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Sahā
Sahā or more formally the Sahā world (Sanskrit: ''sahāloka'' or ''sahālokadhātu'') in Mahāyāna Buddhism refers to the mundane world, essentially the sum of existence that is other than nirvana. It is the entirety of conditioned phenomena, also referred to as the trichiliocosm. As a term, its usage is comparable to the Earth (''pṛthivī'') or as the place where all beings are subject to the cycle of birth and death (''saṃsāra''). It is the place where both good and evil manifests and where beings must exercise patience and endurance (''kṣānti''). It is also described as the place where Śākyamuni Buddha teaches the Dharma. The Sahā world is divided into three distinct realms or worlds (''traidhātuka'' or ''trailokya''). Its ruler is Brahmā_(Buddhism)#Brahmā_Sahampati, Mahābrahmā Sahāmpati. Etymology ''Sahā'' is a Sanskrit term meaning "together" or "enduring." Chinese texts sometimes translate the term as 忍土 (pinyin: ''Rěntǔ''), literally "land of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wylie Transliteration
Wylie transliteration is a method for Transliteration, transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English-language typewriter. The system is named for the American scholar Turrell V. Wylie, who created the system and published it in a 1959 ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' article. It has subsequently become a standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States. Any Tibetic languages, Tibetan language romanization scheme faces the dilemma of whether it should seek to accurately reproduce the sounds of spoken Tibetan or the spelling of written Tibetan. These differ widely, as Tibetan orthography became fixed in the 11th century, while pronunciation continued to language change, evolve, comparable to the English orthography and French orthography, which reflect late medieval pronunciation. Previous transcription schemes sought to split the difference with the result that they achieved neither goal perfectly. Wyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jambudvīpa
Jambudvīpa (Pali; Jambudīpa) is a name often used to describe the territory of Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent in ancient Indian sources. The term is based on the concept of ''dvīpa'', meaning "island" or "continent" in ancient Indian cosmogony. The term ''Jambudvipa'' was used by Ashoka to represent his realm in the third century BCE. The same terminology was used in subsequent texts, for instance Kannada inscriptions from the tenth century CE which also described the region, presumably Outline of ancient India, Ancient India, as ''Jambudvipa''. The word Jambudvīpa literally refers to "the land of jambu trees", where jambu is Sanskrit for ''Syzygium cumini''. Puranic description According to Puranic cosmography, the world is divided into seven concentric island continents (''sapta-dvipa vasumati'') separated by the seven encircling oceans, each double the size of the preceding one (going out from within). The seven continents of the Puranas are stated as Jambu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sahā Triad
The Sahā Triad or Three Saints of the Saha World (娑婆三聖, pinyin: ''suōpó sānshèng'') is a devotional motif in East Asian Buddhist art. It represents the chief Buddha and bodhisattvas of the Sahā World: * Śākyamuni Buddha * Avalokiteśvara bodhisattva, often depicted in the form of Guanyin * Kṣitigarbha bodhisattva The figures are usually presented such that Buddha is in the middle with Guanyin to the Buddha's left (that is on the viewer's right) and Kṣitigarbha on the Buddha's right. Summary The Sahā Triad is a relatively recent development in Buddhist art and is particularly popular in Taiwan. Although largely affiliated with the Tzu Chi Foundation The Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation ( zh, t=佛教慈濟慈善事業基金會, l=Buddhist Compassionate Relief Charitable Foundation) is a Taiwanese international humanitarian and nongovernmental organization. Its work includes medical ai ..., it has spread among the broader circle of Chinese Buddhism. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saṃsāra (Buddhism)
Saṃsāra (in Sanskrit and Pali) in Buddhism is the beginningless cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again. Samsara is considered to be suffering (Skt. '' duḥkha''; P. ''dukkha''), or generally unsatisfactory and painful. It is perpetuated by desire and ignorance (Skt. '' avidyā;'' P. ''avijjā''), and the resulting karma and sensuousness. Rebirths occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms ( heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, ghosts, hell). Saṃsāra ends when a being attains nirvāṇa, which is the extinction of desire and acquisition of true insight into the nature of reality as impermanent and non-self. Characteristics In Buddhism, ''saṃsāra'' is the beginningless and endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth characterized by suffering. Passages from the Samyutta Nikaya propose that this process is beginningless, fueled by the ignorance and craving of beings. This unending transmigration across the six re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trailokya
Trailokya (; ; , Tibetan: khams gsum; zh, 三界; ) literally means "three worlds".Fischer-Schreiber ''et al.'' (1991), p. 230, entry for "Triloka". Here, synonyms for ''triloka'' include ''trailokya'' and ''traidhātuka''. It can also refer to "three spheres," "three planes of existence," and "three realms". Berzin (2008) renders ''khams-gsum'' (Wylie; Tibetan) and ''tridhatu'' (Sanskrit) as "three planes of existence" and states that it is " metimes called 'the three realms.'" ''Tridhatu'' is a synonym of ''triloka'' where ''dhatu'' may be rendered as "dimension" or "realm" and ''loka'' as "world" or even "planet." Various schemas of three realms (tri- loka) appear in the main Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Hindu cosmology The concept of three worlds has a number of different interpretations in Hindu cosmology. * Traditionally, the three worlds refer to either the earth ( Bhuloka), heaven ( Svarga), and hell ( Naraka), or the earth (Bhuloka), h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist Cosmology
Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the Universe according to Buddhist Tripitaka, scriptures and Atthakatha, commentaries. It consists of a temporal and a spatial cosmology. The temporal cosmology describes the timespan of the creation and dissolvement of alternate universes in different aeons. The spatial cosmology consists of a vertical cosmology, the various planes of beings, into which beings are reborn due to their merits and development; and a horizontal cosmology, the distribution of these world-systems into an infinite sheet of existential dimensions included in the cycle of samsara. The entire universe is said to be made up of five basic elements of Earth (classical element), Earth, Water (classical element), Water, Fire (classical element), Fire, Air (classical element), Air and Aether (classical element), Space. Buddhist cosmology is also intwined with the belief of Karma in Buddhism, Karma. As a result, some ages are filled with pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Attractions
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hindu-Arabic digit Brahmic numerals represented 1, 2, and 3 with as many lines. 4 was simplified by joining its four lines into a cross that looks like the modern plus sign. The Shunga would add a horizontal line on top of the digit, and the Kshatrapa and Pallava evolved the digit to a point where the speed of writing was a secondary concern. The Arabs' 4 still had the early concept of the cross, but for the sake of efficiency, was made in one stroke by connecting the "western" end to the "northern" end; the "eastern" end was finished off with a curve. The Europeans dropped the finishing curve and gradually made the digit less cursive, ending up with a digit very close to the original Brahmin cross. While the shape of the character for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahayana
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the others being Theravāda and Vajrayāna.Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of Early Buddhist schools, 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 Prajnaparamita, ''Prajñāpāramitā''. Vajrayāna or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna which makes use of numerous Tantra, tantric methods Vajrayānists consider to help achieve Buddhahood. Mahāyāna also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha for the benefit of all sentience, sentient beings, and is thus also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinayana
Hīnayāna is a Sanskrit term that was at one time applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' paths of Buddhism. This term appeared around the first or second century. The Hīnayāna is considered as the preliminary or small (''hina'') vehicle (''yana'') of the Buddha's teachings. It is often contrasted with Mahāyāna, the second vehicle of the Buddha's teachings, or the great (''maha'') vehicle (''yana''). The third vehicle of the Buddha's teachings is the Vajrayana, the indestructible (''vajra'') vehicle (''yana''). Western scholars used the term ''Hīnayāna'' to describe the early teachings of Buddhism, as the ''Mahāyāna'' teachings were generally given later. Modern Buddhist scholarship has deprecated the term as pejorative, and instead uses the term ''Nikaya Buddhism'' to refer to early Buddhist schools. ''Hinayana'' has also been inappropriately used as a synonym for Theravada, which is the main tradition of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eight Difficulties
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate with Greek and Latin , both of which stems are reflected by the English prefix oct(o)-, as in the ordinal adjective ''octaval'' or ''octavary'', the distributive adjective is ''octonary''. The adjective ''octuple'' (Latin ) may also be used as a noun, meaning "a set of eight items"; the diminutive ''octuplet'' is mostly used to refer to eight siblings delivered in one birth. The Semitic numeral is based on a root ''*θmn-'', whence Akkadian ''smn-'', Arabic ''ṯmn-'', Hebrew ''šmn-'' etc. The Chinese numeral, written (Mandarin: ''bā''; Cantonese: ''baat''), is from Old Chinese ''*priāt-'', ultimately from Sino-Tibetan ''b-r-gyat'' or ''b-g-ryat'' which also yielded Tibetan '' brgyat''. It has been argued that, as the cardinal num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pure Land
Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places without the sufferings of Saṃsāra, samsara and to be beyond the Trailokya, three planes of existence. Many Mahayana Buddhists aspire to be reborn in a Buddha's pure land after death. The term "Pure Land" is particular to East Asian Buddhism (). In Sanskrit Buddhist literature, Sanskrit Buddhist sources, the equivalent concept is called a buddha-field () or more technically a pure buddha-field (). It is also known by the Sanskrit term (Buddha land).Keenan, John P. ''The Interpretation of the Buddha Land'', p. xiii. BDK America Inc. 2002. In Tibetan Buddhism meanwhile, the term "pure realms" ( Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ) is also used as a synonym for buddhafield. The various traditions that focus on attaining Rebirth (Buddhism), reb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vimalakirti Sutra
The ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa'' (Devanagari: विमलकीर्तिनिर्देश) (sometimes referred to as the ''Vimalakīrti Sūtra'' or ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra'') is a Buddhist text which centers on a lay Buddhist meditator who attained a very high degree of enlightenment considered by some second only to the Buddha's. It was extremely influential in East Asia, but most likely of considerably less importance in the Indian and Tibetan sub-traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The word ''nirdeśa'' in the title means "instruction, advice", and Vimalakīrti is the name of the main protagonist of the text, and means "Taintless Fame". The sutra teaches, among other subjects, the meaning of nondualism, the doctrine of the true body of the Buddha, the characteristically Mahāyāna claim that the appearances of the world are mere illusions, and the superiority of the Mahāyāna over other paths. It places in the mouth of the upāsaka (lay practitioner) Vimalakīrt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
