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Five Ranks
The "Five Ranks" (; ) is a poem consisting of five stanzas describing the stages of realization in the practice of Zen Buddhism. It expresses the interplay of absolute and relative truth and the fundamental non-dualism of Buddhist teaching. Origins The ranks are referenced in the '' Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi''. This work is attributed to the Chinese Caodong ( Sōtō) monk Dongshan Liangjie (Japanese: Tōzan Ryōkan), who lived during the end of the Tang dynasty, as well as two sets of verse commentaries by him. The teachings of the Five Ranks may be inspired by the Sandokai, a poem attributed to Shitou Xiqian (traditional Chinese: 石頭希遷). The work is highly significant in both the Caodong/ Sōtō and Linji/ Rinzai schools of Zen that exist today. Eihei Dogen, the founder of the Japanese Sōtō School, references the Five Ranks in the first paragraph of one of his most widely studied works, Genjōkōan. Hakuin integrated the Five Ranks in his system of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. There are many different forms of stanzas. Some stanzaic forms are simple, such as four-line quatrains. Other forms are more complex, such as the Spenserian stanza. Fixed verse poems, such as sestinas, can be defined by the number and form of their stanzas. The stanza has also been known by terms such as ''batch'', ''fit'', and ''stave''. The term ''stanza'' has a similar meaning to ''strophe'', though ''strophe'' sometimes refers to an irregular set of lines, as opposed to regular, rhymed stanzas. Even though the term "stanza" is taken from Italian, in the Italian language the word "strofa" is more commonly used. In music, groups of lines are typically referred to as '' verses''. The stanza in poetry is analogous with the paragrap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhūmi (Buddhism)
In Mahayana Buddhism, ''bhūmi'' (Sanskrit; foundation, ground, level, stage, Chinese: 地) or ''bodhisattva-bhūmi'' refers to the progressive levels of spiritual development that a bodhisattva attains on the path to Buddhahood in Mahayana Buddhism. This idea is variously translated into English as "bodhisattva levels", "bodhisattva grounds", or "bodhisattva stages". There are various schemas of bodhisattva bhūmis presented across the vast literature of Mahayana Buddhism. These bhūmi theories represent organized schemas for the bodhisattva path, each stage associated with specific virtues (like faith, merit, etc) and practices (like the pāramitās). Although the concept of bhūmi (as a stage of development) originates in earlier Buddhist traditions (for example, in the ''Śrāvakabhūmi'' it refers to the stages of Śrāvakas), Mahayana sutras like the '' Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' discuss it in the context of ten bodhisattva stages. The ten bodhisattva stages are also ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Stages Of Enlightenment
In Buddhism, the fruits of the noble path (Sanskrit: āryamārgaphala, Pali: ariyamaggaphala; Tibetan: ’phags lam gyi ’bras bu; Chinese: shengdaoguo 聖道果) are four stages on the path to full awakening (''bodhi''). These four fruits or states are Sotāpanna (stream-enterer), Sakadāgāmi (once-returner), Anāgāmi (non-returner), and Arahant (conqueror, "worthy one"). The early Buddhist texts portray the Buddha as referring to people who are at one of these four states as "noble ones" ('' ārya'', Pāli: ''ariya'') and the community of such persons as the noble sangha. The teaching of the four stages of awakening was important to the early Buddhist schools and remains so in the Theravada school. It is also included in the Mahayana teachings on the various paths to awakening. However, their teaching on the bodhisattva path relies on different stages of awakening, called bodhisattva stages, which are taught as an alternative path. Outline In the Early Buddhist Texts, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamrim
Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of ''lamrim'', presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools. However, all versions of the ''lamrim'' are elaborations of Atiśa's 11th-century root text '' A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment'' (''Bodhipathapradīpa''). History When Atiśa, the originator of the ''lamrim'' came from India to Tibet, he was asked by king Jang Chub Ö to give a complete and easily accessible summary of the doctrine in order to clarify wrong views, especially those resulting from apparent contradictions across the sutras and their commentaries. Based upon this request he wrote the '' Bodhipathapradīpa'' ("A Lamp for the Path to Awakening"), teaching what came to be known as the ''lamrim'' for the Tibetans. Atiśa's presentation of the doctrine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nāgārjuna is widely considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement. His ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (''Root Verses on Madhyamaka'', MMK) is the most important text on the Madhyamaka philosophy of Śūnyatā, emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today. History Background India in the first and second centuries CE was politically divided into various states, including the Kushan Empire and the Satavahana dynasty, Satavahana Kingdom. At ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heart Sutra
