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阿誰

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Who? Whom?

Senses:

  • A Chan term, which means 'who' or 'whom.' The character 阿 functions as an auxiliary that expresses familiarity and intimacy. This character became a common prefix for private and surnames in China ever since the Wei 魏 (220–265) and Jin 晉代 (265–420) dynasties. For example, in the History of the Three Kingdoms 三國志, general Lu Meng 呂蒙 (178–219) of the southern state of Wu 呉國 is referred to as Wuxia a Meng 呉下阿蒙. However, because it was considered somewhat vulgar and was commonly used to refer to children, this prefix was eventually omitted, and 誰 became the standard way to ask for a personʼs identity. Within Chan monasteries 阿誰 came to be commonly used to indicate that every person is originally endowed with the perfect Buddha nature, which is the fundamental principle of the Chan school 禪宗. This is seen, for example, in such phrases as 他是阿誰 and 阿誰話斷紙, which are common oral expressions in gong-an interviews. They express the idea that one should not seek the Buddha-nature in others, as well as that those who attached to their inner desires cannot attain it. For example Case 45 of the Wumenguan 無門關: "Patriarch Fayan of the Eastern Mountain said, 'even Śākya and Maitreya serve another, well tell me who is that other?!' " 「山演祖師曰、釋迦、彌勒猶是他奴，且道他是阿誰」 [何誰, 何人] 〔臨濟錄 T1985.47.496b21; 無門關 T 2005.48.298c3〕 [Erez Joskovich; source(s): Nakamura, Gakken, Hanyu,Yokoi]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 6d, 7b

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 8

    Kattō gosen (Mujaku Dōchū) 913/111

    Koga 3

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 15

    Zen no Goroku (Yanagida) 10-P15

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 5c, 6a, 124a, 938a →あすい , 上5c

    Fo Guang Dictionary 3673

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    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: 2013-10-07

    Updated: 2021-12-21