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四不定法

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: four indeterminate mental factors

Senses:

  • The four indeterminate dharmas, being indeterminate in at least three ways:
    1. indeterminate in terms of not being disposed to good, evil, or neutral karmic moral quality. See 三性.
    2. indeterminate in the sense that they do not function contingent upon any specific object (such as the 別境 factors do).
    3. indeterminate in the sense that they also do not function continuously (such as the 遍行 factors do).
    As a group, these indeterminate factors as a group comprise one of the six divisions of fifty-one mental factors 心所有法 contained in the 100 dharmas 百法. They are:
    1. drowsiness 睡眠,
    2. remorse 惡作 (追悔),
    3. (coarse) investigation 尋 (discovery) and
    4. (fine) analysis 伺 (scrutiny). Also see 不定法.
    〔大乘百法明門論 T 1614.31.855b〕 In one place in the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra it is suggested that there are cases where they might also be seen as derivative afflictions 隨煩惱, since if one sustains these two activities for too long, one may incur fatigue and injury. (T 1579.30.622c9) 〔大乘百法明門論疏 T 1837.44.59a2〕 [Charles Muller]
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    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: 2007-10-30