The ''Heart Sūtra'', ) is a popular sutra in Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title ' translates as "The Heart of the Prajnaparamita, Perfection of Wisdom". The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (''śūnyatā''), emptiness is form." It has been called "the most frequently used and recited text in the entire Mahayana Buddhist tradition." The text has been translated into English dozens of times from Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan, as well as other source languages. Summary of the sutra In the sutra, Avalokiteśvara addresses Sariputta, Śariputra, explaining the fundamental emptiness (śūnyatā) of all phenomena, known through and as the five aggregates of human existence (skandhas): form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), volitions (saṅkhāra), perceptions (saṃjñā), and mind (vijñāna). Avalokiteśvara famously states, "Form is Emptiness (śūnyatā). Emptiness is Form", and declares the other skandhas to be equally empty—that is, Pratītyasamutp� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; ; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ་ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the Śūnyatā, emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no Svabhava, ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhist philosophy and practice founded by the History of Buddhism in India, Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nagarjuna, Nāgārjuna ().Wynne, Alexander (2015) ''Early Buddhist Teaching as Proto-śūnyavāda.'' Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 6. pp. 213-241. The foundational text of the Mādhyamaka tradition is Nagarjuna, Nāgārjuna's ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' ("Root Verses on the Middle Way"). More broadly, Madhyamaka also refers to the ultimate nature of phenomena as well as the non-conceptual realization of ultimate reality that is experienced in Buddhist meditation, meditation. Since the 4th century CE onwards, Madhyamaka philosophy had a major influence on the subsequent d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prajnaparamita
file:Medicine Buddha painted mandala with goddess Prajnaparamita in center, 19th century, Rubin.jpg, A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahayana, Mahāyāna. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a perfected way of seeing the Ontology, nature of reality, as well as to a particular body of Mahayana sutras, Mahāyāna scriptures (sūtras), known as the Prajñāpāramitā sutras, which includes such texts as the Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra. The word ''Prajñāpāramitā'' combines the Sanskrit words ''Prajñā (Buddhism), prajñā'' "wisdom" (or "knowledge") with ''pāramitā'', "excellence," "perfection," "noble character quality," or "that which has gone beyond," "gone to the other side," "Transcendence (philosophy), transcending." Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and is generally associated with ideas such as emptiness (''ś� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddha-nature
In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature ( Chinese: , Japanese: , , Sanskrit: ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within themselves.Heng-Ching ShihThe Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' – A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata'/ref> "Buddha-nature" is the common English translation for several related Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist terms, most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu'', but also ''sugatagarbha,'' and ''buddhagarbha''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' can mean "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone one" (''Tathagata, tathāgata''), and can also mean "containing a ''tathāgata''"''. Buddhadhātu'' can mean "buddha-element", "buddha-realm", or "buddha-substrate". Buddha-nature has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian Buddhism and later in East Asian Buddhism, East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist literatur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten Bulls
Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures ( Chinese: ''shíniú'' 十牛 , Japanese: ''jūgyūzu'' 十牛図 , korean: ''sipwoo'' 십우) is a series of short poems and accompanying drawings used in the Zen tradition to describe the stages of a practitioner's progress toward awakening, and their subsequent return to society to enact wisdom and compassion. History Background The calf, bull, or ox is one of the earliest similes for meditation practice. It comes from the ''Maha Gopalaka Sutta'' ( Majjhima Nikaya 33). It is also used in the commentaries, especially the one on the ''Maha Satipatthana Sutta'' (Digha Nikaya 22) and the ''Satipatthana Sutta'' (Majjhima Nikaya 10). In Indian Buddhism the simile of the bull is compatible to the ancient traditional Chinese view within Cosmology that includes the Ox (niú 牛) as a birth year and quality, as a result this similarity helped with the early assimilation of Buddhism into Chinese culture and then on to the rest of East Asia. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pure Land
Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places without the sufferings of Saṃsāra, samsara and to be beyond the Trailokya, three planes of existence. Many Mahayana Buddhists aspire to be reborn in a Buddha's pure land after death. The term "Pure Land" is particular to East Asian Buddhism (). In Sanskrit Buddhist literature, Sanskrit Buddhist sources, the equivalent concept is called a buddha-field () or more technically a pure buddha-field (). It is also known by the Sanskrit term (Buddha land).Keenan, John P. ''The Interpretation of the Buddha Land'', p. xiii. BDK America Inc. 2002. In Tibetan Buddhism meanwhile, the term "pure realms" ( Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ) is also used as a synonym for buddhafield. The various traditions that focus on attaining Rebirth (Buddhism), reb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
