Property:Glossary-DefinitionDDB
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D
Basic Meaning: Dharma-body
Senses: Translated as reality body, truth body, law body, etc. In general Mahāyāna teaching, the Dharma-body is a name for absolute existence, the manifestation of all existences—the true body of reality, or Buddha as eternal principle; the body of essence that is pure, possesses no marks of distinction, and is the same as emptiness (Skt. dharmakāya). The Dharma-body is one of the three bodies 三身 of the Buddha. The Buddhaʼs body of the universe—the body of truth that lacks form. The basis of all things. In texts such as the Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith the Dharma-body is seen as being equivalent to the tathāgatagarbha; it is also identified with the one mind.
Syn. with 實相身. [Charles Muller] +
P
般若 Transliteration of the Sanskrit, meaning wisdom; cognitive acuity; know-how (Pāli paññā).1 Especially the Buddhist wisdom that is based on a realization of dependent arising, no-self, emptiness, etc.—the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about enlightenment. Interpretive renderings such as 'know-how' and 'cognitive acuity,' point out that prajñā is a knowledge that can be applied to the effecting of positive changes. In the sense that it has a positive meaning, as a noetic function that is based on a purified state of consciousness, its meaning sometimes overlaps with that of jñāna. However, jñāna refers more often to a direct cognitive experience, whereas prajñā tends to connote a kind of insight or discernment based on prior experience. Both prajñā and jñāna, as mental states of enlightened people or advanced practitioners, are distinguished from vijñāna, the noetic function of ordinary beings, that works through vikalpa 分別, prapañca 戲論, etc. Translated into Chinese as 智慧 and 明 clear, intelligent. Prajñā is the sixth pāramitā. The Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra describes it as supreme, highest, incomparable, unequalled, unsurpassed. It is spoken of as the principal means, by its enlightenment, of attaining to nirvana, through its revelation of the emptiness of all things. Also transliterated as 般羅若; 般諄若; 鉢若; 鉢剌若; 鉢羅枳孃; 鉢腎禳; 波若, 波賴若; 波羅孃; 班若. (Skt. prajñā-pāramitā, adhiprajñā, jñāna-vaipulya-sūtra). +
T
如來藏
Basic Meaning: womb of the Tathāgata
Senses:
(Skt. tathāgata-garbha). The matrix of the thus come one(s). An embryo that should become a Buddha, or the 'womb' where the Buddha-to-be is carried. An expression that refers to sentient beings as the full embodiment of the Buddhaʼs capability for existence. At the same time, in concrete terms, it is in the condition of being temporarily defiled by non-inherent factors, thus it cannot be called an actualized 'Buddha.' Therefore the term refers to the capability for becoming a tathāgata that is present in the minds of unenlightened sentient beings.
The notion of tathāgatagarbha is usually described as first having been introduced in the Śrīmālā-sūtra 勝鬘經. It is true that the topic is broached in that text, but only at a late point, and it is not explained in any great detail. However, the tathāgatagarbha is taken up as a central theme in such texts as the Ratnagotravibhāga 寶性論, the Laṅkâvatāra-sūtra 楞伽經, the Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith 大乘起信論, etc. The tradition of thought and practice that developed around these texts, as well as in the writings and commentaries of Paramârtha 眞諦, co-existed and interacted with the streams of Yogâcāra that developed together in East Asia between the fifth and seventh centuries, and would end up becoming the predominant soteriological influence in East Asian schools such as Huayan, Tiantai, and Chan.
There are three meanings of the term tathāgatagarbha: (a) the meaning that the absolute body of the Tathāgata (dharma-kāya) is existent within all living creatures; (b) the meaning that the tathāgata as reality-nature (true thusness) is a whole without distinctions; (c) the meaning that the tathāgata exists within every living creature in a seed, or embryonic form. The Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith says: " tathāgata has the mind of sentient beings as matrix, the mind of sentient beings has the tathāgata as matrix, the mind of sentient beings has the multifarious virtues of the tathāgata as matrix. In addition to these three kinds of interpretation the tathāgatagarbha is called the 'mind of clear and pure reflection,' or the 'Dharma-body in a state of confusion.' " (起信論, T 1666.32.575c27). See 五種藏.
(Charles Muller; source(s): JEBD: Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 225a/250)
Source Accessed April 30, 2018, http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xpr-ddb.pl?59.xml+id(%27b5982-4f86-85cf%27)
b
菩提 - A transliteration of the Sanskrit/Pāli term bodhi, meaning wisdom, or awakening (Tib. byang chub). The wisdom of the true awakening of the Buddha. The function of correct wisdom. The situation of the disappearance of ignorance due to the functioning of awakened wisdom. The wisdom of accurate cognition of things as they are. The wisdom attained with the elimination of the two hindrances 二障. Earlier rendered into Chinese with 道, later by 覺 and 智 to be aware, perceive; for saṃbodhi 三菩提 (Skt. anuttara-bodhi, abhisaṃbodha, abhisaṃbodhi, jñāna, buddha, bodha, bodhi-pada, bodhi-mārga, bodhi-sattva, mahā-bodhi, mokṣa, varâgra-bodhi, saṃbodhi). [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui, Soothill, Stephen Hodge, JEBD, Nakamura, Hirakawa, Yokoi, Iwanami]
In some contexts equivalent to nirvana 涅槃, attainable by adherents of all three vehicles 三乘. [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui]
A term for the causal practices leading to nirvana. [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui]
In secular language, the Buddha-path 佛道, or postmortem merit. [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui]
An abbreviation of 菩提道場 (Skt. bodhi-maṇḍa)—the place where the Buddha attained his enlightenment. [Charles Muller] +