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賢聖

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: wise person

Senses:

  • Depending on the context, this can be taken in three ways:
    1. As a compound word that refers generally to enlightened sages, noble ones, etc. An enlightened sage 聖人, as distinguished from unenlightened worldling 凡夫. Excellent, superior, noble, worthy of respect (Skt. ārya, vijña; Pāli ariya).
    2. In reference to Indian Buddhism, a śrāvaka or arhat. Also written 聖賢. Thus, a Hīnayāna practitioner as distinguished from a bodhisattva 菩薩. 〔三論玄義 T 1852.45.11a7〕
    3. Or, the two logographs are taken separately to refer to distinct levels, such as in the path schema generally shared by Yogâcāra, Tathāgatagarbha, Huayan, Tiantai, etc. For example, the thirty stages of the worthies and ten stages of the sages 三賢十聖. In the fifty-two stage path to Buddhahood, the thirty stages of the worthies are the ten abodes 十住, the ten practices 十行, and ten dedications of merit 住廻向. The ten stages of the sages are the ten bodhisattva bhūmis 十地. Taking up this point, with obvious influence from classical Chinese connotations, Soothill/Hodous say: "Those who are noted for goodness 賢, and those who are also noted for wisdom, or insight 聖; the 賢 are still of ordinary human standard, the 聖 transcend them in wisdom and character; the attainments from the path of seeing 見道 upwards are those of the 聖; the 賢 is on the moral plane, and has not eliminated illusion; the 聖 has cut off illusion and has insight into absolute reality. The Mahāyāna has three stages for the 賢 and ten for the 聖; the Hīnayāna has seven for each."
    [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui,Nakamura, JEBD, Yokoi, Iwanami]
  • (Skt. sat-puruṣa; ārya-pudgala, āryârhat, devatā, devī, puruṣa-pudgala, bhadraka, śrāvaka, subhadraka) [Charles Muller; source(s): Hirakawa]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 257

    Bulgyo sajeon 936a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 287c

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 237, 239

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 73a/80

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 362

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 329b, 329d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 6180

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 1113

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)963c,2748c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 417-1

    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: 1997-09-15

    Updated: 2021-08-05