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89-456: It was translated into Chinese in 411 by Kumārajīva and this translation (Taishō number: T1646) is the only extant version, which became popular in China. This text was translated into English by N. Aiyaswami Sastri in 1978. What little information exists about Harivarman is from Chinese sources which put him sometime between 250 and 350 CE. According to Xuanzang's biography, Harivarman was born

178-630: A Brahmin, ordained with the Sarvāstivāda , and became a student of the Sarvāstivāda teacher Kumāralāta (possibly the same as the original teacher of Sautrantika ) who taught him the "great Abhidharma of Kātyāyana (迦旃延) with thousands of gāthās" probably the Jnanaprasthana . However Harivarman was unhappy with the Abhidharma teachings and spent years studying the sutras to find the source of

267-589: A Chinese Buddhist monk named Seng Jun visited Kucha and described Kumārajīva's abilities. Efforts were then made by Emperor Fu Jian (苻堅) of the Former Qin Dynasty to bring Kumārajīva to the Qin capital of Chang'an . To do this, his general Lü Guang was dispatched with an army in order to conquer Kucha and return with Kumārajīva. Fu Jian is recorded as telling his general, "Send me Kumārajīva as soon as you conquer Kucha." However, when Fu Jian's main army at

356-676: A central place in early Mahāyāna, also because they "may have given access to fresh revelations and inspiration". Indian Mahāyāna traditions refer to numerous forms of samādhi , for example, Section 21 of the Mahavyutpatti records 118 distinct forms of samādhi and the Samadhiraja Sutra has as its main theme a samādhi called 'the samādhi that is manifested as the sameness of the essential nature of all dharma s' ( sarva-dharma-svabhavā-samatā-vipañcita-samādhi ). Buddhist Pali texts describe three kinds of samādhi which

445-436: A circle of fire seen when a rope torch is whirled around very quickly." Harivarman writes: "All parts being analyzed again and again are reduced to atoms which again being broken become non-existent. All things culminate necessarily in the idea of Shunyata ." Another important argument covered in the text is on the relationship between mind or consciousness ( citta ) and mental factors (caitasikas). Harivarman argues against

534-407: A conception of the two truths doctrine , explaining conventional or nominal truth and ultimate truth. The Tattvasiddhi also outlines the importance of a samadhi which is a "cause of knowledge of things as they are, which is the same as knowledge of Shunyata ." The Tattvasiddhi school ( Chinese : 成實宗 ; pinyin : Chéngshí zōng ; Japanese pronunciation : Jōjitsu-shū )

623-540: A court sponsored translation team of scholars who worked on translating numerous Sanskrit Buddhist texts into the Chinese language. Yao Xing looked upon him as his own teacher, and many young and old Chinese Buddhists flocked to him, learning both from his direct teachings and through his translation bureau activities at the Xiaoyao Gardens where daily sessions were held (attended by over a thousand monks). Within

712-479: A dozen years, Kumārajīva's translation bureau had translated about thirty five sutras in 294 scrolls. His translations are still in use today in Chinese Buddhism. Kumarajiva had four main disciples who worked on his team: Daosheng (竺道生), Sengzhao (僧肇), Daorong (道融), and Sengrui (僧睿). According to Paul Williams, Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa , a text translated by him, also has a clear association with

801-491: A form of classical Chinese – have enjoyed enormous success in the Sinitic tradition. This success is so great that even when, in the subsequent centuries, other scholars produced new and supposedly improved translations of the same texts, it has been the “Kumarajiva versions” that have remained in use in the devotional, exegetical, and literary life of East Asia up to the present day. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as

890-417: A gross level the breath is equal in both nostrils, and on the subtle level pranic flow in ida and pingala nadis is balanced. This is called the sushumna breath because the residual prana of the sushuma, the kundalini , flows in sushumna nadi, causing sattva guna to dominate. "It creates a feeling of peace. That peace is ānanda". In sānanda samādhi the experience of that ānanda, that sattvic flow,

979-528: A meditation object: Etymologies for sam - ā - dhā include: Particular Hindu/yoga interpretations include: Common Chinese terms for samādhi include the transliterations sanmei (三昧) and sanmodi (三摩地 or 三摩提), as well as the translation of the term literally as ding (定 "stability"). Kumarajiva 's translations typically use sanmei (三昧), while the translations of Xuanzang tend to use ding (定 "stability"). The Chinese Buddhist canon includes these, as well as other translations and transliterations of

