Sahā or more formally the Sahā world (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

: ''sahāloka'' or ''sahālokadhātu'') in

Mahāyāna 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 bran ...

refers to the mundane world, essentially the sum of existence that is other than nirvana. It is the entirety of conditioned phenomena, also referred to as the trichiliocosm. As a term, its usage is comparable to the Earth (''pṛthivī'') or as the place where all beings are subject to the cycle of birth and death (''

saṃsāra ''Saṃsāra'' (Devanagari: संसार) is a Pali/Sanskrit word that means "world". It is also the concept of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental belief of most Indian religions. Popularly, it is the c ...

''). It is the place where both good and evil manifests and where beings must exercise patience and endurance (''

kṣānti Kshanti (Sanskrit ') or khanti ( Pāli) is patience, forbearance and forgiveness. It is one of the pāramitās in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhism. Canonical sources Examples in the Pāli canon identify using forbearance in response to ...

''). It is also described as the place where

Śākyamuni Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in ...

teaches the Dharma. The Sahā world is divided into three distinct realms or worlds (''traidhātuka'' or ''

trailokya Trailokya ( sa, त्रैलोक्य; Kannada: ತ್ರೈಲೋಕ್ಯ; pi, tiloka, Tibetan: khams gsum; Chinese: 三界) literally means "three worlds"Fischer-Schreiber ''et al.'' (1991), p. 230, entry for "Triloka." Here, synonyms ...

''). Its ruler is Mahābrahmā Sahāmpati.

Etymology

''Sahā'' is a Sanskrit term meaning "together" or "enduring." Chinese texts sometimes translate the term as 忍土 (

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: ''Rěntǔ''), literally "land of endurance."

Composition

Realm of Desire

The

desire realm The desire realm (Sanskrit: कामधातु, ''kāmadhātu'') is one of the trailokya or three realms (Sanskrit: धातु, ''dhātu'', Tibetan: ''khams'') in Buddhist cosmology into which a being wandering in '' '' may be reborn. The ...

(kāmadhātu) is where all sentient beings consist of a physical body and are susceptible to the experience of sense faculties. These beings are generally composed of 18 elements (''dhātu''), that include the sense bases and their respective modes of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

. In Buddhist cosmology, the desire realm is often described as being composed of four continents (cāturdvīpaka) which surround Mount Sumeru, which itself is surrounded by oceans and mountain ranges. The four continents are * Jambudvīpa in the South * Pūrvavideha in the East * Uttarakuru in the North * Avaragodānīya in the West

Realm of Form

Realm of Non-Form

As a Pure Land

The

Vimalakirti Sutra The ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa'' (Devanagari: विमलकीर्तिनिर्देश) (sometimes referred to as the ''Vimalakīrti Sūtra'' or ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra'') is a Buddhist text which centers on a lay Buddhist meditat ...

further elaborates on the nature of the Sahā world. It is treated as a

pure land A pure land is the celestial realm of a buddha or bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. The term "pure land" is particular to East Asian Buddhism () and related traditions; in Sanskrit the equivalent concept is called a buddha-field (Sanskrit ). T ...

of its own, under the jurisdiction of Śākyamuni Buddha. It has ten features distinct from other pure lands: #The poor are attracted by charity #The transgressors are attracted by pure precepts #The angry are attracted by forbearance #The lazy are attracted by exertion #The perturbed are attracted by meditation #The foolish are attracted by wisdom #Those who experience the eight difficulties are saved by explanation of how to eliminate difficulties #Those who take pleasure in the

Hinayana Hīnayāna (, ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "small/deficient vehicle". Classical Chinese and Tibetan teachers translate it as "smaller vehicle". The term is applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' ...

are saved by the teaching of the

Mahayana ''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 bra ...

#Those without merit may be saved by the various good roots #The liberation of sentient beings is constantly being accomplished by means of the four attractions

References

{{Buddhism-stub Buddhist cosmology Pure lands Mahayana Buddhist philosophical concepts