Misplaced Pages

#980019

47-546: The Buddha referred to himself as the Tathāgata , which can mean either "One who has thus come" or "One who has thus gone", and can also be interpreted as "One who has arrived at suchness". In Theravada , this term designates the nature of existence ( bhāva ), the truth which applies to things. According to the Kathavatthu , tathātā is not an unconditioned or un-constructed ( asankhata ) phenomenon. The only phenomenon which

94-606: A bhaddakappa ("bhadrakalpa", fortunate aeon). In some Sanskrit and northern Buddhist traditions, however, a bhadrakalpa has up to 1,000 Buddhas, with the Buddhas Gautama and Maitreya also being the fourth and fifth Buddhas of the kalpa , respectively. Dukkha Duḥkha ( / ˈ d uː k ə / )(Sanskrit: दुःख; Pali: dukkha ), "suffering", "pain," "unease," "unsatisfactory," is an important concept in Buddhism , Jainism and Hinduism . Its meaning depends on

141-484: A lasting essence). Within the Buddhist sutras, duḥkha has a broad meaning, and is divided in three categories: Various sutras sum up how transient existence is regarded to be duḥkha , starting with saṃsāra , the ongoing process of death and rebirth itself: Early emphasis is on the importance of developing insight into the nature of duḥkha , the conditions that cause it, and how it can be overcome. This process

188-577: A mind resting simply in its own being. It is eternal, blissful, its own self-being and the purest simplicity; it is invigorating, immutable, free... Because it possesses all these attributes and is deprived of nothing, it is designated both as the Womb of Tathagata and the Dharma Body of Tathagata. R. H. Robinson, echoing D. T. Suzuki , conveys how the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra perceives dharmata through

235-445: A monk has a latent tendency, by that is he reckoned, what he does not have a latent tendency for, by that is he not reckoned. These tendencies are ways in which the mind becomes involved in and clings to conditioned phenomena . Without them, an enlightened person cannot be "reckoned" or "named"; he or she is beyond the range of other beings, and cannot be "found" by them, even by gods, or Mara . In one passage, Sariputta states that

282-464: Is "uneasy, uncomfortable, unpleasant, difficult, causing pain or sadness". It is also a concept in Indian religions about the nature of transient phenomena which are innately "unpleasant", "suffering", "pain", "sorrow", "distress", "grief" or "misery." The term duḥkha does not have a one-word English translation, and embodies diverse aspects of unpleasant human experiences. It is often understood as

329-616: Is Tathātā. Tath%C4%81gata Tathāgata ( Sanskrit: [tɐˈtʰaːɡɐtɐ] ) is a Pali and Sanskrit word; Gautama Buddha uses it when referring to himself or other Buddhas in the Pāli Canon . Likewise, in the Mahayana corpus, it is an epithet of Shakyamuni Buddha and the other celestial buddhas . The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" ( tathā-gata ), "one who has thus come" ( tathā-āgata ), or sometimes "one who has thus not gone" ( tathā-agata ). This

376-435: Is a too limited translation for the term duḥkha, and have preferred to either leave the term untranslated, or to clarify that translation with terms such as anxiety, distress, frustration, unease, unsatisfactoriness, not having what one wants, having what one doesn't want, etc. In the sequence "birth is painful," dukhka may be translated as "painful." When related to vedana , "feeling," dukkha ("unpleasant," "painful")

423-541: Is formulated in the teachings on the Four Noble Truths . Chinese Buddhist tradition has been influenced by Taoism and Confucian theory that advocates that duhkha (古:十Ten directions, 口 hole or opening) is associated to the theory of seven emotions of endogenous disease through the formation of the spirit of the po a term that relates to the Western psychological notion of ego or the theological reference to

470-541: Is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena . There are, however, other interpretations and the precise original meaning of the word is not certain. The Buddha is quoted on numerous occasions in the Pali Canon as referring to himself as the Tathāgata instead of using the pronouns me , I or myself . This may be meant to emphasize by implication that

517-458: Is suffering" ( duḥkham eva sarvaṁ vivekinaḥ ). Some of the Hindu scripture verses referring to duhkha are: Those who have known it – they become immortal. As for the rest – only suffering awaits them. When a man rightly sees, he sees all, he wins all, completely. vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir uchyate nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ Duḥkha is explained in

SECTION 10

#1732772379981

564-408: Is the natural absence of intrinsic/inherent existence or nature. It is a natural absence, because intrinsic existence (or the equivalent synonyms) is a fiction, or a non-existent: Intrinsic existence is the faulty object of an ignorant consciousness. All fictions, being fictions, are naturally absent. So, because of this, the fiction of inherent existence is absent from all phenomena, and that absence

611-502: Is the opposite of sukkha ("pleasure," "pleasant"), yet all feelings are dukkha in that they are impermanent, conditioned phenomena, which are unsatisfactory, incapable of providing lasting satisfaction. The term "unsatisfactoriness" then is often used to emphasize the unsatisfactoriness of "life under the influence of afflictions and polluted karma." Duḥkha is one of the three marks of existence , namely anitya ("impermanent"), duḥkha ("unsatisfactory"), anatman (without

658-615: Is the past passive participle of the verbal root gam ("go, travel"). Āgata ("come") is the past passive participle of the verb meaning "come, arrive". In this interpretation, Tathāgata means literally either "the one who has gone to suchness" or "the one who has arrived at suchness". Another interpretation, proposed by the scholar Richard Gombrich, is based on the fact that, when used as a suffix in compounds, -gata will often lose its literal meaning and signifies instead "being". Tathāgata would thus mean "one like that", with no motion in either direction. According to Fyodor Shcherbatskoy ,

705-412: Is traditionally given as 'suffering', that and similar interpretations are highly unlikely for Early Buddhism. Significantly, Monier-Williams himself doubts the usual explanation of duḥkha and presents an alternative one immediately after it, namely: duḥ-stha "'standing badly,' unsteady, disquieted (lit. and fig.); uneasy", and so on. This form is also attested, and makes much better sense as the opposite of

752-527: Is un- constructed in Theravada is Nibbana . According to Buddhadasa Bhikkhu , tathātā is merely the way things are, the truth of all things: "When tathātā is seen, the three characteristics of anicca [impermanence], dukkha [suffering], and anatta [not-self] are seen, sunnata [emptiness] is seen, and idappaccayata [specific conditionality] is seen. Tathātā is the summary of them all – merely thus, only thus, not-otherness." Tathatā in

799-692: The Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra there are only four Buddha families, the full Diamond Realm mandala with five Buddhas first appears in the Vajrasekhara Sutra . The Vajrasekhara also mentions a sixth Buddha, Vajradhara , "a Buddha (or principle) seen as the source, in some sense, of the five Buddhas." The Five Buddhas are aspects of the dharmakaya "dharma-body", which embodies the principle of enlightenment in Buddhism . When these Buddhas are represented in mandalas, they may not always have

846-432: The skandhas (personality factors) that render citta (the mind) a bounded, measurable entity, and is instead "freed from being reckoned by" all or any of them, even in life. The aggregates of form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and cognizance that compose personal identity have been seen to be dukkha (a burden), and an enlightened individual is one with "burden dropped". The Buddha explains "that for which

893-462: The Buddhavaṃsa , twenty-one more Buddhas were added to the list of seven names in the early texts. Theravada tradition maintains that there can be up to five Buddhas in a kappa or world age and that the current kappa has had four Buddhas, with the current Buddha, Gotama, being the fourth and the future Buddha Metteyya being the fifth and final Buddha of the kappa . This would make the current aeon

940-599: The Sumangalavilasini : Monks, in the world with its devas, Mara and Brahma, in this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, devas and humans, whatever is seen, heard, sensed and cognized, attained, searched into, pondered over by the mind—all that is fully understood by the Tathagata. That is why he is called the Tathagata. ( Anguttara Nikaya 4:23) Modern scholarly opinion generally opines that Sanskrit grammar offers at least two possibilities for breaking up

987-552: The Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta itself, it is clear that the Buddha is the subject of the metaphor, and the Buddha has already "uprooted" or "annihilated" the five aggregates. In Sn 1074, it is stated that the sage cannot be "reckoned" because he is freed from the category "name" or, more generally, concepts. The absence of this precludes the possibility of reckoning or articulating a state of affairs; "name" here refers to

SECTION 20

#1732772379981

1034-462: The Buddha asks him in which direction a fire goes when it has gone out. Vaccha replies that the question "does not fit the case ... For the fire that depended on fuel ... when that fuel has all gone, and it can get no other, being thus without nutriment, it is said to be extinct." The Buddha then explains: "In exactly the same way ..., all form by which one could predicate the existence of the saint, all that form has been abandoned, uprooted, pulled out of

1081-540: The East Asian Mahayana tradition is seen as representing the base reality and can be used to terminate the use of words. A 5th-century Chinese Mahayana scripture entitled Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana describes the concept more fully: In its very origin suchness is of itself endowed with sublime attributes. It manifests the highest wisdom which shines throughout the world, it has true knowledge and

1128-722: The Five Great Buddhas, and the Five Jinas ( Sanskrit for "conqueror" or "victor"), are emanations and representations of the five qualities of the Adi-Buddha or "first Buddha" Vairocana or Vajradhara , which is associated with the Dharmakāya . The Five Wisdom Buddhas are a development of the Buddhist Tantras, and later became associated with the trikaya or "three body" theory of Buddhahood . While in

