Man painting in gold a statue of the Buddha

( from , meaning "foundational" or "beginning" plus meaning "standing"; ) has been translated as "decision," "resolution," "

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

," "will", "strong determination" and "resolute determination." In the late canonical literature of

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' ( anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or '' Dhamma'' in ...

, is one of the ten "perfections" (), exemplified by the bodhisatta's resolve to become fully awakened.

Pāli Canon texts

While adhiṭṭhāna appears sporadically in the early

Pāli Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

, various late-canonical and post-canonical accounts of the

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

's past lives contextualize adhiṭṭhāna within the Theravadin ten perfections.

Digha Nikaya analysis

In the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

, in the

Dīgha Nikāya The ''Dīgha Nikāya'' ("Collection of Long Discourses") is a Buddhist scriptures collection, the first of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Piṭaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipiṭaka of Th ...

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

entitled, "Chanting Together" ( DN 33), Sariputta states that 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 legends, he was ...

identified the following: :Four kinds of resolve (): o gain(a)

wisdom Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, and good judgment to navigate life’s complexities. It is often associated with insight, discernment, and ethics in decision-making. Throughout history, wisdom ha ...

, (b) truth (''

sacca ''Sacca'' () is a Pali word meaning "real" or "true". In early Buddhism, Buddhist literature, ''sacca'' is often found in the context of the "Four Noble Truths", a crystallization of Buddhist wisdom. In addition, ''sacca'' is one of the ten pā ...

''), (c) relinquishment (), (d) tranquility ().

Bodhisatta Sumedho

In the late-canonical ''

Buddhavaṃsa The ''Buddhavaṃsa'' (also known as the ''Chronicle of Buddhas'') is a hagiographical Buddhist text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and of the twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him and prophesied his attainment of Buddhahood. It is ...

'', the bodhisatta Sumedha declares (represented in English and Pali):

Temiya the Wise

In the late-canonical Cariyapitaka, there is one account explicitly exemplifying , that of "Temiya the Wise" (Cp III.6, ). In this account, at an early age Temiya, sole heir to a throne, recalls a past life in purgatory () and thus asks for release (). In response, a compassionate advises Temiya to act unintelligent and foolish and to allow himself to be an object of people's scorn. Understanding the 's virtuous intent, Temiya agrees to this and acts as if mute, deaf, and crippled. Seeing these behaviors but finding no physiological basis for them, priests, generals and countrymen decry Temiya as "inauspicious" and plan to have Temiya cast out. When Temiya is sixteen years old, he is ceremonially anointed and then buried in a pit. The account concludes: :... I did not break that resolute determination which was for the sake of Awakening itself. Mother and father were not disagreeable to me and nor was self disagreeable to me. Omniscience [] was dear to me, therefore I resolutely determined on that itself. Resolutely determining on those factors I lived for sixteen years. There was no one equal to me in resolute determination — this was my perfection of Resolute Determination.For the whole account, see Horner (2000), pp. 36-38. The final quotation is from Horner (2000), pp. 37-38, vv. 17-19.

Notes

Sources

* * A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. *

External links

* * DN 33 in the Ida B. Wells on-line library. * (samples) {{Virtues Buddhist philosophical concepts