Sattva (
Sanskrit: सत्त्व, meaning ''honesty'') is one of the three
guṇas or "modes of existence" (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept understood by the
Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
school of
Hindu philosophy.
[James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, , p. 608] The other two qualities are ''
rajas'' (passion and activity) and ''
tamas'' (destruction, chaos). ''Sattva'' is the quality of goodness, positivity, truth, serenity, balance, peacefulness, and virtuousness that is drawn towards
Dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
and ''
Jnana'' (knowledge).
[Ian Whicher (1998), ''The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana'', State University of New York Press, pp. 86–87, 124–125, 163–167, 238–243 ]
Hinduism
In Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
philosophy, a is one of three "tendencies, qualities": sattva, rajas and tamas. This category of qualities has been widely adopted by various schools of Hinduism for categorizing behavior and natural phenomena. The three qualities are:
* ''Sattva'' is the quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universalizing, holistic, constructive, creative, building, positive attitude, luminous, serenity, being-ness, peaceful, virtuous.[
* ''Tamas'' is the quality of imbalance, disorder, chaos, anxiety, impure, destructive, delusion, negative, dull or inactive, apathy, inertia or lethargy, violent, vicious, ignorant.
In Indian philosophy, these qualities are not considered as present in either-or fashion. Rather, everyone and everything has all three, only in different proportions and in different contexts.][James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, , p. 265] The living being or substance is viewed as the net result of the joint effect of these three qualities.[
According to the Samkhya school, no one and nothing is either purely sattvik or purely rajasik or purely tamasik.][ One's nature and behavior is a complex interplay of all of these, with each guna in varying degrees. In some, the conduct is rajasik with significant influence of sattvik guna, in some it is rajasik with significant influence of tamasik guna, and so on.][Alban Widgery (1930), "The principles of Hindu Ethics", ''International Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 234–237]
Buddhism
Sattva, or Satta in Pali language, is found in Buddhist texts, such as in ''Bodhi-sattva''. The Sattva in Buddhism means "a living being, creature, person or sentient being".
See also
* Sat (Sanskrit)
* Sattvik diet
* Satya
''Satya'' (Sanskrit: सत्य; IAST: ''satya)'' is a Sanskrit word loosely translated as truth, essence. A. A. Macdonell, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Asian Educational Services, , pp. 330–331 It also refers to a virtue in Indian relig ...
* Sentient beings (Buddhism)
* Vidya (Knowledge)
References
Further reading
*
External links
Sankhya: Sattva
Ferenc Ruzsa, IEP
* http://jetcincinnati.wixsite.com/vegetarianandsatvic/
{{Hindudharma
Guna