''Kyōgai'' () is a concept in
Zen Buddhism
Zen (; from Chinese: '' Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka ph ...
for a person's state of mind.
''Kyōgai'' is a Japanese word and does not have a direct English translation,
but it is often variously described as a person's state of being,
or more specifically their "consciousness" or "behavior" or "experience". Though not an accurate definition, the literal translation of the word ''kyōgai'' into English is "boundary", and the origin of the word ''Kyōgai'' comes from the Pali word ''gocara'' () and the Sanskrit word ''
Viśayā'' (),
specifically in their contexts as a pasture where animals graze and the boundary of that pasture.
The ''kyōgai'' is a private experience, such that one person's ''kyōgai'' will be different from another's,
and a person's ''kyōgai'' changes with time and experience.
The term is also used to describe a person's behavior or attitude,
for example a routine action done by a person or a person's way of doing things is described as their ''kyōgai''.
In the
Rinzai school
The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school, Linji s ...
especially, it is a person's ''kyōgai'' that is judged when being tested with ''
kōan
A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a narrative, story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chan Buddhism, Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhism, Buddhist practice in different way ...
s'', as opposed to an intellectual understanding of a fixed answer to the ''kōan'' itself.
The term can also less commonly refer to a shared viewpoint, such as a Western ''kyōgai'' being used to describe the experiences and understanding of the world through the lens of a person in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
.
References
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Zen Buddhist philosophical concepts