Svabhava
Template:Short description Svabhava (Template:Langx, svabhāva; Template:Langx, sabhāva; Template:Zh; Template:Langx; Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: rang-bzhin)[1] literally means "own-being" or "own-becoming". It is the intrinsic nature, essential nature or essence of beings.
The concept and term svabhāva are frequently encountered in Hindu and Buddhist traditions such as Advaita Vedanta (e.g. in the Avadhūta Gītā), Mahāyāna Buddhism (e.g. in the Ratnagotravibhāga), Vaishnavism (e.g., the writings of Ramanuja) and Dzogchen (e.g. in the seventeen tantras).
In the nondual Advaita Vedānta yoga text, Avadhūta Gītā, Brahman (in the Upanishadic denotation) is the svabhāva.
In the Mahāyāna Buddhadharma tradition(s) it is one of a suite of terms employed to denote the Buddha-nature, such as "gotra".[2]
Hindu philosophy
The term first appears in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, as a possible first cause (jagatkāraṇa).[3] There also seems to have been an Indian philosophical position called Svabhāvavada which was akin to naturalism which held that "things are as their nature makes them".[4] It is possible this position was similar to or associated with Carvaka.[3]
Samkhya
In early sāṃkhya philosophy, svabhāva was a term which was associated with prakṛti.[5] It is the inherent capacity of prakṛti, which is independent and self caused.[6]
The Bhagavad Gītā (18.41) has nature (svabhāva) as a distinguishing quality differentiating the varṇā.[7]
Overzee (1992: p. 74) in her work on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) and Rāmānuja (1017–1137) highlights Rāmānuja's usage of svabhāva in relation to Brahman thus:
Let us look more closely at what Rāmānuja means by the Lord's "nature". If you read his writings, you will find that he uses two distinct yet related words when referring to the nature of Brahman: svarūpa and svabhāva.[8]
Buddhism
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Theravāda
In the Pāli Canon, sabhāva is absent from what are generally considered to be the earliest texts. When found in later texts (e.g., the paracanonical Milindapañha), it generically refers to (state of) mind, character or truth.
In the post-canonical Abhidhamma literature, sabhāva is used to distinguish an irreducible, dependent, momentary phenomenon (dhamma) from a conventionally constructed object. Thus, a collection of visual and tactile phenomena might be mentally constructed into what is conventionally referred to as a "table"; but, beyond its constituent elements, a construct such as "table" lacks intrinsic existence (sabhāva).
According to Peter Harvey, sabhāva in the Theravāda Abhidhamma is something conditional and interdependent: Template:Quote
Vaibhāṣika
The Vaibhāṣika school held that dharmas have a constant essence or inherent nature (svabhāva) which persists through past, present and future.[9] The term was also identified as a unique mark or own characteristic (svalaksana) that differentiated a dharma and remained unchangeable throughout its existence. According to Vaibhāṣikas, svabhavas are those things that exist substantially (dravyasat) as opposed to those things which are made up of aggregations of dharmas and thus only have a nominal existence (prajñaptisat).[9]
Madhyamaka
Robinson (1957: p. 300) in discussing the Buddhist logic of Nāgārjuna, states: Template:Quote
Dzogchen
Dzogchen upholds a view of niḥsvabhāva, refuting svabhāva using the same logic employed by Madhyamaka, a freedom from extremes demonstrated succinctly via catuṣkoṭi tetralemma. Template:Quote
In the context of logical analysis, Dzogchen agrees with the view of Madhyamaka as elucidated by Nāgārjuna, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu explains:
The Union of the Sun and Moon (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: nyi zla kha sbyor), one of the 'seventeen tantras of the esoteric instruction cycle' (Tibetan: Template:Bo-textonly, Wylie: man ngag sde'i rgyud bcu bdun) which are a suite of tantras known variously as: nyingtik, upadesha or menngagde within Dzogchen discourse, states:
Bonpo Dzogchen
Svabhāva is very important in the nontheistic theology of the Bonpo Great Perfection (Dzogchen) tradition where it is part of a technical language to render macrocosm and microcosm into nonduality, as Rossi (1999: p. 58) states: Template:Quote
The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra
The term "svabhāva" is mentioned in six verses of the first chapter of the Avadhūta Gītā: 1.5, 1.6, 1.44, 1.54, 1.58, 1.76.
This extreme nondual yoga text shares a lot of common language with the extreme nondual yoga of Atiyoga (Dzogchen) and its standard Tibetan analogue rang-bzhin (Wylie) is employed in The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra, one of the Seventeen Tantras of Atiyoga Upadesha.
Dzogchen strictly refutes the notion of "svabhāva", and so The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra, states specifically that dharmakāya is non-arisen and natureless:
The following quotation from The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra is drawn from the Lungi Terdzö:Template:Refn Template:Quote
Namkhai Norbu
Dzogchen teacher Namkhai Norbu (2001: p. 155) in discussing the view of the pratyekabuddhas states that: Template:Quote
See also
Notes
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References
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- ↑ Dharma Dictionary (2008). rang bzhin. Source: [1] (accessed: January 29, 2008)
- ↑ Ruegg, D. Seyfort (1976). 'The Meanings of the Term "Gotra" and the Textual History of the "Ratnagotravibhāga"'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 39, No. 2 (1976), pp. 341–363
- ↑ a b Ramkrishna Bhattacharya, Svabhāvavada and the Cārvāka/Lokāyata: A Historical Overview
- ↑ M. Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, p. 103.
- ↑ Gerald James Larson, Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning, p.114
- ↑ Knut A. Jacobsen, Prakr̥ti in Samkhya-yoga: Material Principle, Religious Experience, Ethical Implications, 1999, p. 53.
- ↑ Source: Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". (accessed: Tuesday April 6, 2010)
- ↑ Overzee, Anne Hunt (1992). The body divine: the symbol of the body in the works of Teilhard de Chardin and Rāmānuja. Issue 2 of Cambridge studies in religious traditions. Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN. Source: [2] (accessed: Monday April 5, 2010), p.74
- ↑ a b Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 70.
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Sources
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- Y Karunadasa, (1996). The Dhamma Theory: Philosophical Cornerstone of the Abhidhamma (WH 412/413). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 2008-06-30 from "BPS" (transcribed 2007) at [3]
- Red Pine (2004). The Heart Sutra. Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard. Template:ISBN.
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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