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1068-512: A new interpretation. Kalupahana also argues that the Buddha "reverted to the meditational practices" he had learned from Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. In the sutras, jhāna is entered when one 'sits down cross-legged and establishes mindfulness'. According to Buddhist tradition, it may be supported by ānāpānasati , mindfulness of breathing, a core meditative practice which can be found in almost all schools of Buddhism. The Suttapiṭaka and

1157-500: A single process that leads to awakening. She concludes that "the fourth jhāna is the optimal experiential event for the utter de-conditioning of unwholesome tendencies of mind and for the transformation of deep epistemological structures. This is because one embodies and actualizes an awakened awareness of experience." The earliest extant Indian Mahāyāna texts emphasize ascetic practices, forest-dwelling, and states of meditative oneness, i.e. samādhi . These practices seem to have occupied

1246-487: A six-stage model, explicitly rejecting Vacaspati Misra's model. Vijnana Bikshu regards joy ( ānanda ) as a state that arises when the mind passes beyond the vicara stage. Whicher agrees that ānanda is not a separate stage of samādhi . According to Whicher, Patanjali's own view seems to be that nirvicara-samādhi is the highest form of cognitive ecstasy. According to Sarasvati Buhrman, " Babaji once explained that when people feel blissful sensations during sādhanā , on

1335-559: A specific school affiliation due to the fluidity of said schools and the terms used to refer to them. He cautiously places him among the Dārṣṭāntika- Sautrāntika . The Tattvasiddhi is preserved in sixteen fascicles in the Chinese with 202 chapters, it is organized according to the four noble truths. I. Introduction (發聚) (chapters 1–35) II. The truth of suffering (苦諦聚) (36–94) III. The truth of origin (集諦聚) (95–140) IV. The truth of cessation (滅諦聚) (141–154) V. The truth of

1424-450: A state of equanimity and mindfulness , in which one keeps access to the senses in a mindful way, avoiding primary responses to the sense-impressions. The origins of the practice of dhyāna are a matter of dispute. According to Crangle, the development of meditative practices in ancient India was a complex interplay between Vedic and non-Vedic traditions. According to Bronkhorst, the four rūpa jhāna may be an original contribution of

1513-442: Is "Samma Samadhi" (Right Concentration), and only the first four Jhanas are considered "Right Concentration". When all the jhanas are mentioned, the emphasis is on the "Cessation of Feelings and Perceptions" rather than stopping short at the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception". According to Gunaratana , the term ' samādhi ' derives from the roots ' sam-ā-dhā ', which means 'to collect' or 'bring together', and thus it

1602-536: Is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivation of Samādhi through various meditation methods is essential for the attainment of spiritual liberation (known variously as nirvana , moksha ). In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path . In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in

1691-680: Is actually an erroneous and mistaken view, and the main difference was due to the earlier versions of Kumarajiva's source texts: [W]here Kumārajīva's work can be compared with an extant Indic manuscript – that is, in those rare cases where part or all of a text he translated has survived in a Sanskrit or Prakrit version — a somewhat surprising result emerges. While his translations are indeed shorter in many instances than their extant (and much later) Sanskrit counterparts, when earlier Indic-language manuscript fragments are available they often provide exact parallels of Kumārajīva's supposed "abbreviations." What seems likely to have happened, in sum,

1780-473: Is also interpreted as the identification with the Absolute: Various interpretations for the term's etymology are possible, either with the root sam ("to bring together") or sama ( "the same, equalized, the convergence of two distinct things"). According to Dan Lusthaus , samadhi refers to either bringing to consciousness the samskaras ("buried latencies"), or meditative concentration on

1869-631: Is because they had been influenced by Neo-Taoist Xuanxue philosophy and thus they saw emptiness as either a kind of non-being, as a real, or absolute substance (both of which are mistaken interpretations of the concepts of śūnyatā and anatman ). Kumārajīva and his students like Sengzhao and Sengrui recognized these errors and worked to correct them by introducing proper interpretations based on Indian Madhyamaka philosophy. Samadhi Samādhi ( Pali and Sanskrit : समाधि ), in Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism , Sikhism and yogic schools,

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1958-420: Is controversial, but it seems to me that the third and fourth jhanas are thus quite unlike the second." Alexander Wynne states that the dhyana -scheme is poorly understood. According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as sati , sampajāno , and upekkhā , are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states, whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving

2047-402: Is generally translated as "concentration." In the early Buddhist texts, samādhi is also associated with the term samatha (calm abiding). In the commentarial tradition, samādhi is defined as ekaggata , one-pointedness of mind ( Cittass'ekaggatā ). Buddhagosa defines samādhi as "the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object [...]

