Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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我

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: self

Senses:

  • The basis of personal existence (Skt. ātman; Tib. bdag). I, my, we, me, our. Subject, personality.

    In Buddhism, it is the equivalent of the Indian concept of ātman, an eternal, unchanging 'self,' which in Buddhism is understood as being composed of the five aggregates 五蘊 and hence not an independent and permanent entity. It is the belief in such a self that Śākyamuni Buddha refuted in his teachings. Buddhism takes as its fundamental principle the notion of no-self 無我, only recognizing a provisional self. The erroneous idea of a permanent self continued in cyclic existence is the source of all illusion.

    In Mahāyāna, the notion of self refers not only to an imagined personality or subject in sentient beings, but also the basic tendency to reify independent existence in either oneʼs own person or objective phenomena, thus, 'selflessness of person'  人無我 and 'selflessness of phenomena'  法無我. the Nirvana Sutra posits a permanent self in the transcendental world, above the range of cyclic existence, along with permanence, bliss, and purity 常我樂淨.

    [Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura,JEBD,Yoko, Soothill, Stephen Hodge, Iwanami]
  • Attachment to self; self-consciousness; the thought of 'I.' [Charles Muller]
  • First person pronoun, but conveys a rude tone of voice. According to Yijing 義淨 in his 南海寄歸內法傳, the use of the first person pronoun can be understood as a 'haughty word'  慢詞. He states, "In India and on the islands of the South Seas, it is not haughty to use the word 'I.' It is also not a rude form of address if one says 'you.' It is simply meant to distinguish one person from another, without a mind of contempt towards others. This is not like in China, where it is considered despicable to use such pronouns." 「西國南海稱我不是慢詞。設令道汝亦非輕稱。但欲別其彼此。全無倨傲之心。不竝神州將爲鄙惡.」 [Jeffrey Kotyk]
  • (Skt. aham, ahaṃ-kāra, pudgala, puruṣa; atta, asmad, asmākam, asmi, aha, ahu, ātmaka, ātma-grāha, ātma-dṛṣṭi, ātmīya, janman, jña, pumāṃs, mad, madīya, mama, mamâtmika, māmaka, me, sattva, sattva-vastu, sva; Tib. bdag) [Charles Muller; source(s): Hirakawa, YBh-Ind]
  • Also see 鄙. [Charles Muller]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 125

    Bulgyo sajeon 546a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 133d

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 100

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 67a/73

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 139

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 157d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 2937

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0518

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)371c, (v.1-6)372a,2419c,4280b, (v.1-6)560a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 220-3*1693-1-13

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

    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: 2013-09-21