish an irreducible, dependent, momentary

phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfrie ...

(''dhamma'') from a conventionally constructed object. Thus, a collection of visual and tactile phenomena might be mentally constructed into what is conventionally referred to as a "table"; but, beyond its constituent elements, a construct such as "table" lacks intrinsic existence (''sabhāva''). According to Peter Harvey, svabhava in the Theravada Abhidhamma is something conditional and interdependent:

Vaibhāṣika

The

Vaibhāṣika Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika ( sa, सर्वास्तिवाद-वैभाषिक) or simply Vaibhāṣika (), refers to an ancient Buddhist tradition of Abhidharma (scholastic Buddhist philosophy), which was very influential in north ...

school held that dharmas have a constant

essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

or inherent nature (''svabhāva'') which persists through past, present and future.Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 70. The term was also identified as a unique mark or own characteristic (''svalaksana'') that differentiated a dharma and remained unchangeable throughout its existence. According to Vaibhāṣikas, ''svabhavas'' are those things that exist substantially (''dravyasat'') as opposed to those things which are made up of aggregations of dharmas and thus only have a nominal existence (''prajñaptisat'').

Madhyamaka

Robinson (1957: p. 300) in discussing the Buddhist logic of

Nāgārjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

, states:

Dzogchen

Dzogchen upholds a view of ''niḥsvabhāva'', refuting ''svabhāva'' using the same logic employed by Madhyamaka, a freedom from extremes demonstrated succinctly via catuṣkoṭi tetralemma. In the context of logical analysis, Dzogchen agrees with the view of

madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhis ...

as elucidated by

, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu explains: The ''Union of the Sun and Moon'' (), one of the '

of the esoteric instruction cycle' () which are a suite of tantras known variously as: nyingtik, upadesha or menngagde within

discourse, states:

Bonpo Dzogchen

''Svabhāva'' is very important in the nontheistic

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

of the Bonpo Great Perfection (Dzogchen) tradition where it is part of a technical language to render macrocosm and microcosm into

nonduality Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffer ...

, as Rossi (1999: p. 58) states:

''The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra''

The term "''svabhāva''" is mentioned in six verses of the first chapter of the '' Avadhūta Gītā'': 1.5, 1.6, 1.44, 1.54, 1.58, 1.76. This extreme nondual yoga text shares a lot of common language with the extreme nondual yoga of

Atiyoga Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existenc ...

(Dzogchen) and its standard Tibetan analogue ''rang-bzhin'' (Wylie) is employed in '' The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra,'' one of the ''

Seventeen Tantras The ''Seventeen Tantras of the Esoteric Instruction Series'' () or the ''Seventeen tantras of the Ancients'' (''rnying-ma'i rgyud bcu-bdun'') are an important collection of tantras in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. They comprise the c ...

'' of Atiyoga Upadesha. Dzogchen strictly refutes the notion of "''svabhāva''", and so '' The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra,'' states specifically that dharmakāya is non-arisen and natureless:
The following quotation from ''The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra'' is drawn from the Lungi Terdzö:

Namkhai Norbu

teacher Namkhai Norbu (2001: p. 155) in discussing the view of the pratyekabuddhas states that:

Notes

References

Sources

* Gethin, R.M.L. (1992). ''The Buddhist Path to Awakening: A Study of the Bodhi-Pakkhiyā Dhammā''. Leiden: E.J. Brill. . *

Y Karunadasa Yakupitiyage Karunadasa is a Sri Lankan scholar in Buddhist Studies. His main areas of specialization are Early Buddhism and Theravada Abidhamma. Education and career Y. Karunadasa obtained a First Class Bachelor of Arts degree from the Universi ...

, (1996). ''The Dhamma Theory: Philosophical Cornerstone of the Abhidhamma'' (WH 412/413). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 2008-06-30 from "BPS" (transcribed 2007) a

* Red Pine (2004). ''The Heart Sutra''. Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard. . * * C.A.F. Rhys Davids, Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. ( 900 2003). ''Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-Piaka, entitled Dhamma- (Compendium of States or Phenomena)''. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. . * Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921–25)
''The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary''
Chipstead:

Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...

. * Walshe, Maurice (1987, 1995). ''The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya''. Boston: Wisdom Publications. . * Williams, Paul (1989; repr. 2007). ''Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations''. London: Routledge. {{ISBN, 978-0-415-02537-9. * Yamamoto, Kosho (tr.), Page, Tony (ed.) (1999–2000
''The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra''
in 12 volumes. London: Nirvana Publications

External links

The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra and its teachings on the deathless Self of the Buddha
Mahayana Theravada Buddhist philosophical concepts Dzogchen Madhyamaka