2136-446: Is more accurate to say that they were translated by a committee which was guided by Kumārajīva, not by Kumārajīva alone. The process of translation began with the reading of the text by Kumārajīva who would also give a running commentary in Chinese. The Chinese monks and students would discuss the text with Kumārajīva and among themselves. A translation in Chinese would emerge from this process, which would be checked by Kumārajīva. The text

2225-552: Is retained in Zen and Dzogchen. The stock description of the jhānas , with traditional and alternative interpretations, is as follows: Appended to the jhana -scheme are four meditative states, referred to in the early texts as arupas or as āyatana . They are sometimes mentioned in sequence after the first four jhānas and thus came to be treated by later exegetes as jhānas. The immaterial are related to, or derived from, yogic meditation, and aim more specific at concentration, while

2314-536: Is that Kumārajīva was working from earlier Indian versions in which these expansions had not yet taken place. According to John M. Thompson "at present there are fifty two translations in the Taishō under his name and their authenticity is fairly well accepted." They include Mahāyāna sutras as well as works on Buddhist meditation ( dhyāna ) and Abhidharma . Among the most important sutras translated by Kumārajīva and his team (probably from Kuchan target sources) are

2403-405: Is untainted by any other vrittis , or thoughts, save the awareness of the pleasure of receiving that bliss". According to Maehle, asamprajñata samādhi (also called nirvikalpa samādhi and nirbija samādhi ) leads to knowledge of purusha or consciousness, the subtlest element. Heinrich Zimmer distinguishes nirvikalpa samādhi from other states as follows: Nirvikalpa samādhi , on

2492-539: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali . In Jain meditation , samadhi is considered one of the last stages of the practice just prior to liberation. In the oldest Buddhist sutras , on which several contemporary western Theravada teachers rely, it refers to the development of an investigative and luminous mind that is equanimous and mindful. In the yogic traditions and the Buddhist commentarial tradition, on which

2581-625: The Agama s describe four stages of rūpa jhāna . Rūpa refers to the material realm, in a neutral stance, as different from the kāma -realm (lust, desire) and the arūpa -realm (non-material realm). While interpreted in the Theravada-tradition as describing a deepening concentration and one-pointedness, originally the jhānas seem to describe a development from investigating body and mind and abandoning unwholesome states , to perfected equanimity and watchfulness, an understanding which

2670-634: The Dazhidulun , which was traditionally held to be an original work of Nagarjuna that was translated by Kumārajīva's team, actually contains numerous additions by Kumārajīva and his team or is actually a product of the editorship of Kumārajīva's student Sengrui . As Etienne Lamotte notes, Kumārajīva's team also edited and abridged the latter half of this text considerably. According to Rafal Felbur, The translations associated with his name – executed both from Prakrits , i.e. vernacular forms of Sanskrit, and from early forms of Buddhist Sanskrit, into

2759-663: The Institute of Noetic Sciences , has compared the experience of seeing the earth from space, also known as the overview effect , to savikalpa samādhi . According to Ian Whicher, the status of ānanda and āsmitā in Patanjali's system is a matter of dispute. According to Maehle, the first two constituents, deliberation and reflection, form the basis of the various types of samāpatti . According to Feuerstein: "Joy" and "I-am-ness" [...] must be regarded as accompanying phenomena of every cognitive [ecstasy]. The explanations of

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2848-701: The Kashmirian Buddhayaśas in Kashgar . In Kucha at the age of 20, Kumārajīva received full monastic ordination. Around this time he also began to study the Sarvastivada Vinaya and the Madhyamaka philosophy. Over his early life, Kumārajīva became a famous figure in Buddhism , known for his breadth of studies and skill in debate. In 379 CE, Kumārajīva's fame reached China when

2937-672: The Mādhyamaka doctrine of Nāgārjuna. After mastering the Chinese language, Kumārajīva settled as a translator and scholar in Chang'an (c. 401 CE) under the patronage of the Later Qin dynasty during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was the head of a team of translators which included his amanuensis Sengrui . This team was responsible for the translation of many Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Chinese . Kumārajīva also introduced

3026-568: The Pamir Mountains , Kumārāyana stopped in Kucha , where he stayed as a guest of the king. The king of Kucha was so impressed with Kumārāyana ’s ideas that the king proposed the marriage of his younger sister Jīva (also known as Jīvaka), a Kuchan princess and herself a devout Buddhist, to Kumārāyana . Kumārāyana and Jīva both acquiesced to this marriage. It was therefore that Kumārajīva’s father Kumārāyana settled in Kucha , became