1175-593: The Rig Veda sense of sukha, which Monier-Williams gives in full. The literal meaning of duḥkha , as used in a general sense is "suffering" or "painful." Its exact translation depends on the context. Contemporary translators of Buddhist texts use a variety of English words to convey the aspects of dukh . Early Western translators of Buddhist texts (before the 1970s) typically translated the Pali term dukkha as "suffering." Later translators have emphasized that "suffering"

1222-496: The arahant, both before and after parinirvana , lies beyond the domain where the descriptive powers of ordinary language are at home; that is, the world of the skandhas and the greed, hatred, and delusion that are "blown out" with nirvana. In the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta , an ascetic named Vaccha questions the Buddha on a variety of metaphysical issues. When Vaccha asks about the status of a tathagata after death,

1269-539: The compound word: either tathā and āgata (via a sandhi rule ā + ā → ā), or tathā and gata. Tathā means "thus" in Sanskrit and Pali, and Buddhist thought takes this to refer to what is called "reality as-it-is" ( yathābhūta ). This reality is also referred to as "thusness" or "suchness" ( tathatā ), indicating simply that it (reality) is what it is. Tathāgata is defined as someone who "knows and sees reality as-it-is" ( yathā bhūta ñāna dassana ). Gata ("gone")

1316-493: The concepts or apperceptions that make propositions possible. Nagarjuna expressed this understanding in the nirvana chapter of his Mulamadhyamakakarika : "It is not assumed that the Blessed One exists after death. Neither is it assumed that he does not exist, or both, or neither. It is not assumed that even a living Blessed One exists. Neither is it assumed that he does not exist, or both, or neither." Speaking within

1363-606: The context of Mahayana Buddhism (specifically the Perfection of Wisdom sutras), Edward Conze writes that the term 'tathagata' denotes inherent true selfhood within the human being: Just as tathata designates true reality in general, so the word which developed into "Tathagata" designated the true self, the true reality within man. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Five Tathāgatas ( pañcatathāgata ) or Five Wisdom Tathāgatas ( Chinese : 五智如来 ; pinyin : Wǔzhì Rúlái ),

1410-492: The context, and may refer more specifically to the "unsatisfactoriness" or "unease" of transient existence, which we crave or grasp for when we are ignorant of this transientness. In Buddhism, dukkha is part of the first of the Four Noble Truths and one of the three marks of existence . The term also appears in scriptures of Hinduism , such as the Upanishads , in discussions of moksha (spiritual liberation). While

1457-608: The current kappa (kalpa) and three are from past ones. One sutta called Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta from an early Buddhist text called the Dĩgha Nikãya also mentions that following the Seven Buddhas of Antiquity, a Buddha named Metteyya (Maitreya) is predicted to arise in the world. However, according to a text in the Theravada Buddhist tradition from a later strata (between the 1st and 2nd century BCE) called

Tathātā - Misplaced Pages Continue

1504-489: The development of Sanskrit into the various Prakrits led to a shift from dus-sthā to duḥkha to dukkha . Analayo concurs, stating that dukkha as derived from duḥ-sthā , "standing badly," "conveys nuances of "uneasiness" or of being "uncomfortable." Silk Road philologist Christopher I. Beckwith elaborates on this derivation. According to Beckwith: ...although the sense of duḥkha in Normative Buddhism

1551-429: The former appear outwardly superior to the latter, simply because they are allowed to remain impassible, whereas the latter must in some sense appear to rediscover "a way" or at least recapitulate it, so that others, too, may "go that way," hence tathā-gata . A number of passages affirm that a Tathāgata is "immeasurable", "inscrutable", "hard to fathom", and "not apprehended". A tathāgata has abandoned that clinging to

1598-446: The ground like a palmyra-tree, and become non-existent and not liable to spring up again in the future. The saint ... who has been released from what is styled form is deep, immeasurable, unfathomable, like the mighty ocean." The same is then said of the other aggregates. A variety of similar passages make it clear that the metaphor "gone out, he cannot be defined" ( atthangato so na pamanam eti ) refers equally to liberation in life. In

1645-517: The human soul . This theory is expounded in the application of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment and prevention of pain and suffering from illness, disease and ignorance. Awakening, that is, awakening to one's true mind of emptiness and compassion, does not necessarily end physical suffering. In the Buddhist tradition, suffering after awakening is often explained as the working-out or untangling of karma of one's previous present life. In Hinduism, duḥkha encompasses many meanings such as

1692-445: The mind of the Buddha cannot be "encompassed" even by him. The Buddha and Sariputta, in similar passages, when confronted with speculation as to the status of an arahant after death, bring their interlocutors to admit that they cannot even apprehend an arahant that is alive. As Sariputta puts it, his questioner Yamaka "can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life." These passages imply that condition of

