Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, sentient beings or living beings are beings with

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

sentience Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''v ...

, or in some contexts

life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

itself.Getz, Daniel A. (2004). "Sentient beings"; cited in Buswell, Robert E. (2004). ''Encyclopedia of Buddhism''. Volume 2. New York, US: Macmillan Reference USA. (Volume 2): pp.760

Overview

Getz (2004: p. 760) provides a generalist Western Buddhist encyclopedic definition:

''Sentient beings'' is a term used to designate the totality of living, conscious beings that constitute the object and audience of Buddhist teaching. Translating various Sanskrit terms (''jantu, bahu jana, jagat, sattva''), ''sentient beings'' conventionally refers to the mass of living things subject to illusion, suffering, and rebirth (
saṃsāra ''Saṃsāra'' (Devanagari: संसार) is a Sanskrit word that means "wandering" as well as "world," wherein the term connotes "cyclic change" or, less formally, "running around in circles." ''Saṃsāra'' is referred to with terms or p ...
). Less frequently, ''sentient beings'' as a class broadly encompasses all beings possessing consciousness, including
Buddhas In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the supreme goal of Buddhism, variously described as awakening or enlighten ...
and
Bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, ''Enlightenment in Buddhism, bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal n ...
.

Sentient beings are composed of the five aggregates (

skandha ' (Sanskrit) or (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings, clusters". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the perpetual process of craving, cli ...

s): matter, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness. In the '' Samyutta Nikaya'', the Buddha is recorded as saying that "just as the word 'chariot' exists on the basis of the aggregation of parts, even so the concept of 'being' exists when the five aggregates are available." Early Buddhist sources classify sentient beings into five categories—divinities, humans, animals, tormented spirits, and denizens of hell—although sometimes the classification adds another category of beings called

asura Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...

s between divinities and humans. While distinctions in usage and potential subdivisions or classes of sentient beings vary from one school, teacher, or thinker to another, it principally refers to beings in contrast with

buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indo-Aryan languages, Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are Enlightenment in Buddhism, spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the Buddhist paths to liberat ...

. That is, sentient beings are characteristically ''not'' awakened, and are thus confined to the death, rebirth, and dukkha (suffering) characteristic of

saṃsāra ''Saṃsāra'' (Devanagari: संसार) is a Sanskrit word that means "wandering" as well as "world," wherein the term connotes "cyclic change" or, less formally, "running around in circles." ''Saṃsāra'' is referred to with terms or p ...

. Thus,

Dōgen was a Japanese people, Japanese Zen Buddhism, Buddhist Bhikkhu, monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He is also known as Dōgen Kigen (), Eihei Dōgen (), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (), and Busshō Dent� ...

writes "Those who greatly enlighten illusion are Buddhas; those who have great illusion in enlightenment are sentient beings." However,

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 ...

also simultaneously teaches that sentient beings also contain

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 ...

—the intrinsic potential to transcend the conditions of saṃsāra and attain

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

, thereby obtaining

Buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indo-Aryan languages, Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are Enlightenment in Buddhism, spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the Buddhist paths to liberat ...

. Thus, in Mahayana, it is to sentient beings that the

bodhisattva vow Gandharan relief depicting the ascetic Megha ( Shakyamuni in a past life) prostrating before the past Buddha Dīpaṅkara, c. 2nd century CE ( Swat_District.html" ;"title="Gandhara, Swat District">Swat Valley) The Bodhisattva vow is a vow (Sans ...

of compassion is pledged and sentient beings are the object of the all inclusive great compassion (maha karuna) and

skillful means In Buddhism, upaya (Sanskrit: उपाय, , ''expedient means'', ''pedagogy'') is an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action "is driven by an incomplete reasoning" about its direction. Upa ...

(upaya) of the Buddhas. Furthermore, in

East Asian Buddhism East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana is a collective term for the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism which developed across East Asia and which rely on the Chinese Buddhist canon. These include the various forms of Chinese, Japanese, Kore ...

, ''all'' beings (including plant life and even inanimate objects or entities considered "spiritual" or "metaphysical" by conventional Western thought) are or may be considered beings with Buddha-nature. The idea that "inanimate" beings have Buddha nature was defended by

Zhanran Jingxi Zhanran (; J. Keikei Tannen; K. Hyŏnggye Tamyŏn, c. 711-782) was the sixth patriarch of the Tiantai school of Chinese Buddhism. Zhanran is considered to be the most important Tiantai figure after the founder Zhiyi."Zhanran", in Silk, Jonat ...

(711–782) of the

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. Drawing from earlier Mahāyāna sources such as Madhyamaka, founded by Nāgārjuna, who is traditionally regarded as the f ...

school as well as Japanese figures like

Kūkai , born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...

and

.Chen, Shuman. "Chinese Tiantai Doctrine on Insentient Things' Buddha-Nature." ''Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal'' 24 (2011): 71–104.

References

{{Buddhism topics Buddhist philosophical concepts Buddhist belief and doctrine Animals in Buddhism

Overview

See also

References