3115-591: The Prajñāpāramita sutras and Madhyamika commentaries, Kumārajīva says that the Buddha's teachings ultimately come from and lead us to a level beyond words and thought. Because the Buddha and Bodhisattvas reside in this transcendent realm (which is none other than our present world) their wisdom enables them to use various upaya to lead suffering beings to enlightenment. Apparent contradictions and confusions in Buddhist texts are due to their upāya, which accommodate to

3204-633: The Rinzai school of Zen stress sudden insight, while the Sōtō school of Zen lays more emphasis on shikantaza , training awareness of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. Historically, many traditional Japanese arts were developed or refined to attain samādhi , including incense appreciation (香道, kodō ), flower arranging (華道, kadō ), the tea ceremony (茶道, sadō ), calligraphy (書道, shodō ), and martial arts such as archery (弓道, kyūdō ). The Japanese character 道 means

3293-765: The Shixiang lun ( Treatise on Tattva , now lost). Kumārajīva and his team are also responsible for a biography of Nagarjuna (T. 2047), which may have been based on Kumārajīva's own accounts to his students. Another text which contains some original teachings by Kumārajīva is the Jiumoluoshi fashi dayi (The Great Teaching of Dharma Master Kumārajīva; T. no. 1856), which is a series of letters between Kumārajīva and Lushan Huiyuan (334–416) discussing some basic Mahayana topics. Regarding Kumārajīva's own philosophical views, according to Richard H. Robinson: He shows himself to be an orthodox Śūnyavādin and Mādhyamika, rejects

3382-486: The Vaibhāṣikas ( Sarvāstivādins ). Kumārajīva revolutionized Chinese Buddhism , and his team's translation style is known for its clarity and for overcoming the previous geyi (concept-matching) system of translation which matched Buddhist terminology with Daoist and Confucian terms. Kumārajīva's readable translation style was distinctive, possessing a flowing smoothness that reflects his prioritization on conveying

3471-427: The jhanas proper are related to the cultivation of the mind. The state of complete dwelling in emptiness is reached when the eighth jhāna is transcended. The four arupas are: Although the "Dimension of Nothingness" and the "Dimension of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception" are included in the list of nine jhanas attributed to the Buddha, they are not included in the Noble Eightfold Path . Noble Path number eight

3560-481: The jhānas and the contemporary criticisms of the commentarial interpretation. Based on this research, and her own experience as a senior meditation-teacher, she gives a reconstructed account of the original meaning of the dhyanas . She argues that the four jhānas are the outcome of both calming the mind and developing insight into the nature of experience and cannot not be seen in the suttas as two distinct and separated meditation techniques, but as integral dimensions of

3649-469: The "five gates of chan" (五門禪) "associated with the so-called yogācāras of northwest India", which "became a standard arrangement in later writings on meditation" and are the following: After having calmed the mind and entered dhyāna (chan 禪) through these methods, the meditator then proceeds to develop wisdom (prajñā) by cultivating the four "foundations of mindfulness" (si nian chu 思念處; smṛtyupasthāna ). According to Greene, "following this, one moves through

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3738-522: The Buddha to the religious landscape of India, which formed an alternative to the painful ascetic practices of the Jains, while the arūpa jhāna were incorporated from non-Buddhist ascetic traditions. Alexander Wynne argues that dhyāna was incorporated from Brahmanical practices, in the Nikayas ascribed to Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. These practices were paired to mindfulness and insight , and given

3827-565: The Buddha-Dharma, the medicine of prajñā is just like this. By this medicine, one demolishes the objects of addictions. If within prajñā beings then conceive addiction, then one must practice a method of treatment. If within prajñā there are no addictions to prajñā , then further treatment is not applied." These ideas are found in the Dazhidulun (T. 1509; Skt. Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa ). Various modern scholars also hold that

3916-606: The Burmese Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest tradition rely, it is interpreted as a meditative absorption or trance attained by the practice of dhyāna . Samadhi may refer to a broad range of states. A common understanding regards samadhi as meditative absorption: In a Buddhist context, a more nuanced understanding sees samadhi as a state of intensified awareness and investigation of bodily and mental objects or experiences: In Hinduism, samadhi

4005-739: The Huayan and Tiantai schools, the Chinese tradition of the Tattvasiddhi died out. It was introduced to Japan as Jōjitsu in 625 by the monk Ekwan of Goryeo . In Japan, it was classified as one of the three approaches of East Asian Mādhyamaka instead of a separate lineage. East Asian Mādhyamaka ( 三論宗 , Sanron-shū ) was one of the six Nara sects ( 南都六宗 , Nanto Rokushū ) . Kum%C4%81raj%C4%ABva Kumārajīva ( Sanskrit : कुमारजीव; traditional Chinese : 鳩摩羅什 ; simplified Chinese : 鸠摩罗什 ; pinyin : Jiūmóluóshí ; Wade–Giles : Chiu mo lo shih , 344–413 CE)

