Samudānītagotra

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Key Term	samudānītagotra
In Tibetan Script	ཡང་དག་པར་བསྒྲུབ་པའི་རིགས་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	yang dag par bsgrub pa’i rigs
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	समुदानीतगोत्र
Romanized Sanskrit	samudānītagotra
Chinese Script	習所成種性
Chinese Pinyin	xí suǒ chéng zhǒng xìng
Japanese Transliteration	shūshushō
English Standard	lineage conditioned by habits
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	truly established lineage
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Basic Meaning	a disposition that is acquired, or accentuated, through past karmic actions
Has the Sense of	fluidity in that it is a potential that is developed through personal of habits of study, practice, and exposure to a particular vehicle of Buddhism
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism	In the Yogācāra school, a distinction is made between the indestructible, inherent “naturally endowed lineage” (prakrtisthagotra) and this changeable, continuously acquired “lineage conditioned by habits” (samudānītagotra). In contrast to the former, which predetermines a person’s orientation toward the two vehicles of either Mahāyāna or Hinayāna, the latter allows for some leeway for personal adaptations and change through doctrinal study, practice, and exposure (these are what are meant by “habits”). According to this controversial Yogäcära tenet, whereas a person cannot effect change in terms of his highest spiritual potential and vehicular predisposition because of his “naturally endowed lineage,” he can nevertheless influence the speed with which he is able to attain enlightenment, and other extrinsic variations within his predetermined “lineage.” This flexibility is the lineage that is conditioned, and can be altered, by “habits.” Together and in contrast with the “naturally endowed lineage,” they are known as “the two lineages: intrinsic and acquired” (xingxi er [zhong] xing).

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.