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生住異滅

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing (of all existences)

Senses:

  • Also called the four marks (四相, 四有爲相) of arising, abiding...etc. For the Sarvâstivādas 有部 (as discussed in the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya 倶舍論), these aspects of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing are said to be the nature of real existence. For the Sautrântikas 經量部, these are not considered to be real, but four provisionally established characteristics. Yogâcāra theory 瑜伽行派 is also opposed to the Sarvâstivādin interpretation (Skt. jāty-ādi). One doctrinal difference between the 'tradition of dharma characteristics'  法相宗 (an umbrella term covering Abhidharma 倶舍宗, Yogâcāra 唯識宗, and Madhyamaka 三論宗) and the 'tradition of dharma nature'  法性宗 (including Tiantai 天台宗, Huayan 華嚴宗, Chan 禪宗, and esoteric traditions 密宗), is that the former treat the birth, abiding, change, and cessation of the factor 法 synchronically, while the latter deal with them diachronically. For Abhidharma theorists, the existence 有 (bhāva) of things coming to be is termed 'arising' while their passing away into nonexistence 無 (abhāva) is termed 'cessation.' The birth and cessation of conditioned things is an ongoing process that occurs during each moment, rather than diachronically over the timespan of multiple moments, as maintained by the scholars of the dharma-nature traditions. For these scholars, arising 生相 belongs to the past, abiding 住相 and change 異相 belong to the present, while cessation 滅相 belongs to the future. See 性相二宗十異. 〔瑜伽論 T 1579.30.358b15, 起信論 T 1666.32.576c2〕

    References:

    Dessein, Bart. 2011. “Time, Temporality, and the Characteristic Marks of the Conditioned: Sarvāstivāda and Madhyamaka Buddhist Interpretations.” Asian Philosophy 21 (4): 341–360.

    [Charles Muller, Billy Brewster; source(s): Ui, Hirakawa, Nakamura, Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 543

    Bulgyo sajeon 441a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 555d

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 427

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 708c

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0835

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 786-1

    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: 2021-05-25