Sattva (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: सत्त्व, meaning ''honesty'') is one of the three

guṇa ( sa, गुण) is a concept in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property".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 Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (20 ...

.James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, , p. 608 The other two qualities are ''

rajas Rajas (Sanskrit: रजस्) is one of the three Guṇas (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept developed by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.James G. Lochtefeld, Rajas, in The Illustrated Encycloped ...

'' (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

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,

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. * ''Rajas'' is the quality of passion, activity, neither good nor bad and sometimes either, self-centeredness, egoistic, individualizing, driven, moving, dynamic. * ''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".

References

External links

Sankhya: Sattva
Ferenc Ruzsa, IEP * http://jetcincinnati.wixsite.com/vegetarianandsatvic/ {{Hindudharma Guna

Hinduism

Buddhism

See also

References

Further reading

External links