4094-578: The Kucha King's daughter, and so he was forced to give up his monk's vows. After the Yao family of Later Qin overthrew the previous ruler Fu Jian, the ruler Yao Xing made repeated pleas to the warlords of the Lü family to free Kumārajīva and send him east to Chang'an. When the Lü family would not free Kumārajīva from their hostage, an exasperated Yao Xing had armies dispatched to Liangzhou in order to defeat

4183-694: The Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy into China which would later be called Sanlun (the "Three Treatise school"). Kumārajīva was born in the kingdom of Kucha in the Tarim Basin in 344 CE. His father was an Indian monk called Kumārāyana who was probably from Kashmir while his mother was a member of the Kucha royal family called Jīva . Himself an eminent Buddhist monk , Kumārāyana endeavoured to journey from his native Kashmir to China to spread his Buddhist teachings. After crossing

4272-520: The Pali canon, but explicitly enumerated in the Visuddhimagga, such as mindfulness of breathing ( ānāpānasati ) and loving kindness ( mettā ). While the Theravada-tradition interprets dhyana as one-pointed concentration, this interpretation has become a matter of debate. According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four rupa-jhanas describes two different cognitive states: "I know this

4361-627: The Sinitic Buddhist traditions have contributed to the emergence of a distinctly global modernist Buddhism, the Kumarajiva corpus of early fifth-century translations has been an implicit major presence. Aside from the linguistic and terminological influence of Kumārajīva's translation work, his work also influenced the philosophical understanding of Buddhism in China. According to Fan Muyou, before Kumārajīva, many Chinese Buddhists had serious misunderstandings of emptiness and not-self. This

4450-547: The Spirit as the object of meditation all become one. The separate wave of the soul meditating in the ocean of Spirit becomes merged with the Spirit. The soul does not lose its identity, but only expands into Spirit. In savikalpa samādhi the mind is conscious only of the Spirit within; it is not conscious of the exterior world. The body is in a trancelike state, but the consciousness is fully perceptive of its blissful experience within. Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell , founder of

4539-503: The Taisho Tripitaka (vol. 15), five meditation works are attributed to Kumārajīva: Scholars are divided on how many of these were actually worked on by Kumārajīva (though T. 613 and T. 614 are well attested in early catalogs and prefaces). Furthermore, Chinese sources indicate that these works were edited, summarized and extracted from Indian sources. Eric Greene explains that the main methods of mediation taught in T. 614 are

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4628-706: The Vinaya section of the Chinese canon are the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya (T. 1435), the Sarvāstivāda - prātimokṣa -sutra (T. 1436), and, according to tradition, the Pu-sa-chieh-p n ( bodhisattva- prātimokṣa ), which is probably the second half of the present Brahmajala-sutra (T. 1484). Kumārajīva is also known to have authored a few original works, including his Commentary on the Vimalakīrti-nirdesa-sūtra ( Zhu Weimojie Jing. Taisho number 1775) and

4717-472: The audience's level and lead them to the truth. Kumārajīva even suggests that the teachings in the sutras may delude those who are unprepared, i.e. at a lower level of understanding. According to Kumārajīva, we truly understand the Dharma only when we attain complete and pure prajñā . Prajñā is the means of removing all obstacles and hindrances, all attachments–even attachments to itself. As Kumārajīva says, "In

4806-531: The author and his text has been debated for hundreds of years, even the early Chinese sources disagree. Jizang (吉藏 549–623 CE) states that various Chinese teachers consider him as being either a Dharmaguptaka, a Sautrantika, a Dārṣṭāntika, an eclectic teacher, a Bahuśrutīya or a Mahayanist. Three monks, Zhiyi (531–597), Jizang (549–623) and Jingying, labeled it a Hinayana school; it was Daoxuan (596–667) who first identified it as Sautrāntika. The Japanese scholars Katsura Shōryu and Fukuhara Ryōgon, in analyzing

4895-421: The authority of the Abhidharma, and interprets the Āgamas in a Mahāyāna way, holds that the Buddha's statements are purely pragmatic and do not imply any real entities, and denies that real entities arise, because (a) neither inherence nor non-inherence of the effect in the cause is admissible, and (b) simultaneous and successive occurrence of cause and effect are alike untenable. He maintains that reality transcends

