Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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見性成佛

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: to see oneʼs own nature and (directly) accomplish Buddhahood

Senses:

  • A popular slogan of the Chan school 禪宗, which encourages practitioners to seek direct experience for themselves, rather than relying on the words and explanations of teachers and scriptures. This means that there is no gap in essence between ordinary people and Buddha. It is one of four definitive phrases characterizing the Chan school: The special transmission outside of the scriptures 教外別傳, not establishing words and letters 不立文字, directly pointing to menʼs minds 直指人心, seeing oneʼs own nature and becoming Buddha 見性成佛. 〔六祖壇經 T 2008.48.345c11〕 [Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura, Yokoi, Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 241

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 287b

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 238

    Record of Mazu: Baso no goroku (Iriya) 110-4

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 187

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 365

    Zen Dust (Sasaki) 229

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 8-P89

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 321c

    Fo Guang Dictionary 2994

    Ding Fubao

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)969a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 413-2

    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: 1997-09-15

    Updated: 2010-12-19