Apramāda (Sanskrit; Pali: ''appamāda''; Tibetan Wylie: ''bag yod pa'') is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

term translated as "conscientious" or "concern". It is defined as taking great care concerning what should be adopted and what should be avoided.Guenther (1975), Kindle Locations 634-635.Kunsang (2004), p. 24. In the

Pāli Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During ...

, a collection of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

's earliest teachings, the term appamāda is quite significant and the essence of the meaning cannot be captured with one English word. "Heedfulness", "diligence", and "conscientiousness", are all words that capture some aspects of appamāda. It is identified as one of the eleven virtuous mental factors within the Mahayana

Abhidharma The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the f ...

teachings.

Etymology

The word is a negation of pamāda, which means "negligent" or "lax." Appamāda, therefore, means non-negligence, or non-laxity, non-intoxication, non-deluded correctly translated as "heedfulness", or whichever word fully captures the mood of the term. "Heedfulness", "diligence", and "conscientiousness", all captures certain aspects of the word.

Explanation

The

Abhidharma-samuccaya The Abhidharma-samuccaya (Sanskrit; ; English: "Compendium of Abhidharma") is a Buddhist text composed by Asaṅga. The ''Abhidharma-samuccaya'' is a systematic account of Abhidharma. According to J. W. de Jong it is also "one of the most importa ...

states: :What is concern? From taking its stand on non-attachment ( alobha), non-hatred ( adveṣa), and non-deludedness ( amoha) coupled with diligence ( vīrya), it considers whatever is positive and protects the mind against things which cannot satisfy. Its function is to make complete and to realize all worldly and transworldly excellences. Alexander Berzin states:Berzin (2006) : A caring attitude (bag-yod, carefulness) is a subsidiary awareness that, while remaining in a state of detachment, imperturbability, lack of naivety, and joyful perseverance, causes us to meditate on constructive things and safeguards against leaning toward tainted (negative) things. In other words, being disgusted with and not longing for compulsive existence, not wanting to cause harm in response to its suffering, not being naive about the effects of our behavior, and taking joy in acting constructively, a caring attitude brings us to act constructively and to refrain from destructive behavior. This is because we care about the situations of others and ourselves and about the effects of our actions on both; we take them seriously. Robert Thurman emphasizes the high degree of apramāda of someone who has realized

emptiness Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, anhedonia, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders, including schizoid ...

(a.k.a. "voidness"):Thurman (2008), p. 158. : This denotes a type of awareness of the most seemingly insignificant aspects of daily life, an awareness derived as a consequence of the highest realization of the ultimate nature of reality. As it is stated in the ''Anavataptaparipṛcchasutra'': "He who realizes voidness, that person is consciously aware." "Ultimate realization," far from obliterating the relative world, brings it into highly specific, albeit dreamlike, focus. This term is described at length in chapter four of the Bodhicharyavatara.

Alternate translations

* A caring attitude (Alexander Berzin) * Carefulness (Alexander Berzin) * Conscious awareness (Robert Thurman) * Conscientiousness * Concern (Herbert Guenther) * Prudent * Heedfulness (often used in Theravāda sources)

References

{{Reflist

Sources

* Berzin, Alexander (2006)
''Primary Minds and the 51 Mental Factors''
* Guenther, Herbert V. & Leslie S. Kawamura (1975), ''Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding"''. Dharma Publishing. Kindle Edition. * Kunsang, Erik Pema (translator) (2004). ''Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1''. North Atlantic Books. * Thurman, Robert (2008), ''The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti'', Pennsylvania State University

External links