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Buddha Nature
Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone" (''tathāgata''), or "containing a ''tathāgata''", while ''buddhadhātu'' literally means "Buddha-realm" or "Buddha-substrate". Buddha-nature has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian and later East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist literature. Broadly speaking, the terms refer to the potential for all sentient beings to be a Buddha, since the luminous mind, "the natural and true state of the mind," the pure (''visuddhi'') mind undefiled by kleshas, is inherently present in every sentient being. It will shine forth when it is cleansed of the defilements, c.q. when the nature of mind is recognised for what it is. The ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (written 2nd century CE), which was very influential in the Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dōgen
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. Originally ordained as a monk in the Tendai School in Kyoto, he was ultimately dissatisfied with its teaching and traveled to China to seek out what he believed to be a more authentic Buddhism. He remained there for four years, finally training under Tiantong Rujing, an eminent teacher of the Caodong lineage of Chinese Chan. Upon his return to Japan, he began promoting the practice of zazen (sitting meditation) through literary works such as '' Fukanzazengi'' and ''Bendōwa''. He eventually broke relations completely with the powerful Tendai School, and, after several years of likely friction between himself and the establishment, left Ky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Asian Mādhyamaka
East Asian Madhyamaka refers to the Buddhist tradition in East Asia which represents the Indian Madhyamaka (''Chung-kuan'') system of thought. In Chinese Buddhism, these are often referred to as the ''Sānlùn'' ( Ch. 三論宗, Jp. ''Sanron'', "Three Treatise") school, also known as the "emptiness school" (''K'ung Tsung''),Hsueh-li Cheng, Empty Logic: Mādhyamika Buddhism from Chinese Sources, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1991 p. 9. although they may not have been an independent sect. The three principal texts of the school are ''the Middle Treatise'' (''Zhong lun''), ''the Twelve Gate Treatise'' (''Shiermen lun''), and ''the Hundred Treatise'' (''Bai lun''). They were first transmitted to China during the early 5th century by the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva (344−413) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The school and its texts were later transmitted to Korea and Japan. The leading thinkers of this tradition are Kumārajīva's disciple Sēngzhào (Seng-chao; 374−414), and the later J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or sign) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make a longer word or sign. A compound that uses a space rather than a hyphen or concatenation is called an open compound or a spaced compound; the alternative is a closed compound. The meaning of the compound may be similar to or different from the meaning of its components in isolation. The component stems of a compound may be of the same part of speech—as in the case of the English word ''footpath'', composed of the two nouns ''foot'' and ''path''—or they may belong to different parts of speech, as in the case of the English word ''blackbird'', composed of the adjective ''black'' and the noun ''bird''. With very few exceptions, English compound words are stressed on their first component ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit Grammar
The grammar of the Sanskrit language has a complex verbal system, rich nominal declension, and extensive use of compound nouns. It was studied and codified by Sanskrit grammarians from the later Vedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), culminating in the Pāṇinian grammar of the 4th century BCE. Grammatical tradition Origins Sanskrit grammatical tradition (''vyākaraṇa'', one of the six Vedanga disciplines) began in late Vedic India and culminated in the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'' of Pāṇini. The oldest attested form of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language as it had evolved in the Indian subcontinent after its introduction with the arrival of the Indo-Aryans is called Vedic. By 1000 BCE, the end of the early Vedic period, a large body of Vedic hymns had been consolidated into the Ṛg·Veda, which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, and was transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally. In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatpuruṣa
Sanskrit inherits from its parent, the Proto-Indo-European language, the capability of forming compound nouns, also widely seen in kindred languages, especially German, Greek, and also English. However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound-usage in the literature, a development which is unique within Indo-European to Sanskrit and closely related languages. Further, this development in the later language is an entirely artificial, literary construct and does not reflect the spoken language.Burrow, p. 209. Background In Sanskrit, as in Proto-Indo-European, a compound is formed by the following process: * Take the stem-form of the first element, i.e., remove its inflexion; * Combine the two elements with a single accented syllable. In the later language, this process can be repeated recursively—in theory, ad infinitum, with the freshly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tathāgatagarbha Sūtras
