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八部衆

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: eight kinds of beings

Senses:

  • (Skt. aṣṭa-gatyaḥ, aṣṭauparṣadaḥ; Tib. lha dang klu la sogs pa brgyad). Also listed simply as 八部. These come from Indian mythology. Formerly they were evil, but now having been enlightened by the Buddha, they protect his dharma. They are:
    1. devas 天 [gods],
    2. nāgas 龍 [snake kings],
    3. yakṣas 夜叉 [spirits of the dead who fly about in the night],
    4. gandharvas 乾闥婆 [half-ghost music masters],
    5. asuras 阿修羅 [demigods of evil disposition],
    6. garuḍa 迦樓羅 [golden-winged birds which eat dragons],
    7. kiṃnara 緊那羅 [heavenly music masters who are neither human nor not human] and
    8. mahoraga 摩睺羅迦 [snake spirits].
    〔瑜伽論 T 1579.30.548b6〕 [Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura, YBh-Ind, Hirakawa, Yokoi, Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 866

    Bulgyo sajeon 898a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1024a

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 662

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 95a/105

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 190

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 1105d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 296

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0165

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4223c, (v.9-10)704c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1416-3

    Sanskrit-Tibetan Index for the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra (Yokoyama and Hirosawa)

    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: 2011-09-04