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Zen Buddhist Monks
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka philosophies, with Chinese Taoist thought, especially Xuanxue, Neo-Daoist. Zen originated as the Chan Buddhism, Chan School (禪宗, ''chánzōng'', 'meditation school') or the Buddha-nature, Buddha-mind school (佛心宗'', fóxīnzōng''), and later developed into various sub-schools and branches. Chan is traditionally believed to have been brought to China by the semi-legendary figure Bodhidharma, an Indian (or Central Asian) monk who is said to have introduced dhyana teachings to China. From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and became Thiền, Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea to become Korean Seon, Seon Buddhism, and east to Japan, becoming Japanese Zen. Zen emphasizes Buddhist meditation, meditation practice, direct insight int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhyāna In Buddhism
In the oldest texts of Buddhism, ''dhyāna'' () or ''jhāna'' () is a component of the training of the mind (''bhavana''), commonly translated as Buddhist meditation, meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions and "burn up" the Kleshas (Buddhism), defilements, leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (''Upekṣā, upekkhā-Sati (Buddhism), sati-Purity in Buddhism, parisuddhi'')." ''Dhyāna'' may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian Buddhism, in combination with several related practices which together lead to perfected mindfulness and detachment. In the later commentarial tradition, which has survived in present-day Theravada, Theravāda, ''dhyāna'' is equated with "concentration", a state of one-pointed absorption in which there is a diminished awareness of the surroundings. In the contemporary Theravāda-based Vipassana movement, this absorbed state of mind is regarded as unnecessary and even non-beneficial for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodhicitta
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind ( citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.Dayal, Har (1970). ''The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature'', p. 59. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 130. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013. Bodhicitta is the defining quality of the Mahayana bodhisattva (a being striving towards Buddhahood) and the act of giving rise to bodhicitta (''bodhicittotpāda)'' is what makes a bodhisattva a bodhisattva. Bodhicitta is the generative cause of a bodhisattva's eventual Buddhahood. The '' Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' explains that the arising of bodhicitta is the first step in the bodhisattva's career. Etymology Etymologically, the word is a combination of the Sanskrit words bodhi and citta. ''Bodhi'' means "awakening" or "enlighten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
The ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: लङ्कावतारसूत्रम्, "Discourse of the Descent into Laṅkā", , Chinese: 入楞伽經) is a prominent Mahayana Buddhist sūtra. It is also titled ''Laṅkāvatāraratnasūtram'' (''The Jewel Sutra of the Entry into Laṅkā,'' Gunabhadra's Chinese title: 楞伽阿跋多羅寶經 léngqié ābáduōluó bǎojīng) and ''Saddharmalaṅkāvatārasūtra'' (''The Sutra on the Descent of the True Dharma into Laṅkā''). A subtitle to the sutra found in some sources is "''the heart of the words of all the Buddhas''" (一切佛語心 yiqiefo yuxin, Sanskrit: ''sarvabuddhapravacanahṛdaya''). The ''Laṅkāvatāra'' recounts a teaching primarily between Gautama Buddha and a bodhisattva named Mahāmati ("Great Wisdom"). The sūtra is set in mythical Laṅkā, ruled by Rāvaṇa, the king of the rākṣasas. The ''Laṅkāvatāra'' discusses numerous Mahayana topics, such as Yogācāra philosophy of mind-only (' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 '' tathāgatagarbha''. This concept originated in India but was a major influence in the development of East Asian Buddhism, where it was equated with the concept of ''Buddhadhātu'', "buddha-element" or "buddha-nature". The Tathāgatagarbha sūtras include the '' Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'', '' Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra'', '' Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' and the '' Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra''. Related ideas are in found in the '' Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' and '' Avataṃsaka Sūtra''. Another major text, the '' Awakening of Faith'', was originally composed in China, while the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' was considerably extended in China . Comparing the tradition of Tathāgatagarbha sūtras to the Yogachara and Mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yogachara
Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). Yogachara was one of the two most influential traditions of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism in India, along with Madhyamaka. The compound ''Yogācāra'' literally means "practice of yoga", or "one whose practice is yoga", hence the name of the school is literally "the school of the yogins". Yogācāra was 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 theory of mind which seeks to deconstruct how we perceive the world. There are several interpretations of this main theory: various forms of Idealism, as well as a Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in order to compassionately help other individuals reach Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools, as well as modern Theravāda Buddhism, bodhisattva (or bodhisatta) refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will come to pass. In Theravāda Buddhism, the bodhisattva is mainly seen as an exceptional and rare individual. Only a few select individuals are ultimately able to become bodhisattvas, such as Maitreya. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated '' bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarvastivada
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third 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 canonical Abhidharma texts.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 CE. The orthodox Kashmiri branch of the school composed the large and encyclopedic '' Abhidharma 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.'' There have been debates about the exact chronological emergence of Sarvastivadins from Sthavira nikāya. According to the Theravādin '' Dī ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sudden Awakening
Sudden awakening or Sudden enlightenment (), also known as subitism, is a Buddhist idea which holds that practitioners can achieve an instantaneous insight into ultimate reality (Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind). This awakening is described as being attained "suddenly," "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other." It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, an approach which says that insight can be achieved only through a long gradual step by step process. Etymology The application of the term "subitism" to Buddhism is derived from the French '' illumination subite'' (sudden awakening), contrasting with 'illumination graduelle' (gradual awakening). It gained currency in this use in English from the work of sinologist Paul Demiéville. His 1947 work 'Mirror of the Mind' was widely read in the U.S. It inaugurated a series by him on subitism and gradualism. The Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hongaku
The moon reflected in water is a popular simile for enlightenment used by Dōgen in the '' East Asian Buddhist doctrine often translated as "inherent", "innate", "intrinsic" or "original" enlightenment in Buddhism">awakeness. This doctrine holds all sentient beings are already enlightened or awakened in some way. In this view, since all beings have some kind of awakeness as their true nature, the attainment of insight is a process of discovering and recognizing what is already present, not of attaining some goal or developing a potential.Stone, Jacqueline. 'From Buddha Nature to Original Enlightenment: "Contemplating Suchness" in Medieval Japan' in Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, and Casey Kemp, eds. ''Buddha Nature Across Asia''. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 103. Vienna: Arbeitkreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien, University of Vienna, 2022. As such, people do not have to become Buddhas through religious cultivation, they just have to recognize that they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monasticism
Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christianity, Christian churches, especially in the Catholicism, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox and Anglican traditions as well as in other faiths such as Buddhist monasticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jain monasticism, Jainism. In other religions, monasticism is generally criticized and not practiced, as in Islam and Zoroastrianism, or plays a marginal role, as in modern Nazirite, Judaism. Many monastics live in abbeys, convents, monastery, monasteries, or priories to separate themselves from the secular world, unless they are in mendicant or missionary orders. Buddhism The Sangha or community of ordained Buddhist bhikkhus (Pali ''bhikkhu'', like Sanskrit ''bhikṣu'', means 'mendicant; one who lives by dāna, alms'), and orig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation ( Chinese: 經行; Pinyin: ''jīngxíng''; Romaji: ''kinhin'' or ''kyōgyō''; Korean: ''gyeonghyaeng''; Vietnamese: ''kinh hành'') is a meditation practice done while walking common in Buddhism. It can be done as a standalone practice or as a break in between long periods of sitting meditation. In different forms, the practice is common in various traditions of both Theravada and in Mahayana Buddhism. The term ''kinhin'' consists of the Chinese words 經, meaning "to go through (like the thread in a loom)", with "sutra" as a secondary meaning, and 行, meaning "walk". Taken literally, the phrase means "to walk straight back and forth." Theravāda In Theravāda Buddhism, walking meditation is frequently performed in conjunction with seated meditation. Walking meditation is particularly emphasized in forest monastic traditions and in vipassana traditions, where meditators alternate between sitting and walking to sustain mindfulness and balance energy l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodhisattva Precepts
The Bodhisattva Precepts ( Skt. ''bodhisattva-śīla'' or ''bodhisattva-saṃvāra'', , ; Tibetan: byang chub sems dpa’i sdom pa) are a set of ethical trainings ('' śīla'') used in Mahāyāna Buddhism to advance a practitioner along the path to becoming a bodhisattva.Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 136. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013. These sets of "restrains" (''saṃvāra'') are the main ethical code in Mahāyāna Buddhism and as thus also sometimes called "Mahāyāna precepts" (Ch: 大乘戒). Traditionally, monastics observed the basic moral code in Buddhism, the monastic prātimokṣa or five precepts for laypersons, but in the Mahāyāna tradition, Buddhist monastics and laypersons commonly observe the Bodhisattva Precepts as well. The Bodhisattva Precepts are associated with the bodhisattva vow to save all beings and with bodhicitta. Overview Early Buddhism made use of basic moral codes called '' Prātimok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