The Tathāgatagarbha sūtras are a group of Mahayana sutras that present the concept of the "womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the tathāgata, the buddha. Every sentient being has the possibility to attain Buddhahood because of the ''tathāgatagarbha''. This concept originated in India but was a major influence in the development of East Asian Buddhism, where it was equated with the concept of ''Buddhadhātu'', "buddha-element" or "buddha-nature". The Tathāgatagarbha sūtras include the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'', ''Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra'', ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' and the ''Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra''. Related ideas are in found in the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' and '' Avataṃsaka Sūtra''. Another major text, the '' Awakening of Faith'', was originally composed in China, while the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' was considerably extended in China . Comparing the tradition of Tathāgatagarbha sūtras to the Yogachara and Madhyamaka s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools as well as modern Theravada Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Pali: ''bodhisatta'') refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so. In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated ''bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritually heroic persons that work to attain awakening and are driven by a great compassion (''mahakaruṇā''). These beings are exemplified by important spiritual qualities such as the "four divine abodes" (''brahmaviharas'') of loving-kindness ('' metta''), compassion (''karuṇā''), empathet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaya-vijnana
The Eight Consciousnesses (Skt. ''aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ'') is a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. They enumerate the five sense consciousnesses, supplemented by the mental consciousness (''manovijñāna''), the defiled mental consciousness (''kliṣṭamanovijñāna''), and finally the fundamental store-house consciousness (''ālāyavijñāna''), which is the basis of the other seven.Waldron, William S. The Buddhist Unconscious: The Alaya-vijñana in the context of Indian Buddhist Thought. Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism, 2003, page 97 This eighth consciousness is said to store the impressions ('' vāsanāḥ'') of previous experiences, which form the seeds (''bīja'') of future karma in this life and in the next after rebirth. Eightfold network of primary consciousnesses All surviving schools of Buddhist thought accept – "in common" – the existence of the first six primary consciousne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luminous Mind
Luminous mind ( Skt: or , Pali: ; Tib: ; Ch: ; Jpn: ; Kor: ) is a Buddhist term which appears only rarely in the Pali Canon, but is common in the Mahayana sūtras and central to the Buddhist tantras. It is variously translated as "brightly shining mind", or "mind of clear light" while the related term ''luminosity'' (Skt. ; Tib. ; Ch. ; Jpn. ; Kor. ) is also translated as "clear light" or "luminosity" in Tibetan Buddhist contexts or, "purity" in East Asian contexts. The Theravada school identifies the "luminous mind" with the ''bhavanga'', a concept first proposed in the Theravāda Abhidhamma. The later schools of the Mahayana identify it with ''bodhicitta'' and ''tathagatagarbha''. The luminosity of mind is of central importance in the philosophy and practice of the Buddhist tantras, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen. Early Buddhist texts In the Early Buddhist Texts there are various mentions of luminosity or radiance which refer to the development of the mind in meditation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rangtong-Shentong
''Rangtong'' and ''shentong'' are two distinctive views on emptiness ( sunyata) and the two truths doctrine within Tibetan Buddhism. ''Rangtong'' (; "empty of self-nature") is a philosophical term in Tibetan Buddhism that is used to distinguish the majority Madhyamaka teaching on the meaning of śūnyatā or "emptiness", namely that all phenomena are empty of an enduring and/or unchanging essence or "self," and that this emptiness is not an absolute reality, but a mere nominal characterisation of phenomena. It is related to the '' prasangika'' approach, which argues that no syllogistic forms of reasoning should be used to debate the notion of inherent existence, but only arguments which show the logical implications and absurdity of positions based upon inherent existence. This position is the mainstream Gelugpa interpretation of Madhyamaka, one of the main Mahayana schools, which dominates Vajrayana Buddhism. ''Shentong'' (, also transliterated ''zhäntong'' or ''zhentong''; l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu-pel
gZhon-nu-dpal (1392-1481), also known as 'Gos Lo-tsa-ba (full name: Yid-bzang-rtse gZhon-nu-dpal) was a famous Tibetan historian and scholar, known as the author of the "Blue Annals". Life and achievements He was born in 1392 at lho kha 'phyongs rgyas. He was a student of the fifth Karmapa Lama, Deshin Shekpa (1384-1415), from whom he received the ''bodhisattva precepts'', as well as Tsongkhapa, and was a teacher of the sixth Karmapa, Thongwa Dönden (1416-1453). He was the abbot of the Karmarñing Monastery and the author of the Blue Annals. Works * His most famous work, the "Blue Annals" (Deb-ther sngon-po), was completed in 1478, near the end of his life, and the text was dictated by him to some of his attendants. * Khrul-sel'', written in 1442-1443. * His wrote a commentary on the ''Ratnagotravibhaga'' which extensively explored and contrasted Buddha-nature, described by Mathes (2008).Mathes, Klaus-Dieter (2008). ''A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa's Mahāmudra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tathāgata
Tathāgata () is a Pali word; Gautama Buddha uses it when referring to himself or other Buddhas in the Pāli Canon. The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (''tathā-gata''), "one who has thus come" (''tathā-āgata''), or sometimes "one who has thus not gone" (''tathā-agata''). This is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena. There are, however, other interpretations and the precise original meaning of the word is not certain.Chalmers, RobertThe Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1898. pp.103-115/ref> The Buddha is quoted on numerous occasions in the Pali Canon as referring to himself as ''the Tathāgata'' instead of using the pronouns ''me'', ''I'' or ''myself''. This may be meant to emphasize by implication that the teaching is uttered by one who has transcended the human condition, one beyond the otherwise endless cycle of rebirth and death, i.e. beyond dukkha. Etymology a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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