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四生

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: four kinds of birth

Senses:

  • The four ways that living beings are born into in the three realms and six destinies:
    1. Oviparous (born from eggs) 卵生 (Skt. aṇḍaja-yoni); all beings born from eggs, such as birds, reptiles, fish, and insects.
    2. Viviparous 胎生 (Skt. jarāyujā-yoni, Pāli jalābu-ja); creatures that are born from the womb—all mammals.
    3. Born from moisture 濕生 (Skt. saṃsvedajā-yoni, Pāli saṃseda-ja); also understood as born from causes and conditions 因緣生, or born as the result of the combination of heat and cold 寒熱和合生; basically includes insects and other smaller life forms for which eggs were not readily detectible.
    4. Metamorphic, or born through transformation, born spontaneously 化生 (Skt. upapâdukā-yoni, Pāli opapâtika); for example, celestials 天, hell denizens 地獄, etc. all of whom are born according to their prior karma.
    (Skt. catasro-yonayaḥ, catvāro yonayaḥ: Pāli catasso yoniyo; Tib. skye gnas bzhi). Also written 胎卵濕化. [Charles Muller; source(s): Yokoi, Nakamura, YBh-Ind, JEBD, Hirakawa]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 410

    Bulgyo sajeon 370a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 436b

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 354

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 353

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 288b/319

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 666, 670

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 9-P148, 13-P338, 14-P138, 16-P103

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 523a

    Fo Guang Dictionary 1680

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0279

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 706-2

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 178

    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: 2001-09-08

    Updated: 2010-05-05