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Pāramitā
''Pāramitā'' (Sanskrit, Pali: पारमिता) or ''pāramī'' (Pāli: पारमी), is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as noble character qualities generally associated with enlightened beings. ''Pāramī'' and ''pāramitā'' are both terms in Pali but Pali literature makes greater reference to ''pāramī,'' while Mahayana texts generally use the Sanskrit ''pāramitā.'' Etymology Donald S. Lopez, Jr. describes the etymology of the term: Theravāda Buddhism Theravada teachings on the ''pāramīs'' can be found in late canonical books and post-canonical commentaries. Theravada commentator Dhammapala describes them as noble qualities usually associated with bodhisattas. American scholar-monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes them as perfections ''(paramī)'' of character necessary to achieve enlightenment as one of the three enlightened beings, a '' samma sambuddha'' a '' pacceka-buddha'' or an '' arahan ... [...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''), e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 branches of Buddhism (the other being ''Theravāda'' and Vajrayana).Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their emphasis on the ''bodhisattva'' path and ''Prajñāpāramitā''. '' Vajrayāna'' or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna, which make use of numerous tantric methods considered to be faster and more powerful at achieving Buddhahood by Vajrayānists. "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha ('' samyaksaṃbuddha'') for the benefit of all sentient beings, and is thu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jataka Tales
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' pp. 161-162. Some of these works are also considered great works of literature in their own right. In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a deva, an animal—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates. Often, Jātaka tales include an extensive cast of characters who interact and get into various kinds of trouble - whereupon the Buddha character intervenes to resolve all the problems and bring about a happy ending. The Jātaka genre is based on the idea that the Buddha was able to recollect all his past lives and thus could use these memor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Śīla
Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha. The term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is ''Śīla'' or ''sīla'' (Pāli). ''Śīla'' in Buddhism is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path, and is a code of conduct that embraces a commitment to harmony and self-restraint with the principal motivation being nonviolence, or freedom from causing harm. It has been variously described as virtue, moral discipline and precept. ''Sīla'' is an internal, aware, and intentional ethical behavior, according to one's commitment to the path of liberation. It is an ethical compass within self and relationships, rather than what is associated with the English word "morality" (i.e., obedience, a sense of obligation, and external constraint). ''Sīla'' is one of the three practices foundational to Buddhism and the non-sectarian Vipassana movement; ''sīla,'' ''samādhi'', and '' paññā'' as well as the Theravadin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adhiṭṭhāna
''Adhihāna'' (Pali; from ''adhi'' meaning "foundational" or "beginning" plus ''sthā'' meaning "standing"; Sanskrit, अधिष्ठान) has been translated as "decision," "resolution," "self-determination," "will", "strong determination" and "resolute determination." In the late canonical literature of Theravada Buddhism, ''adhihāna'' is one of the ten "perfections" (''dasa pāramiyo''), exemplified by the bodhisatta's resolve to become fully awakened. Pāli Canon texts While ''adhihāna'' appears sporadically in the early Pāli Canon, various late-canonical and post-canonical accounts of the Lord Buddha's past lives clearly contextualize ''adhihāna'' within the Theravadin tenfold perfections. Digha Nikaya analysis In the Pali Canon, in the Digha Nikaya discourse entitled, "Chanting Together" ( DN 33), Ven. Sariputta states that the Buddha has identified the following: :'Four kinds of resolve (''adhihānī''): o gain(a) wisdom, (b) truth (''sacca''), (c) relinquish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prajñā (Buddhism)
Prajñā (Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा) or paññā (Pāli: पञ्ञा), is a Buddhist term often translated as "wisdom", "intelligence", or "understanding". It is described in Buddhist texts as the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. In the context of Buddhist meditation, it is the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things: ''anicca'' ("impermanence"), '' dukkha'' ("dissatisfaction" or "suffering"), and ''anattā'' ("non-self"). Mahāyāna texts describe it as the understanding of ''śūnyatā'' ("emptiness"). It is part of the Threefold Training in Buddhism, and is one of the ten '' pāramīs'' of Theravāda Buddhism and one of the six Mahāyāna ''pāramitās''. Etymology ''Prajñā'' () is often translated as "wisdom", but according to Buddhist bioethics scholar Damien Keown, it is closer in meaning to "insight", "non-discriminating knowledge", or "intuitive apprehension". * ''jñā'' () can be translated as "consciousness", "knowl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan lang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven Factors Of Awakening
In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Awakening ( Pali: ''satta bojjhagā'' or ''satta sambojjhagā''; Skt.: ''sapta bodhyanga'') are: * Mindfulness ('' sati'', Sanskrit ''smrti''). To maintain awareness of reality, in particular the teachings ('' dhamma''). * Investigation of the nature of reality ('' dhamma vicaya'', Skt. ''dharmapravicaya''). * Energy ('' viriya'', Skt. ''vīrya'') also determination, effort * Joy or rapture ('' pīti'', Skt. ''prīti'') * Relaxation or tranquility ('' passaddhi'', Skt. prashrabdhi) of both body and mind * Concentration ('' samādhi'') a calm, one-pointed state of mind, or "bringing the buried latencies or ''samskaras'' into full view" * Equanimity ('' upekkha'', Skt. ''upekshā''). To accept reality as-it-is (''yathā-bhuta'') without craving or aversion. This evaluation of seven awakening factors is one of the "Seven Sets" of "Awakening-related states" ('' bodhipakkhiyadhamma''). The Pali word ''bojjhanga'' is a compound of ''bodhi'' ("awake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahmavihara
The ''brahmavihārās'' (sublime attitudes, lit. "abodes of brahma") are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables (Sanskrit: अप्रमाण, ''apramāṇa'', Pāli: अप्पमञ्ञा, ''appamaññā'') or four infinite minds ( Chinese: 四無量心). The ''Brahma-viharas'' are: # loving-kindness or benevolence (maitrī/mettā) # compassion (karuṇā) # empathetic joy (muditā) # equanimity (upekṣā/upekkhā) According to the '' Metta Sutta'', cultivation of the four immeasurables has the power to cause the practitioner to be reborn into a "Brahma realm" (Pāli: ''Brahmaloka''). Etymology and translations * Pāli: ''cattāri brahmavihārā'' * sa, चत्वारो ब्रह्मविहाराः ( IAST: ') * , ( Wylie: tshad med bzhi) ''Brahmavihāra'' may be parsed as "Brahma" and "vihāra", which is often rendered into English as "sublime" or " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virtue
Virtue ( la, virtus) is morality, moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is Value (ethics), valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards: doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. The opposite of virtue is vice. Other examples of this notion include the concept of Merit (Buddhism), merit in Asian traditions as well as ''De (Chinese), De'' (Chinese language, Chinese 德). Buddhism's four brahmavihara ("Divine States") can be regarded as virtues in the European sense. Etymology The ancient Romans used the Latin word ''virtus'' (derived from ''vir'', their word for ''man'') to refer to all of the "excellent qualities of men, including physical strength, valorous conduct, and moral rectitude." The French words ''vertu'' and ''virtu'' came from this Latin root. In the 13th century, the word ''virtue'' was "borrowed into English". Ancient Egypt Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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