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自滅

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: to cease automatically

Senses:

  • To cease on its own, by oneʼs own efforts (Skt. svayaṃ vyupaśamayet). As contrasted with 滅他. Also Skt. ākasmiko vināśaḥ (Pradhan 1967, 163); Tib. rgyu med par 'jig pa (Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya D 4090: vol. 140, folio/line 167a.2–167a.3; Abhidharmakośa-śāstra-kārikā-bhāṣya D 4091: vol. 141, folio/line 158a.1). This term is found in Sautrāntika 經量部 discussions of momentariness in the context of arguments in defense of the conclusion that factors spontaneously come to cease, independently of any external causal input. In the Kośa 倶舍論, Vasubandhu 世親 commits to the counter-intuitive position that a fire is not extinguished because of the wind, or because one douses water on it. Rather, according to Vasubandhu, a fire is extinguished because the conditioned factors 有爲法 that constitute a fire are characterized by impermanence 無常, and thus, do not last for a long time. In his two surviving Abhidharma treatises, Saṃghabhadra 衆賢 disagrees and argues that the statement 'cessation does not await a cause'  滅不待因 means that things do not cease because of adventitious causes 客因 extrinsic to the cluster of nine factors 九法 that undergoes change, the process of 'becoming otherwise'  異 during each moment in time. According to Saṃghabhadra, the primary cause 主因 of the cessation of a conditioned factor is the mark of impermanence 無常相 (also known as the mark of cessation 滅相), the fourth of the four characteristic marks 四有爲相 of conditioned factors 有爲法. Thus, impermanence, understood in terms of radical momentariness 刹那滅, is an inherent feature that characterizes the change incurred by conditioned factors. The Tibetan translation of this term means, 'to cease without a cause,' which appears to support the Sautrāntika position, because Sarvâstivāda scholars such as Saṃghabhadra do maintain that things cease because of causes, although the cause of cessation 滅因 is necessarily a primary cause and not an adventitious cause. 〔阿毘達磨順正理論 T 1562.29.578b18〕 〔梵網經 T 1484.24.999a6; 梵網經古迹記 HBJ 3.426a19; T 1815.40.693a7〕 [Billy Brewster, Charles Muller; source(s): Hirakawa, Gakken, Nakamura]
  • To ruin oneself; to destroy oneself. [Charles Muller; source(s): Gakken, EDict]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 559b

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0991

    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: 2011-01-18

    Updated: 2019-06-03