4984-482: The bodhisattva path, the actual meditation practices are not different, they are just approached in different ways. For example, the bodhisattva practices the same contemplation of impurity as the sravaka, but they are also warned not to become so disgusted with the world that they seek immediate nirvāṇa. Instead, a bodhisattva should always practice these meditations with the wish for perfecting themselves in order to help others. As such, Kumārajīva seems to have understood

5073-453: The capital was defeated, his general Lü Guang declared his own state and became a warlord in 386 CE, and had Kumārajīva captured when he was around 40 years old. Being a non-Buddhist, Lü Guang had Kumārajīva imprisoned for many years, essentially as booty. During this time, it is thought that Kumārajīva became familiar with the Chinese language . Kumārajīva was also coerced by Lü into marrying

5162-568: The classical commentators on this point appear to be foreign to Patanjali's hierarchy of [ecstatic] states, and it seems unlikely that ānanda and asmita should constitute independent levels of samādhi . Ian Whicher disagrees with Feuerstein, seeing ānanda and asmitā as later stages of nirvicara-samāpatti . Whicher refers to Vācaspati Miśra (900–980 CE), the founder of the Bhāmatī Advaita Vedanta who proposes eight types of samāpatti : Vijnana Bikshu (c. 1550–1600) proposes

5251-480: The commentarial tradition identify as the 'gates of liberation ' ( vimokṣamukha ): According to Polak, these are alternative descriptions of the four dhyanas, describing the cognitive aspects instead of the bodily aspects. According to Polak, in the final stages of dhyana no ideation of experience takes place, and no signs are grasped ( animitta samādhi ), which means that the concentrated attention cannot be directed ( appaṇihita samādhi ) towards those signs, and only

5340-405: The common Abhidharma idea of "association" ( samprayoga ) which held that caitasikas and citta were separate elemental constituents of experience which "associate" or join together. Instead, according to Lin, his view is that "“mental factors” are not actually things different from consciousness but are in their nature precisely consciousness manifested in different modes". The Tattvasiddhi outlines

5429-407: The development of the Chinese language itself, not only in the adoption of specifically Buddhist terms, but also regarding certain secular terms as well (such as "moment"). Kumārajīva has sometimes been regarded by both the Chinese and by western scholars as abbreviating his translations, with later translators such as Xuanzang being regarded as being more "precise." According to Jan Nattier, this

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5518-406: The dichotomy of being and non-being. 'Aimlessness', also translated as 'uncommittedness' or 'wishlessness' ( Chinese wúyuàn 無願 , lit.   ' non-wishing ' , or wúzuò 無作 , lit.   ' non-arising ' ), literally means 'placing nothing in front'. According to Dan Lusthaus, aimlessness-samadhi is characterised by a lack of aims or plans for the future and no desire for

5607-542: The disputes of the different Abhidharma schools and after engaged in many debates with various Abhidharma teachers, becoming unpopular among them. Xuanchang says he later took up living among the Mahāsāṅghikas and wrote the Tattvasiddhi while living in Pataliputra . The goal of this work was to “eliminate confusion and abandon the later developments, with the hope of returning to the origin” The school affiliation of

5696-518: The doctrinal content, maintain that Harivarman is closest to the Bahuśrutīya school. This is also the position of A.K. Warder. Kumārajīva's student Sengrui discovered Harivarman had refused the abhidharma schools' approach to Buddhist seven times in the text, suggesting a strong sectarian division between them and the Sautrāntikas. Qian Lin notes the difficulty of using doctrinal analysis to pin down

5785-675: The following: They also translated several key treatises (mainly of the Madhyamaka school), which became the central works of East Asian Madhyamaka Buddhism. These are: Other treatises that the team worked on include the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā (T. 1521) , a commentary to the Daśabhūmikā Sūtra attributed to Nagarjuna and the Treatise On Arising Bodhicitta (T. 1659). Kumārajīva and his team also translated some treatises on meditation ( dhyāna ) . In

5874-495: The four modes of the tetralemma , and he holds Nagarjuna's concept of negation. Likewise, according to John M. Thompson, the philosophy which emerges from the explanations of Kumārajīva is "virtually identical to the views of Nagarjuna and other Madhyamikas, stressing the emptiness of all dharmas (even the "emptiness of emptiness") and the Bodhisattva's non-attachment to all things and teachings". Thompson adds, Like both

5963-609: The lineage of Sengson was centered in Pengcheng. Other major expounders of the Tattvasiddhi in China include the group named "Three Great Masters of the Liang dynasty ": Sengmin (僧旻, 467–527), Zhizang (智蔵) (458–522) and Fayun (法雲, 467–529), who initially interpreted the sect as Mahayana in outlook. The three of them in turn received instructions in this treatise from the monk Huici (慧次, 434–490). The three of them also possibly influenced

