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三德

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: three virtues

Senses:

  • In Sāṃkhya 數論 philosophy, the three guṇas (qualities) of purity 純質 (sattva), turbidity 激質 (rajas), and obscuration 翳質（tamas) (Skt. tri-guṇa, traiguṇya, guṇa). The phonetic transcriptions/spellings used by Paramârtha in his Chinese translation of the Sāṃkhyakārikās, the seminal work of classical Sāṃkhya philosophy are: sattva (Ch. sachui 薩埵), rajas (Ch. luoshe 羅闍), and tamas (Ch. duomo 多磨). Xuanzang, the prolific translator of both Buddhist and Brahmanical philosophical works into Chinese, uses very similar spellings for this triad of three qualities. He uses, respectively, sachui 薩埵, cishe 刺闍, and damo 答摩 (e.g., see the discussions of the Sāṃkhya doctrine in fascicle 1 of his Cheng weishi lun T 1585.31.2b23). [Charles Muller, Billy Brewster; source(s): Ui, Nakamura, Iwanami]
  • Three aspects of the Buddhaʼs virtue:
    1. the merit of his compassion 恩德;
    2. the merit of severing affliction 斷德;
    3. the merit of his wisdom 智德.
    〔攝大乘論釋 T 1595.31.207b6〕 [Charles Muller; source(s): Hirakawa, JEBD, Yokoi]
  • Three qualities associated with the Buddhaʼs mahā-parinirvāṇa (supreme enlightenment) given in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra: 涅槃經
    1. The body of the Buddha is nothing but the Dharma-nature (which is eternal and permanent) 法身德.
    2. The Buddha possesses wisdom which enables him to see the essential nature of things 般若德.
    3. The Buddha has perfect and ultimate freedom (since he is free of all afflictions) 解脫德.
    [Charles Muller]
  • (a) 因圓德 The perfection of the Buddhaʼs causative or karmic works during his three great kalpas of preparation; (b) 果圓德 the perfection of the fruit, or results in his own character and wisdom; (c) 恩圓德 the perfection of his grace in the salvation of others. [Charles Muller; source(s): Soothill]
  • les trois qualités. [Paul Swanson]
  • la délivrance, la sagesse, et le corps de Loi. [Paul Swanson]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 371

    Bulgyo sajeon 367a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 651-1

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 406b

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 325

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) ---/287

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 592

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 9-P176

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 484a

    Fo Guang Dictionary 668

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0027

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 64

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1993-09-01

    Updated: 2018-02-12