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十力

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: ten powers

Senses:

  • Also expressed as 如來十力 and 十種力 (Skt. daśa-balāni). Ten kinds of powers of awareness specially possessed by the Buddha. In the *Saṃyuktâbhidharma-hṛdaya-śāstra 雜阿毘曇心論 (T 1552), they are defined as:
    1. distinguishing right and wrong; knowing what is right or wrong in every condition 處非處智力;
    2. knowing oneʼs own karma, as well as knowing the karma of every being, past, present, and future 自業智力; or knowing karmic ripening 業異熟智力;
    3. knowledge of all forms of meditation; knowing all stages of dhyāna liberation, and samādhi 靜慮解脫等持等至智力;
    4. knowledge of the relative capacities of sentient beings 根勝劣智力 (or 根上下智力);
    5. knowledge of what sentient beings have devoted interest in; the desires, or moral direction of every being 種種勝解智力;
    6. knowledge of the varieties of causal factors (seeds 種子) 種種界智力;
    7. knowledge of the gamut of courses and paths pursued by sentient beings 遍趣行智力;
    8. knowledge of remembrance of past lives 宿住隨念智力;
    9. knowledge of where people will die and be reborn 死生智力;
    10. knowledge of the methods of destroying all contamination. 漏盡智力.
    In the Brahmāʼs Net Sutra the ten powers are: [Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura, Yokoi, Soothill, JEBD, Yokoi, Iwanami]
  • The ten powers of a bodhisattva.
    1. devotion to the Buddhaʼs teaching and no attachment to anything,
    2. increasing oneʼs devotion,
    3. the expedient ability to instruct people and alter their conduct,
    4. understanding what people think,
    5. satisfying people with what they want,
    6. no cessation of exertion,
    7. including all vehicles without abandoning the Mahāyāna,
    8. the mysterious power of showing the appearance of the Buddhas in every world in each pore of the body,
    9. making people turn toward the Buddhaʼs teachings and leading them to perfection, and
    10. satisfying all kinds of people with even a single phrase.
    There is another set of ten bodhisattva powers listed in the Shoulengyan sanmei jing首楞嚴三昧經 T 642.15.643a25〕 [Charles Muller; source(s): Yokoi]
  • One who possesses the ten powers. [Charles Muller]
  • (Skt. bala-prāpta, daśa-tathāgata-bala; Pāli dasa-balāni; Tib. stobs bcu) [Charles Muller; source(s): Hirakawa, YBh-Ind]
  • Also included as part of the 140 distinctive characteristics of a tathāgata 百四十不共佛法. [Charles Muller]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 516

    Bulgyo sajeon 525a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 497a

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 400

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 153a/169

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 311

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 1-P82, 9-P151

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 661c

    Fo Guang Dictionary 361

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0216

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.9-10)380b,1150b

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 955-1*1783-3

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



    Entry created: 1993-09-01

    Updated: 2012-03-06