6052-421: The meaning as opposed to precise literal rendering. Because of this, his renderings of seminal Mahāyāna texts have often remained more popular than later, more literal translations, e.g. those of Xuanzang . Kumārajīva's translations were very influential on the development of Buddhist Chinese and they introduced much commonly used terminology, such as: These translations were a group effort and therefore it

6141-406: The object of meditation. Samādhi is of two kinds, with and without support of an object of meditation: According to Paramahansa Yogananda , in this state one lets go of the ego and becomes aware of Spirit beyond creation. The soul is then able to absorb the fire of Spirit-Wisdom that "roasts" or destroys the seeds of body-bound inclinations. The soul as the meditator, its state of meditation, and

6230-434: The objects of perception. According to Nagarjuna, aimlessness-samadhi is the samādhi in which one does not search for any kind of existence ( bhāva ), letting go of aims or wishes ( praṇidhāna ) regarding conditioned phenomena and not producing the three poisons (namely, passion, aggression, and ignorance) towards them in the future. According to Nagarjuna, emptiness-samadhi is the samādhi in which one recognises that

6319-505: The other hand, absorption without self-consciousness, is a mergence of the mental activity ( cittavṛtti ) in the Self, to such a degree, or in such a way, that the distinction ( vikalpa ) of knower, act of knowing, and object known becomes dissolved — as waves vanish in water, and as foam vanishes into the sea. Swami Sivananda describes nirbija samādhi (lit. "samādhi" without seeds) as follows: "Without seeds or Samskaras [...] All

6408-562: The path (道諦聚) (155–202) In the text Harivarman attacks the Sarvastivada school's doctrine of "all exists" and the Pudgalavada theory of person. The Tattvasiddhi includes the teaching of dharma - śūnyatā , the emptiness of phenomena. This text also mentions the existence of a Bodhisattva Piṭaka . A central teaching of the text is that dharmas have no substance or substratum, they appear real but they are "like bubbles or like

6497-543: The perception of the six senses remains, without a notion of "self" ( suññata samādhi ). In the Chinese Buddhist tradition these are called the 'three doors of liberation' ( sān jiětuō mén , 三解脫門 ): These three are not always cited in the same order. Nagarjuna , a Madhyamaka Buddhist scholar, in his Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra , listed apraṇihita before ānimitta in his first explanation on these "three samādhi ", but in later listings and explanations in

6586-466: The practice of a bodhisattva to have consisted of the same methods of meditation found in śrāvaka-yāna sources, the only difference being that bodhisattvas have a different motivation and a different goal (Buddhahood). Other translations include the Da zhuang yan jing lun 大莊嚴經論 (*Mahālaṃkāra-sūtra-śāstra)  of Asvaghosa and Samyukta avadana sutra. According to Robinson, Kumārajīva's additions to

6675-774: The royal priest, met Kumārajīva’s mother Jīva who influenced both his own subsequent Buddhist studies and later those of their son, and thereafter begat Kumārajīva. When Kumārajīva was just seven, his mother Jīva joined the Tsio-li nunnery, north of Kucha . Beginning at the age of nine, Kumārajīva studied the Agamas and the Sarvastivada Abhidharma under masters in North India, Kashmir , and Kucha: all centers of Sarvastivada monasticism and scholarship. He later converted to and studied Mahayana under

6764-543: The same work reverted to the more common order. Others, such as Thích Nhất Hạnh , a Thien Buddhist teacher, list apraṇihita as the third after śūnyatā and ānimitta . Nagarjuna lists these three kinds of samādhi among the qualities of the bodhisattva . According to Nagarjuna, signlessness-samadhi is the samādhi in which one recognises all dharmas are free of signs ( ānimitta ). According to Thích Nhất Hạnh, "signs" refer to appearances or form, likening signlessness samadhi to not being fooled by appearances, such as

6853-509: The seeds or impressions are burnt by the fire of knowledge [...] all the Samskaras and Vasanas which bring on rebirths are totally freed up. All Vrittis or mental modifications that arise from the mind-lake come under restraint. The five afflictions, viz., Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (egoism), Raga-dvesha (love and hatred) and Abhinivesha (clinging to life) are destroyed and the bonds of Karma are annihilated [...] It gives Moksha (deliverance from

6942-564: The sense objects. Several western teachers (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Leigh Brazington, Richard Shankman) make a distinction between 'sutta-oriented' jhana and ' Visuddhimagga -oriented' jhāna . Thanissaro Bhikkhu has repeatedly argued that the Pali Canon and the Visuddhimagga give different descriptions of the jhanas, regarding the Visuddhimagga -description to be incorrect. Keren Arbel has conducted extensive research on