1739-593: The opposite of sukha , meaning lasting "happiness," "comfort" or "ease." The word has been explained in recent times as a derivation from Aryan terminology for an axle hole, referring to an axle hole which is not in the center and leads to a bumpy, uncomfortable ride. According to Winthrop Sargeant , The ancient Aryans who brought the Sanskrit language to India were a nomadic, horse- and cattle-breeding people who travelled in horse- or ox-drawn vehicles. Su- and dus- are prefixes indicating good or bad. The word kha , in later Sanskrit meaning "sky," "ether," or "space,"

1786-501: The phenomenological senses of pain and grief, a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the limitations of worldly existence, and the devastation of impermanence. In Hindu scriptures, the earliest Upani ṣ ads — the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and the Chāndogya — in all likelihood predate the advent of Buddhism. In these scriptures of Hinduism, the Sanskrit word du ḥ kha (दुःख) appears in

1833-575: The portal of śūnyatā : "The Laṅkāvatāra is always careful to balance Śūnyatā with Tathatā, or to insist that when the world is viewed as śūnya, empty, it is grasped in its suchness." In the Madhyamaka Mahayana tradition, Tathātā is an uncompounded permanent phenomenon, (as is Nirvana – in Madhyamaka, not being products, all absences are uncompounded and permanent – not everlasting, but not subject to decay and dissolution). Tathātā

1880-506: The same colour or be related to the same directions. In particular, Akshobhya and Vairocana may be switched. When represented in a Vairocana mandala, the Buddhas are arranged like this: In the earliest strata of Pali Buddhist texts , especially in the first four Nikāyas , only the following seven Buddhas, the Seven Buddhas of Antiquity ( Sattatathāgata , or "The Seven Tathāgatas"), are explicitly mentioned and named. Of these, four are from

1927-399: The sense of "suffering, sorrow, distress", and in the context of a spiritual pursuit and liberation through the knowledge of Atman ('essence'). The concept of sorrow and suffering, and self-knowledge as a means to overcome it, appears extensively with other terms in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads. The term Duhkha also appears in many other middle and later post-Buddhist Upanishads such as

Tathātā - Misplaced Pages Continue

1974-449: The specific meanings refers to the empty axle hole of a wheel. If the axle fits badly into the center hole, we get a very bumpy ride. This is a good analogy for our ride through saṃsāra . However, according to Monier Monier-Williams , the actual roots of the Pali term dukkha appear to be Sanskrit दुस्- ( dus- , "bad") + स्था ( sthā , "to stand"). Regular phonological changes in

2021-476: The teaching is uttered by one who has transcended the human condition, one beyond the otherwise endless cycle of rebirth and death , i.e. beyond dukkha . The word's original significance is not known and there has been speculation about it since at least the time of Buddhaghosa , who gives eight interpretations of the word, each with different etymological support, in his commentary on the Digha Nikaya ,

2068-509: The term dukkha has often been derived from the prefix du- ("bad" or "difficult") and the root kha ("empty," "hole"), meaning a badly fitting axle-hole of a cart or chariot giving "a very bumpy ride," it may actually be derived from duḥ-stha , a "dis-/ bad- + stand-", that is, "standing badly, unsteady," "unstable." Duḥkha (Sanskrit: दुःख; Pali: dukkha ) is a term found in the Upanishads and Buddhist texts, meaning anything that

2115-687: The term has a non-Buddhist origin, and is best understood when compared to its usage in non-Buddhist works such as the Mahabharata . Shcherbatskoy gives the following example from the Mahabharata ( Shantiparva , 181.22): "Just as the footprints of birds (flying) in the sky and fish (swimming) in water cannot be seen, Thus ( tātha ) is going ( gati ) of those who have realized the Truth." The French author René Guénon , in an essay distinguishing between Pratyēka-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas , writes that

2162-554: The verse 6.20 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad , as well as in the Bhagavad Gita , all in the contexts of moksha and bhakti . The term also appears in the foundational Sutras of the six schools of Hindu philosophy , such as the opening lines of Samkhya karika of the Samkhya school. The Samkhya school identifies three types of suffering. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali state that "for one who has discrimination, everything

2209-586: Was originally the word for "hole," particularly an axle hole of one of the Aryan's vehicles. Thus sukha ... meant, originally, "having a good axle hole," while duḥkha meant "having a poor axle hole," leading to discomfort. Joseph Goldstein , American vipassana teacher and writer, explains the etymology as follows: The word dukkha is made up of the prefix du- and the root kha . Du- means "bad" or "difficult". Kha means "empty". "Empty", here, refers to several things—some specific, others more general. One of

#980019