Mahayana Buddhism Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the others being Thera ...

the ''icchantika'' (一闡提) is an incorrigible unbeliever who lacks faith in Buddhism and has no prospect of attaining enlightenment.

Description

According to some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, the ''icchantika'' is the most base and spiritually deluded of all types of being. The term implies being given over to total

hedonism Hedonism is a family of Philosophy, philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is Motivation, motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of Psycholo ...

and greed. In the Tathagatagarbha sutras, some of which pay particular attention to the ''icchantikas'', the term is frequently used of those persons who do not believe in the Buddha, his eternal Selfhood and his

Dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

(Truth) or in

karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

; who seriously transgress against the Buddhist moral codes and

vinaya The Vinaya (Pali and Sanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines devel ...

; and who speak disparagingly and dismissively of the reality of the immortal

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 ...

(''Buddha-dhatu'') or

Tathagatagarbha 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 ...

present within all beings. The two shortest versions of the ''

Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra The ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (Sanskrit; , ; Vietnamese: ''Kinh Đại Bát Niết Bàn'') or ''Nirvana Sutra'' for short, is an influential Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Sutra, scripture of the Buddha-nature class. The original ...

'' (

Faxian Faxian (337–), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Fa-hien and Fa-hsien, was a Han Chinese, Chinese Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist bhikkhu, monk and translator who traveled on foot from Eastern Jin dynasty, Jin China to medieval India t ...

's translation and the middle-length Tibetan version) indicate that the ''icchantika'' has so totally severed all his/her roots of goodness that he/she can never attain liberation and

nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

or enlightenment (Buddhahood).Liu , Ming-Wood (1984).
The Problem of the Icchantika in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra
, ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'' 7 (1), 71-72 The full-length Dharmakshema version of the

Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the others being Theravā ...

, in contrast, insists that even the ''icchantika'' can eventually find release into nirvana, since no phenomenon is fixed (including this type of allegedly deluded person) and that change for the better and best is always a possibility. Other scriptures (such as the '' Lankavatara Sutra'') indicate that the icchantikas will be saved through the liberational power of the Buddha - who, it is claimed, will never abandon any being. Buswell notes: "With the prominent exception of the

-School .. East Asian Buddhists rejected the icchantica-doctrine in favor of the notion that all beings, even the denizens of hell, retained the capacity to attain enlightenment."

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