| Key Term |
icchantika |
| In Tibetan Script |
འདོད་ཆེན་; འདོད་ཆེན་པོ་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration |
'dod chen; 'dod chen po |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script |
इच्छन्तिक |
| Romanized Sanskrit |
icchantika |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering |
döchen; döchenpo |
| Sanskrit Phonetic Rendering |
ichantika |
| Chinese Script |
一闡提 |
| Chinese Pinyin |
yī chǎn tí |
| Japanese Transliteration |
issendai |
| English Standard |
incorrigibles |
| Dan Martin's English Term |
Those who are incapable of entering the Path. |
| Term Type |
Noun |
| Source Language |
Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning |
Literally, "those with great desire," icchantikas could be rendered as hedonists or addicts. However, the term is generally used to refer to those who, due to their insatiable desire, are incapable of enlightenment. |
| Has the Sense of |
Individuals who are so consumed by their desires or by a particular lifestyle that they would never even consider the need for self-improvement. Therefore, they have no interest in following any spiritual path, let alone the path to liberation. |
| Did you know? |
This was a somewhat controversial subject, especially in relation to the tathāgatagarbha teachings that state "all beings have buddha-nature." Whether icchantikas are forever excluded from liberation or that they might eventually change their ways and thus become capable of entering the path is therefore a point of contention. |
| Definitions |
| Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |
See page 370: In Sanskrit, “incorrigibles”; a term used in the Mahāyāna tradition to refer to a class of beings who have lost all potential to achieve enlightenment or buddhahood. The term seems to derive from the present participle icchant (desiring), and may be rendered loosely into English as something like “hedonist” or “dissipated” (denotations suggested in theTibetan rendering 'dod chen (po), “subject to great desire”). (The Sinographs are simply a transcription of the Sanskrit.) |