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名色

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: name and form

Senses:

  • The term 'name and form' was used in the early Upaniṣads to denote all of the physical phenomena in the universe, but in Buddhism, refers to mind and body, or psycho-physical existence (Skt. nāma-rūpa, kāya; Tib. ming dang gzugs, ming gzugs) . It is interpreted as the five aggregates 五蘊 , i. e., a 'body,'   sensation 受, perception 想, volition 行, and consciousness 識 being the 'name' and rūpa 色 the 'form' ; the first-named four are mental and the last material. Rūpa is described as the minutest particle of matter, that which has resistance; the embryonic body or fetus is a nāmarūpa, something that can be named. [Charles Muller, Stephen Hodge; source(s): Ui,Nakamura,Yokoi, Hirakawa, JEBD]
  • In the Theravada Abhidhamma, based mostly on the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, nama does not include consciousness. It only includes the three mental aggregates of existence (also cetasikas) mentioned above. In this understanding, nāma-rūpa would be more accurately translated as 'mentality and material form.' Refer to Narada Mahatheraʼs translation of the Abhidhamma Saṅgaha - A Manual of Abhidhamma (Second revised edition in 1968) on page 362 for the meaning of nāmarūpa. [Heng Shun]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 1018

    Bulgyo sajeon 208a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1191a

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 771

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 208b/232

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 484

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 1300b

    Fo Guang Dictionary 2256

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0244

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4790a,2322c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1684-1

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

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 204

    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: 1997-09-15

    Updated: 2022-03-28