Bīja

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Key Term	bīja
In Tibetan Script	ས་བོན་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	sa bon
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	बीज
Romanized Sanskrit	bīja
Chinese Script	無漏種
Chinese Pinyin	zhongzi
Japanese Transliteration	shuji
English Standard	seed
Richard Barron's English Term	potential(ity)
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	seed
Dan Martin's English Term	seed
Ives Waldo's English Term	seed; germ; grain; semen; bindu; seed syllable
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Basic Meaning	A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth.
Has the Sense of	This term can be used in a variety of contexts, though one of the more common usages is related to the Buddhist notion of karma, cause and effect. In this sense, bīja are the seeds of karmic actions, which have the potential to ripen into karmic consequences.
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism	See page 119: In Sanskrit, “seed,” a term used metaphorically in two important contexts: (1) in the theory of karman, an action is said to plant a “seed” or “potentiality” in the mind, where it will reside until it fructifies as a future experience or is destroyed by wisdom; (2) in tantric literature, many deities are said to have a “seed syllable” or seed mantra that is visualized and recited in liturgy and meditation in order to invoke the deity.
Rangjung Yeshe's English Term	1) seed; germ, seed-corn, corn, grain. 2) potential(ity); seed, 3) seed syllable
Other Definitions	Jeffrey Hopkins clarifies: "In the Mind-Only (sems tsam, citta-mātra) school, this is a synonym of bag chags; in the Consequentialist (thal 'gyur, prAsaGgika) school, it is not the same as bag chags."

A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth.

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna.

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna.