Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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四大

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: four great elements

Senses:

  • The four mahā-bhūta, which all physical substances are composed of. They are:
    1. 土 the earth element (Skt. prthivī dhātu), which has the basic quality of hardness 堅 and the function of protection;
    2. 水 water (Skt. ab-dhātu), which has the function of gathering and storing wetness 濕;
    3. 火 fire (Skt. teja-dhātu), which is the nature of heat and has the function of warming 煖;
    4. 風 wind (Skt. vāyū-dhātu), which has the function of giving motion to all living things 動; motion produces and maintains life.
    It is thought that when these are gathered, material substance is produced. In India, there are other transmissions of ideology whose explanations resemble this one, and even within Buddhism there are other explanations, but in the explanation of Abhidharma Buddhism, the objects of consciousness of earth, wind, fire and water are provisional elements, since the true elements are imperceptible. Taken as substantial 實 forces they are styled 四界 or 四大界; as provisional 假 or material objects they are called 四大. The 成實論 Satyasiddhi śāstra disputes their substantiality and recognizes only their nominal designation (Skt. catvāri mahā-bhūtāni, *catur-mahābhūta, bhūtāni catvāri, bhūta, dhātu; Pāli cattāri mahā-bhūtāni). [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui, Nakamura, Yokoi, Hirakawa, JEBD, Iwanami]
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  • Cf. Karashima (Lokakṣema Glossary): view / hide
      
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 414

    Bulgyo sajeon 356a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 444c

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 360

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 67, 333

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 275b/303

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 634

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 11-P419, 18-P168

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 526c

    Fo Guang Dictionary 1649

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0278

    Han'guk bulgyo inmyeong sajeon (Yi) 123

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)1874b

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 725-2*1122-3

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 173

    Lokakṣemaʼs Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Karashima) 462

    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: 2014-08-26