7031-476: The so-called four nirvedha-bhāgīya-kuśalamūla (si shan gen 四善根), the "roots of good that lead to liberation", which in the Sarvāstivādin system are the highest levels of mundane accomplishment. This in turn leads to the so-called “path of vision” (darśana-maraga), a sequence of sixteen mental moments in which, by means of insight into the four noble truths." While T. 614 discusses the path of hinayana as well as

7120-540: The state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered". According to Buddhaghosa, the Theravada Pali texts mention four attainments of samādhi : According to Buddhaghosa, in his influential standard-work Visuddhimagga , samādhi is the "proximate cause" to the obtainment of wisdom . The Visuddhimagga describes 40 different objects for meditation, which are mentioned throughout

7209-400: The term. Samma-samadhi , "right samadhi ," is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path . When samadhi is developed, things are understood as they really are. Samma-samadhi is explicated as dhyana , which is traditionally interpreted as one-pointed concentration. Yet, in the stock formula of dhyāna samādhi is only mentioned in the second dhyana , to give way to

7298-640: The true natures of all dharmas are absolutely empty ( atyantaśūnya ), and that the five aggregates are not the self ( anātman ), do not belong to the self ( anātmya ), and are empty ( śūnya ) without self-nature . Indian dhyāna was translated as chán in Chinese, and zen in Japanese. Ideologically the Zen-tradition emphasizes prajñā and sudden insight , but in the actual practice prajñā and samādhi, or sudden insight and gradual cultivation, are paired to each other. Especially some lineages in

7387-459: The warlords of the Lü family and to have Kumārajīva brought back to them. Finally the armies of Emperor Yao succeeded in defeating the Lü family, and Kumārajīva was brought east to the capital of Chang'an in 401 CE. At Chang'an, Kumārajīva was introduced to the emperor Yao Xing , the court, and the Buddhist leaders. He became a famous and well respected in China, being given the title of "National Preceptor" ( guoshi ). At Chang'an, Kumārajīva led

7476-488: The way or the path and indicates that disciplined practice in the art is a path to samādhi . Traditional Samādhi is the eighth limb of the Yoga Sūtras, following the sixth and seventh limbs of dhāraṇā and dhyāna respectively. According to Taimni, dhāraṇā , dhyāna , and samādhi form a graded series: Samādhi is oneness with the object of meditation. There is no distinction between act of meditation and

7565-416: The wheel of births and deaths). With the advent of the knowledge of the Self, ignorance vanishes. With the disappearance of the root-cause, viz., ignorance, egoism, etc., also disappear". Ramana Maharshi distinguished between kevala nirvikalpa samadhi and sahaja nirvikalpa samādhi : Sahaja samadhi is a state in which a silent level within the subject is maintained along with (simultaneously with)

7654-526: The writing of the Sangyō Gisho , a sutra commentary supposedly authored by Prince Shōtoku . The tradition of the Tattvasiddhi remained strong up until the Tang dynasty , up to 24 commentaries were written on the text, all of which are now lost. The Madhyamaka teacher Jizang (549–623) strongly criticized the work as "Hinayana" (lesser vehicle) and possibly due to the rise of new more influential schools such as

7743-569: Was a Buddhist monk , scholar, missionary and translator from Kucha (present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang , China ). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the greatest translators of Chinese Buddhism . According to Lu Cheng , Kumarajiva's translations are "unparalleled either in terms of translation technique or degree of fidelity". Kumārajīva first studied teachings of the Sarvastivadin schools, later studied under Buddhasvāmin , and finally became an adherent of Mahayana Buddhism , studying

7832-645: Was a sect based on the Tattvasiddhi which was influential but short-lived in India and had a brief continuation in China and the Asuka and Nara periods of Japan. The Tattvasiddhi was initially promoted by three of Kumarajiva's students, Sengrui (僧叡 or 僧睿, ca. 4th–5th c. CE), Sengdao (僧導 362–457 CE) and Sengsong (僧嵩 date unknown). Sengdao wrote a commentary on the text and his lineage was centered in Shouchun while

7921-471: Was then written down and revised numerous times. These were also public events which were attended by devotees, including emperor Yao Xing. Kumārajīva also developed a system of transcription in order to render Sanskrit terms in Chinese by using certain Chinese characters and their sounds to represent each syllable of a foreign word. This system would go on to become the basis of the development of pinyin romanization. This encounter with Sanskrit influenced

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